Carmen Villar is an enterprise thinker, creative strategist, and impact obsessed ESG leader. She is currently the Vice President for ESG and Corporate Citizenship at Gilead Sciences, where she oversees Gilead’s ESG strategy and leads corporate giving as well as the philanthropic work of the Gilead Foundation. Together, with her team, they are developing the vision and strategy to accelerate progress in the years ahead, working closely with partners to ensure the company’s efforts are impactful and drive transformational change.

Carmen’s extensive experience working both for the US Government and in the private sector has helped her truly appreciate the power created when multiple sectors come together to help solve difficult health challenges. She has worked hard to create public/private partnerships to advance health equity and elevate the intersection of both social and business impact.

Carmen has worked in both Nigeria and Zambia, providing leadership and oversight of HIV prevention, care and treatment programs, as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and is a recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award.

Understanding that service is small part of supporting our collective community, Ms. Villar shares her time with both the NJ Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and National Medical Fellowships (NMF), as a member of their boards of directors. Carmen obtained her BA and MSW at UC Berkeley and enjoys traveling with her son and husband in her spare time.

In January 2019, Christina Francis became the first female President of Magic Johnson Enterprises (MJE) where she is responsible for managing and directing the corporation’s day-to-day operations including strategy and business development, while overseeing the organizations ownership properties and prestigious partnerships including JLC Infrastructure, SodexoMagic, Capital One, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Football Club, and the Los Angeles Sparks. Most recently, she added the distinguished title of Executive Producer to her resume for, “They Call Me Magic,” the highest grossing docuseries per episode that was released in April 2022 on AppleTV+. Francis joined the company in 2014 as the senior vice president of marketing and communications.

Prior to Magic Johnson Enterprises, Ms. Francis was the vice president of marketing & events for NFL PLAYERS INC., where she led the group’s extensive brand and event marketing initiatives, including innovative player promotions, special events, advertising, digital and broadcast media, and public relations. In this role Ms. Francis created the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, which showcases collegiate talent to NFL scouts and has continued successfully since its inception.

Before joining NFL PLAYERS, INC. Ms. Francis served as chief marketing officer for the Orange Bowl Committee overseeing the Fedex Orange Bowl and BCS National Championship game. During her four-year tenure, the Orange Bowl brand experienced record growth and visibility while the affiliated events attracted tens of thousands of visitors who fueled South Florida with millions of dollars in economic impact. Her reputation as one of the top minds in sports and entertainment was forged on both the client and agency side including strategic marketing roles with Fortune 500 companies such as Burger King Corporation, Walt Disney World, Nissan Motor Corporation and IBM.

Ms. Francis’ board and committee memberships have included her alma mater Xavier University of Louisiana Board of Trustees, Greater Miami Tennis Foundation, Impact Circle of Big Brother/Big Sister of Miami, National Black MBA, and Links Incorporated. She currently serves on the board of Winners Alliance which is a for profit that serves the interest of professional tennis players and a growing specialty value retailer of apparel, accessories and home trends called Citi Trends. In 2022 Ms. Francis was highlighted by Sports Illustrated on SI.com as one of the “Top 100 Influential Women in Sports”. In 2019 she received the “Visionary Award” from C-Suite Quarterly and was named one of 500 most influential people in Los Angeles by Los Angeles Business Journal. She was honored at Ebony’s 2017 “Women Up” event and was named one of the “25 Most Influential and Prominent Black Women” of 2009 in Success Magazine South Florida.

A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Ms. Francis was valedictorian of her graduating class and received her BA from Xavier University, an MBA from the University of New Orleans, and was a Fellow for the Consortium in Graduate Study and Management at the University of Texas.

Elena Baca is the Global Chair of the Paul Hastings Employment Law Department and leads a diverse group of more than 80 lawyers in 10 offices around the world. Ms. Baca is recognized as a leading trial lawyer by many noted publications. She has been consistently ranked by Chambers USA and The Legal 500 as one of the top employment defense lawyers in California. Chambers USA has noted that her “litigation track record and outstanding trial victories stand out in the legal marketplace, due to both her sheer volume of wins and the ways in which these decisions are helping to shape future employment and labor law, particularly in California.” Clients have referred to her as “second to none.” Ms. Baca also has been selected continuously since 2006 as one of the Best Lawyers in America in employment law.

