One To World's Conversations with Fulbrighters program is a series of face-to-face meetings with CEOs, philanthropists, civic leaders and other important New Yorkers who wish to engage Fulbright students in an exchange of ideas and life stories. 

If you are a Fulbright student interested in participating in one of these unique dialogues contact Asya Dinets, One To World's Coordinator of Enrichment Programs, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (212) 431-1195 x24.

Spring 2012 Calendar

February 22nd

2:00 - 4:00pm

J. Frank Brown, Chief Operating Officer, General Atlantic

J. Frank Brown is Chief Operating Officer at General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm. He joined the firm in 2011. From 2006 to 2011, Mr. Brown served as Dean of INSEAD, the leading international business school with campuses in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He was the second American Dean since the foundation of the school in 1957. During his tenure INSEAD opened its third campus in Abu Dhabi and established the Blue Ocean Strategy Institute and the Social Innovation Centre. He also increased the participation of women students in the MBA program by more than 50%, built stronger connections with INSEAD alumni and with the business community, and achieved greater brand awareness for INSEAD. Prior to joining INSEAD, Brown had a distinguished 26-year career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, including leadership of the $3.5 billion Advisory Services practice. Mr. Brown is the author of The Global Business Leader: Practical Advice for Success in a Transcultural Marketplace, and he is a frequent speaker on leadership.

Mr. Brown is a member of the Board of Directors of The Home Depot, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut State Societies of Certified Public Accountants. He is also a member of the European Academy of Business in Society (EABIS) Board. Mr. Brown received his B.S.B.A. from Bucknell University and studied on an advanced management program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

February 24th

9:00am - 11:00am

David W. Heleniak, Senior Advisor, Morgan Stanley

David W. Heleniak, Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley, received an MS in Economics from the London School of Economics and a JD from Columbia Law School.  He had a 30-year career at Shearman & Sterling in both New York and Hong Kong before joining Morgan Stanley in 2005.  He is Acting Chair of the Japan Society.  His strategic contributions to global business diplomacy include the management of China’s first major joint venture with a Western corporation, as well as service at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 1977-1979.  As Chairman of the Council for the United States and Italy, he continues the development of positive relations between these two countries, and through board membership and philanthropy to the New York City Partnership, the New York City Ballet, and other vital organizations, he brings a global view to local endeavors as well. In May 2010, Mr. Heleniak was honored at One To World’s annual Fulbright Awards Dinner.

More spring 2012 hosts coming soon. Please check back.

Fall 2011 Calendar

October 7th

10:00am - 11:30am

Washington SyCip, Founder and Former CEO, SyCip, Gores, Velayo & Co. (SGV & Co.)

Meet distinguished international businessman, CEO, and philanthropist, Mr. Washington SyCip from Manila, Philippines!  Join us for a meeting with the founder and former CEO of SyCip, Gores, Velayo & Co. (SGV & Co.), Mr. SyCip transformed what was a one-man office in 1946 into the first successful company of its kind in the Philippines and Asia's largest accounting and consulting firm with partnerships throughout Asia, the United States, and the world. This is an invaluable opportunity to gain insights into your own career prospects and to learn from one of the world's most talented and internationally minded businessmen.  Although currently retired, Mr. SyCip is still the “man to see” regarding financial markets and sure-fire paths to success.  Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired and get on track.

 October 12th

10:00am - 12:00pm

Marjory Searing, Former Vice President, Worldwide Public Affairs & Policy, Pfizer, Inc.

Dr. Marjory Searing has a wide range of experience in both the public and private sectors, capping her 33-year long government career as Assistant Secretary and Director General of the U.S. Department of Commerce under President Clinton, prior to her appointment at Pfizer, Inc. Until recently, Dr. Searing served as Vice President of Public Affairs at Pfizer, Inc. where she oversaw the companies relations across the globe, specifically focusing on Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Dr. Searing has travelled extensively and is particularly knowledgeable about Japanese market and trade policy. For students interested in International Business, Public Policy, Economics & Global Commerce, this is a meeting you will want to attend! 

