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Learn more about our exceptional honorees...

Edith Cooper
Managing Director & Global Head of Human Capital Management
Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Edith Cooper is Managing Director and Global Head of Human Capital Management at Goldman, Sachs & Co.  Previously, Cooper was in Sales Management within the Securities Division at the firm.  She first joined Goldman, Sachs in 1996 to build and lead the firm’s Energy Sales Group in New York and became Managing Director in 1998.  In 2000, Cooper became co-head of the commodity business in Europe and Asia, based in London, and was named Partner.  She assumed responsibility for the firm’s Futures business in 2002.  Cooper serves as Vice Chair of the Partnership Committee, a member of the Management Committee, and previously served on the Business Standards Committee at the firm.  Prior to Goldman, Sachs, Cooper spent a combined 10 years at Morgan Stanley and Bankers Trust, structuring and marketing derivatives.  Cooper earned an MM from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwester University and an AB from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges. 

 

Dr. Vandana Shiva
Founder
Navdanya

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a physicist, environmental activist, and eco-feminist.  In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology.  In 1991, she founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources.  Serving more than five million men and women farmers, Navdanya’s efforts have resulted in conservation of more than 3,000 rice varieties across India, and have established 60 seed banks in 16 states.  Dr. Shiva’s contributions to gender issues are nationally and internationally recognized.  Her book, “Staying Alive” dramatically shifted the perception of Third World women.  In 2010, Forbes magazine identified her as one of the seven most powerful women on the globe.  Time Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as an environmental hero in 2003.  Dr. Shiva was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award) for personal courage and social transformation in 1993.  She was a founding Board Member of the Women Environment and Development Organization and is on the National Board of Organic Standards in India.

 

James Gutierrez
Founder, Chairman & CEO
Progreso Financiero
SEO Alumnus ‘98

James Gutierrez is a leading social entrepreneur, investor, and innovator in financial services serving the unbanked and lower-income community.  In 2005, Gutierrez founded Progreso Financiero to bring micro-lending to the US Hispanic community and help thousands of families build credit.  Since 2005, Progreso Financiero has made over 250,000 loans and has secured over $250 million in venture capital and asset backed funding.  Gutierrez is a member of the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council, and serves on the boards of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, the Latino Community Foundation, and Core Innovation Capital.  In 2010, Gutierrez was selected by Business Week as one of America’s most promising social entrepreneurs. He was also selected as one of the top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in America by Hispanic Business. Gutierrez began his career as an SEO Career Program intern at Merrill Lynch in 1998.  He serves on SEO’s Bay Area Advisory Board, overseeing SEO’s geographic expansion of the Scholars Program.

 

 

 

 

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