J. Jeffrey Assaf is a Senior Managing Director as well as the Chief Investment Officer and Investment Committee Chairman of ICG Advisors. In addition to setting the firm’s strategic direction and managing client relationships, Mr. Assaf supervises all portfolio construction and modeling. Prior to founding ICG in 2009, Mr. Assaf was a Senior Managing Director of Bear Stearns and Head of its Investment Consulting Group from 1996 to 2008. From 1988 to 1996, Mr. Assaf was a Senior Vice President at Oppenheimer & Co. where he founded the Oppenheimer Consulting Group. He is a graduate of The University of California, Irvine (B.A., Psychology) and The University of Southern California (M.B.A., Emphasis in Finance). Mr. Assaf serves on the Boards of Directors for several non-profit organizations.

As a former executive at Mattel, Joe Cristina’s professional life was dedicated to bringing fun and joy into the lives of children for more than three decades. In 1993, Joe was faced with a dilemma—his health had been deteriorating due to HIV, he had lost two life partners to AIDS along with many friends, and he was contemplating a quiet disability leave.

But his boss, Jill Barad (then President of Mattel), asked Joe instead to take some time off and think about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, trusting that his friends and business colleagues would be there to support him. Joe decided to publicly disclose his HIV+ status and was overwhelmed by the enormous outpouring of support he received. The response from everyone was the same: “What can I do to help?” Joe realized that he was facing a once in a lifetime opportunity to help make a difference in the world. The encouragement and support he received from those at Mattel and throughout children’s industries inspired him. That inspiration, along with an improvement in his health due to the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, convinced him to stay at Mattel and find a way to mobilize this network of diverse resources to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children affected by HIV/AIDS. Knowing how difficult it was living with HIV as an adult, Joe couldn’t even imagine what it must be like for a child. As a result, he founded the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation (CAAF). Through Joe’s vision and leadership, CAAF raised more than $40 million from its inception through 2012 when it joined forces with Keep a Child Alive – a like mission organization helping children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India. In 2007, Joe’s health again began to falter due to the long-term effects of HIV coupled with medication side effects, and it became necessary for him to take a medical leave from Mattel. Since then, Joe has focused all of his time and energy on taking care of his health and continuing to help children affected by HIV/AIDS through his volunteer work, as well as through the Joseph Cristina HIV/AIDS Children’s Fund exclusively endowed by the Mattel Children’s Foundation.

In recognition of his tremendous contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS, Joe has received numerous awards, including the Keep a Child Alive Outstanding Humanitarian Honoree (2012), Parenting Magazine Parenting Leaders Award (2001), the Funder’s Concerned About AIDS Russ A. Radley Award (1999), The Pediatric Nursing Journal Humanitarian Award (1998), in addition to being named a ‘Daily Point of Light’ by the Points of Light Foundation (1998). Joe was also invited and served as a member of President Clinton’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS from 1999-2001. In 2005, Joe received Mattel’s Chairman’s Award, due not only to his outstanding work at Mattel, but also because of his tireless philanthropic work in helping children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Joe is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California. He currently resides in Long Beach, California.

Susan Chokachi is the Founder and CEO of Chokachi Consulting. A creative business leader with over 30 years of experience in fashion and luxury, Ms. Chokachi previously held several executive roles at Gucci, where she worked for 25 years.

Most recently, Ms. Chokachi was EVP, Chief Brand & Client Officer, responsible for the brand’s global communication, marketing, and client strategy, after serving six years as President and CEO of the Americas. Prior to this, Ms. Chokachi was SVP, Marketing & Communications in the Americas, having risen through the organization.

Throughout her tenure at Gucci, Ms. Chokachi helped position the company as a pioneer in driving impact through global platforms like Gucci Changemakers, the company’s global gender equality campaign CHIME FOR CHANGE, and the Gucci Global Equity Board. For more than two decades Ms. Chokachi led the company’s global philanthropic partnerships including UNICEF, UN Women, The Film Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Beyoncé’s Beygood Foundation, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Ms. Chokachi started her career in PR and communications at Giorgio Armani in the US. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and lives in Los Angeles with her family.