October 27th

12:30pm - 2:30pm

Gary Mueller, Managing Director, Eagle Capital Management

Gary Mueller has recently joined Eagle Capital Management as a Managing Director. Prior to working with Eagle Capital Management, he served as the Chairman and CEO of Institutional Investor, a premier media company covering the financial service industry. Institutional Investor has over 20 publications, 10 institutes and numerous conferences events and website. Its titles include Institutional Investor, Alpha, The Journal of Portfolio Management and Global Money Management. Mr. Mueller is also the founder and Chairman of ISI Emerging Markets, one of the most comprehensive and widely-used online financial and business information services for the emerging markets. Mr. Mueller founded ISI in 1994 and served as  chairman and CEO until 2002 and as chairman until 2010. ISI is headquartered in New York City and has offices in thirty countries. Mr. Mueller is also Chairman of Information Management Network, a leading conference company serving various areas of finance, including the high-network growth index and ETF investment management market, as well as the real estate finance sector. 

Mr. Mueller is a founding director of Endeavor, a non-profit organization supporting entrepreneurship in emerging markets, and a founder of The Fund for Civil Society in Russia. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School. 

Mr. Mueller is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study in Frankfurt, Germany in 1988. 

November 4th

3:30pm - 5:30pm

Jonathan D. Schwartz, Managing Director and General Counsel of JP Morgan Investment Bank

Since January 2010, Jonathan D. Schwartz has served the the chief legal officer for all legal and compliance matters for the JP Morgan investment bank world-wide. 

A Long Island native, Mr. Schwartz graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and finished first in his class at Stanford Law School. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to attend Cambridge University, where he earned a Master's degree with distinction in International Relations. After Cambrdige, Mr. Schwartz served as a law clark for both Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Thurgood Marshall at the U.S. Supreme Court. He then worked as a federal prosecutior for five years in Manhattan.

In the late 1990s, Mr. Schwartz held a series of positions ar the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., culminating as a senior advisor to Attorney General Janet Reno and then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder.

In 2001, Mr. Schwartz entered the private sector as general counsel of Napster, Inc., and later joined Time Warner Inc., as deputy general counsel. He served as gernral counsel of Cabelvision from 2003-2009.

Mr. Schwartz is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars. He was a fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics and is the recipient of the prestigious Edmund J. Randolph Award, presented by the attorney general for outstanding service to the Department of Jusice. He is a member of the board of the Legal Aid Society, the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the National Center for Law & Economic Justice, and Standford Law School's alumni advisory board.

November 8th

10:00am - 12:00pm

Alberto Vitale, Former Chairman and CEO, Random House, Inc.

Alberto Vitale is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Random House, Inc., having served in that position from 1989 to 1998. Random House, a division of Bertelsmann AG, is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. Through its many prestigious imprints, it publishes some of the foremost writers of our time in hardcover, trade paperback, mass market paperback, electronic, multimedia, and other formats.

Mr. Vitale was born in Italy in 1933 and educated in both French and Italian schools; he then went on to receive his doctorate in economics from the University of Turin.  In 1957, he attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as a Fulbright Scholar.  After completing his education, Mr. Vitale went on to an accomplished career in the publishing industry, with positions at Olivettie, Bertelsmann Publishing Group, Inc., Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., and Random House, among others. He was the very first recipient of the Fulbright Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement, among many other accolades.

December 6th

11:30pm - 1:30pm

Kevin Parker, Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management, Deutsche Bank

Kevin E. Parker is Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management and a member of Deutsche Bank’s Group Executive Committee, reporting to Dr. Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the GEC and Spokesman of the Managing Board. Prior to his current role, Kevin served as the Global Head of Equities and the Global Head of Equity Derivatives.  He joined Deutsche Bank in 1997 from Morgan Stanley & Co. where he had been named in 1991 the youngest Managing Director in the bank’s history.  He held a variety of positions at Morgan Stanley including Global Head of Equity Derivatives Trading and Chief Information Officer.  He is a leading voice in the asset management industry advocating investment in market-based solutions for global climate change.

Past Conversations with Fulbrighters Hosts

Jack Abernethy, Chief Executive Officer, Fox Television Stations, Inc.

Jack Abernethy is Chief Executive Officer, Fox Television Stations, Inc., a unit of News Corporation that includes the Fox Television Stations group and Twentieth Television.  He has held the position since December 2004.  In this capacity, he oversees the 27 FOX owned-and-operated stations in the nation's largest television markets.  His oversight responsibilities extend to Twentieth Television, which distributes a wide array of network programming and feature film packages. This includes the court shows "Divorce Court" and "Judge Alex," game shows "Are You Smarter Than a Fifith Grader" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics," animated sitcoms "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons," sitcoms "How I Met Your Mother" and "Modern Family," as well as the procedural drama "Bones" and "Glee."

