Shaping the - Milken Institute

p a n e l i s t s
Steve Ellis is the Worldwide Managing Director of Bain & Company, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the
firm’s strategy and operations across 39 offices in 26 countries. During his 15-year tenure at Bain, he has advised leading
multinational companies in a wide range of industries on issues such as corporate strategy, sales and marketing,
operational improvement, acquisition valuation, merger integration and complexity reduction. He also specializes in
tackling leadership issues that are essential to compete in a rapidly changing global business environment. Before
joining Bain, he ran a Silicon Valley strategy consulting firm he co-founded in 1989 and served as a principal at
Knowledge Edge Inc. Ellis has authored several articles on business strategy, and is a member of the Advisory Council of
the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Ellis received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley,
and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is CEO of Green for All, a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green
economy that can lift people out of poverty. She has recently transitioned from her role as executive officer of the
South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council. Named by San Jose Magazine as one of the 100 most powerful people in Silicon
Valley and one of “40 to watch under 40” by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, she has distinguished herself
as a leader in the Silicon Valley and has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers. Ellis-Lamkins is an
alumna of the American Leadership Forum; has served on the boards of the Progressive Technology Project, The New
World Foundation and the Women’s Fund of Silicon Valley; and serves on San Jose’s General Plan Task Force and Coyote
Valley’s Specific Plan Task Force and Central Labor Council Advisory Committee.
Alec Ellison is Co-Head of Investment Banking at Jefferies & Company Inc., where he is also Chairman of the firm’s
Technology, Media and Telecom Group. He joined Jefferies in 2003, when the firm acquired Broadview International, of
which he was president. With more than 20 years of experience in technology investment banking, Ellison has completed
more than 150 transactions. He has particular expertise in enterprise software mergers and acquisitions, with a focus on
vertical applications companies. Prior to joining the firm, he worked in the Technology Group at Morgan Stanley. Ellison
holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Douglas Elmendorf is Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Before he came to the CBO, Elmendorf
was a senior fellow in the economic studies program at the Brookings Institution. As the Edward M. Bernstein Scholar,
he served as co-editor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity and the director of the Hamilton Project, an initiative
to promote broadly shared economic growth. Elmendorf previously was an assistant professor at Harvard University,
a principal analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, a senior economist at the White House’s Council of Economic
Advisors, a deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department and an assistant director of
the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board. He received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton
University, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he was a National Science Foundation
graduate fellow.
Neveen El Tahri is Chairperson for Delta Holding for Financial Investments and is the Egypt country representative
for the Royal Bank of Scotland (previously ABN AMRO Bank Egypt). She serves on the boards of several firms, including
Banque Misr, Telecom Egypt, Egyptian Railway Projects & Transport Company, Egypt Information Dissemination
Company and the General Authority for Investments (GAFI). El Tahri previously was chairperson and founder of Delta
Securities Egypt, Delta Rasmala Securities, Delta Rasmala Asset Management and Delta Rasmala Capital Investments. In
2008 El Tahri was named in a Financial Times special report as one of the leading businesswoman in the Arab world. She
received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Cairo University.
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p a n e l i s t s
John Ensign is a U.S. Senator (R-Nevada). In 2008 he became chairman of the GOP Policy Committee, which
coordinates Republican legislative efforts in the Senate. On assuming this position, he became the highest-ranking
Republican senator in Nevada’s history. Sen. Ensign has been responsible for such legislation as the Education High
Growth Grant amendment, the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act and the Ensign-Reid Clark County
Lands Bill. He has led the fight to build a veterans hospital in southern Nevada, which is expected to be completed in
2011. He serves on multiple Senate committees: Budget; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Finance; Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs; and Rules and Administration. He is a ranking member of the Subcommittee on
Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness of the Commerce Committee. Ensign earned a bachelor’s degree from
Oregon State University and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Colorado State University.
Hüseyin Erkan is Chairman and CEO of Istanbul Stock Exchange. He has also established the Federation of
Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges and is chairman of the World Federation of Exchanges Working Committee. Erkan has
served on the board of the Turkish-Japanese Business Counsel; was co-director of projects with the Organisation for
Economic Co-Operation and Development; and has represented ISE at the International Organisation of Securities
Commissioners. He implemented a cooperation project for the securities markets in the Balkans for the South East
European Cooperative Initiative and initiated a project for the cooperation of securities markets of the Islamic countries
in the Organisation of Islamic Conference. Prior to his ISE role, Erkan was the chief adviser for Konya Sugar Company and
the general manager of Ticaret Securities. Erkan has a bachelor’s degree in economics from New York University Stern
Business School and an M.B.A. in international business and finance.
Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of civil-rights activist Medgar Evers, is Founder of the Medgar Evers Institute and
Chairman Emeritus of the NAACP. The institute, which she began in 1998, links business, government and communities to
further human rights and equality. As chair of the NAACP from 1995 to 1998, she is credited with restoring its reputation
as the nation’s premier civil rights group. Her husband, a state field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi, was shot to
death in 1963, and through her efforts, his killer was convicted more than 30 years after the crime. In 1987, Evers-Williams
was the first African-American woman appointed to the Los Angeles Board of Public Works. She ran for Congress in 1970
and went on to become the first black woman to head the Southern California Democratic Women’s Division. She is an
author and speaker who continues to make appearances on behalf of the NAACP.
Zeki Fattah is Senior Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government. He is a
consultant specializing in Middle Eastern economies and economic development issues. In 2003 he served as director
of the Economic Analysis Program and the Globalization Program in the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), based in Beirut. From 1996 to 2002, Fattah was director of the UNDP in the Middle East after serving as
director of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization from 1977 to 1995. He taught a graduate course in economic
development at the American University of Beirut from 1998 to 2003. Fattah holds a Ph.D. in economics from the
University of Oxford.
Lewis Feldman is a Partner with Goodwin Procter LLP, where his practice includes real estate, affordable
housing and community development, corporate and securities finance, public finance, REITs and real estate capital
markets. He is chair of the firm’s Los Angeles office, a member of its National Executive Committee and head of its
Public/Private Development Practice. Feldman has handled more than $75 billion in debt and equity financings
for apartments, master-planned communities, industrial facilities, urban entertainment centers, malls, hospitals,
brownfield remediation efforts, transportation projects and public infrastructure. He received a bachelor’s degree from
the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a J.D. from the University of California, Davis, where he was executive editor
of the Law Review.
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