Prior to this position, Mr. Abernethy served as the Executive Vice President of FOX News, where he helped build the business platform and execute plans for the successful launch of what is today the number-one rated cable news channel. Before joining FOX News, Mr. Abernethy had a long and distinguished career with General Electric and held a variety of executive finance management positions at NBC.  He was also part of the management team that launched the cable business news channel, CNBC. Mr. Abernethy was born and raised in Kingston, NY.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Georgetown University and his MBA degree from New York University.

Henry Buhl, Founder, Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless

Enjoy lunch with Henry Buhl, Founder of the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless, and open your American experience up to the realities of living in a country with one of the biggest income gaps in the world. Mr. Buhl’s understanding of homelessness will help us explore a whole new side of the American experience. Don’t miss this opportunity to have a conversation with a civic leader whose passion and drive have made a real difference to thousands of New Yorkers!

Christopher Burnham, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Deutsche Asset Management

Join an intimate group of only 12 fellow Fulbrighters to meet Christopher Burnham, the current Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Deutsche Asset Management.  Mr. Burnham left his post at the United Nations in November where he was the UN’s Under-Secretary-General of Management. Come and hear what it’s like to report directly to Kofi Annan, about his work as the highest-ranking American in the UN Secretariat, about his former career in business, about his service as Treasurer of the State of Connecticut, and about his three terms as a Connecticut State Representative. Mr. Burnham has been lauded as a “beacon of hope for international cooperation which Senator Fulbright championed in his lifetime.” As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps Reserve who served as a platoon commander in the Gulf War, Mr. Burnham understands the importance of cultivating peace through international cooperation. Don’t miss this great opportunity to discuss his past, his present, and your future with Mr. Burnham. This is a not-to-be-missed program and a chance to learn about a very distinguished individual in world affairs!

Barbara Crossette, Former Chief Correspondent for The New York Times in Southeast Asia and South Asia and United Nations Bureau Chief

Barbara Crossette has fostered an informed global citizenry for nearly four decades through cutting edge reporting on policies, leaders, conflicts, and peoples around the world. She was a Fulbright teaching fellow in journalism at Punjab University in Chandigarh, India in 1980-81. In her books on Asia and in writing on international affairs for a variety of publications, she brings firsthand insight to the page, increasing the exchange of knowledge and understanding across borders. For a more detailed biography of Ms. Crossette, please go to: http://members.authorsguild.net/bcrossette.

Alexandre de Lesseps, Co-Founder of Myanmar Children’s Association and Founder of BlueOrchard Finance

Born in Paris, and raised there and in Khartoum, Sudan, de Lesseps' father was the French ambassador to Sudan, and his great-great-grandfather was the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, who supervised construction of the Suez Canal in 1879, began construction on the Panama Canal and presented the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1886.

His own history includes involvement with the anti-Vietnam War movement (as a student at Northwestern University he was arrested, and then cleared, for involvement in a Students for a Democratic Society action), a career as a Hollywood film producer, and a subsequent career as a fund manager specializing in Asian stocks.  In the 1990s Mr. de Lesseps co-founded the Myanmar Children's Association, a not-for-profit organization which has built two orphanages, a day care center, a maternity clinic, and a primary school for a Myanmar community. In 2001, Mr. de Lesseps founded BlueOrchard Finance.  BlueOrchard is the first private, worldwide, fully commercial microfinance investment fund. The company invests in well-run financial institutions who lend money to the poorest class of local business owners in developing countries.  Currently, Mr. de Lesseps is the Chairman of Pandaw Investment Holdings in Hong Kong, Yangon and of Coral Capital based in London and Havana.

Marc Feigen, CEO, Feigen Advisors LLC & Co-Founder and Executive Director, Prium

Feigen Advisors counsels CEOs and Boards of large, global companies on matters of strategy, organization, capital planning and performance transformation. Marc Feigen, an expert in the role of the Chief Executive, advises Chief Executives on CEO performance, and counsels boards on governance. 

Marc Feigen's clients include the CEOs of Fortune 250 media, consumer goods, banking and insurance companies; top tier private equity and hedge fund CEOs; and the managing partners of several leading global professional services firms in law, PR and executive search. Mr. Fiegen's clients in the public record include advising Aetna during their hugely successful turnaround and counseling Bill Gates during the Microsoft anti-trust matter. Pro Bono clients include Cambridge University and The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Marc is Executive Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Cambridge in America. 

Between 1998 and 2010, Marc founded, built and sold Katzenbach Partners LLC, a 200 person management consulting firm that focused on helping clients "achieve breakthrough organizational performance"

Marc has a BA with honors in History from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.Phil. on Internal Relationships from Cambridge, and an MBA from Harvard.  Before starting his own firms, he was an Associate at McKinsey & Company, where he wrote a best-selling business book with 6 colleagues called Real Change Leaders: How You Can Create Growth and High Performance at Your Company. Marc has appeared on CBS and has published articles in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Vikram Gandhi, Managing Director , Credit Suisse First Boston

Vikram Gandhi is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse and Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group. He has responsibility for the integration of the Bank's financial institutions' capabilities into the Global Financial Institutions Group. Mr. Gandhi joined Credit Suisse First Boston in April 2005 from Morgan Stanley, where he served as Co-Head of FIG since 2003, managing many of that firm's top client relationships in the U.S. and Europe. Heserved as President of Morgan Stanley - India from 1997 until 1999, Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley's e-commerce initiatives from 1999 through 2001 and head of strategy for the institutional securities business from 2001 until 2003. Mr. Gandhi has a B.Com from the University of Bombay and an MBA from the Harvard Business School where he was designated a Baker Scholar. 

Jacob Haar, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Microfinance, Minlam Asset Management

Please join us for an informal lunch with Jacob Haar, co-founder and managing director of Microfinance for Minlam Asset Management, where through the Minlam Microfinance Fund he and his colleagues have created a commercial investment model with the potential to better the lives of low-income communities in emerging markets. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Yemen in 2003 and a University of Chicago Human Rights Intern in Azerbaijan. He has worked for 10 years in emerging markets, including in Azerbaijan with Azeri Star Microfinance, and with international non-government organizations on issues of sustainable economic development and human rights. He received his M.A. from the University of Chicago's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with his B.A. from the University of Chicago. 

Jean Karoubi, President and Co-Chief Investment Officer of the LongChamp Group

Jean Karoubi, President and Co-Chief Investment Officer of the LongChamp Group founded the company in 1981.  The firm provides managerial and financial advisory services to families, international banks, corporations, and foundations.  He also serves on the board of PlaNet Finance USA, an international non-profit organization that aims to alleviate poverty by contributing to the development of the microfinance sector.  Born in Algeria and raised in France, he received graduate degrees from the University of Paris in Law and in Economics, as well as the diploma at Institute d’Etudes Politiques.  He also received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania while on a Fulbright in 1973.

Roelfien Kuijpers, Managing Director and Global Head of DB Advisors, Deutsche Bank

Roelfien Kuijpers is a managing director and global head of Deutsche Bank Advisors, the institutions business of Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) and a member of DeAM's Global Operating Committee. She leads a global business that manages assets for institutional investors worldwide, including pension funds, corporations, endowments, foundations and financial institutions. Deutsche Bank Advisors' range of investment solutions include equity, fixed income and alternative strategies.

Prior to taking her current position in February of 2006, Ms. Kuijpers was global head of strategic planning, communications and marketing for DeAM, a role she held previously in the firm's Global Equities division. Ms. Kuijpers joined Deutsche Bank in 1995 as managing director and head of European equity sales in North America. Before coming to Deutsche Bank, she was a managing director and head of European equities in North America at SG Warburg Inc. 

In addition to directing Deutsche Banks Advisors, Ms. Kuijpers serves on the board of directors of the Deutsche Bank America Foundation, she is active in Deutsche Bank's Women on Wall Street conference series, is a member of the Women's Leadership Board of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, serves on the board of the Metropolitan Opera, and most recent, she was appointed to the Pratt Institute's Board of Trustees in March 2010.

A native of the Netherlands, Ms. Kuijpers holds a master's degree in history from the University of Leiden. 

Neil Masterson, Global Managing Director, Investment Banking, Thomson Reuters

Neil Masterson joined Thomson Financial in May 2002 to set up the Decision Support function, with a mission to provide clear and timely analysis to senior Thomson Financial executives. In November 2003, Neil became head of finance for the Thomson Financial Global Customer, which was responsible for exploiting opportunities in the Institutional Equities, Fixed Income, Investment Banking, Investment Management and Retail spaces, as well as for product development and managing the Thomson Financial technical infrastructure.

In June 2005, Neil moved to Thomson Corporate to become Vice President, Treasury and Corporate Planning. In this role, Neil was responsible for the corporate planning process, as well as managing external relationships with rating agencies. During his tenure at Corporate, Neil was actively involved in the disposal of Thomson Learning and the subsequent acquisition of Reuters.

In April 2008, Neil moved to Thomson Reuters Markets to become Global Managing Director of the Investment Banking business.

Neil graduated from University College, London, and began his career at KPMG in London. Prior to emigrating to the United States, Neil spent five years working in the United Kingdom's retailing industry.

Paul Roth, Founding Partner, Schulte Roth & Zable LLP

Paul N. Roth is a founding partner of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. He heads the firm's private investment funds' practice, an area in which he has 40 years of experience and which involves over 90 attorneys and approximately 1500 hedge funds, private equity funds and offshore funds. His practice focuses primarily on investment advisers and broker/dealers, cross-border acquisitions to the United States, securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions and financial transactions. Mr. Roth chairs the Subcommittee on Private Investment Entities of the American Bar Association's Committee on Federal Securities Regulation. He is also the past President and member of the Board of the Harvard Law School Alumni Association of New York City. A magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College, Mr. Roth graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and received a Fulbright Fellowship for Study of Law in The Netherlands during 1964-65. He is listed in the International WhoWho'sLegal, Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers.

Suzanne Siskel, Director of Social Justice Philanthropy, The Ford Foundation

Suzanne Siskel,  Ford Foundation's Director of Social Justice Philanthropy since 2009, was previously based in Jakarta, as the Foundation's representative for Indonesia from 1990-2005. Prior to that, she had been the Foundation's representative for the Philippines and a program officer for rural poverty and resources in Jakarta. Before relocating to the Ford Foundation's headquarters in New York City, Suzanne lived and worked in Indonesia for 3 decades, first as a Luce Scholar at Airlangga University in East Java from 1974-1975, and later as a Fulbright scholar from 1983-1984 for research on the island of Madura. Ms. Siskel was a social science advisor to development projects in West Timor and Flores Islands in east Indonesia before joining the Ford Foundation in Jakarta in 1990. Previous research projects took her to northeast Brazil, Andros Island in the Bahamas and highland Chiapas, Mexico during the 1970s. She studied Social Anthropology at Harvard and Johns Hopkins University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Ms. Siskel has served as secretary and president on the Fulbright Association's Board of Directors. She currently chairs the Board's Development and Recognition Committee. Ms. Siskel is also a member of the governing council of the European Foundation Centre. 

Christopher Stamos, Sterling Stamos Capital Management, L.P.

Mr. Stamos is a partner at Sterling Stamos Capital Management, L.P., an investment firm that operates multiple hedge funds that offers investors the opportunity to invest in a wide variety of return strategies. The firm has approximately $2 billion in assets under management and represents more than 150 different investors. Mr. Stamos has created an independent foundation for charitable giving and expects to contribute 10% of all company profits to the foundation. The entire focus of the foundation is on global health issues and, in particular, eradicating infectious diseases in the developing world. Mr. Stamos is himself a true internationalist, having lived abroad in China, Japan, and Taiwan, among other countries.

William Sterling, Chief Investment Officer, Trilogy Global Advisors, LLC

Dr. William Paul Sterling is the Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, Founder, Managing Director, and Senior Portfolio Manager at Trilogy Global Advisors, LLC. He founded the firm in 1999. Dr. Sterling is also the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at BPI Global Asset Management LLC. Previously, he was at Credit Suisse Asset Management, where he was an Executive Director and served on the firm's operating committee as Global Head of Equities. Dr. Sterling was a Managing Director and Head of International Equities at BEA Associates. Previously, he was a First Vice President at Merrill Lynch. He was Head of Economic Research in Tokyo and later Chief International Economist at Merrill Lynch. He is the Co-Author of Boomernomics: The Future of Your Money in the Upcoming Generational Warfare. Dr. Sterling holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. He holds an M.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Economics from Carleton College. Dr. Sterling studied at the University of Tokyo in the early 1980s as a Fulbright Scholar.