36 minute read
PURPOSE
Contents
Mission-Driven Frank Slootman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Snowflake, Inc. 6
Positively Impacting Lives Keith Wargo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Autism Speaks 22
Security Solutions Steve Jones, Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Allied Universal 38
Addressing Hunger in America Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Chief Executive Officer, Feeding America 8
Public Health Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, Dean of the School of Public Health, Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health 12
Advancing Justice Vivek Maru, Chief Executive Officer, Namati 24
Accelerating Social Change Judee Ann Williams and Aubree Curtis, Global Co-Founders and Co-Heads, CAA Social Impact, Creative Artists Agency 40
Enhancing Empowerment Dr. Janine Händel, Chief Executive Officer, Roger Federer Foundation 42
Addressing the Displacement Crisis Eric Schwartz, President, Refugees International 14
Technology in Service of People Bill McDermott, President and Chief Executive Officer, ServiceNow 16
Growing a Village Ashlee Hypolite, Operations Manager, Social Change Fund United 20
A Story of Hope Amidst a Humanitarian Crisis Georgette Bennett, PhD, Founder, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding and Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees 28
A New Dawn in Rural Thai Education Mechai Viravaidya, The Mechai Bamboo School 30
The Power of the Entertainment Industry Nicole Sexton, President and Chief Executive Officer, Entertainment Industry Foundation 32
Conquering Depression Audrey Gruss, Chairman, Hope for Depression Research Foundation 34
Opportunity Through Education Flaviana Matata, Founder, Flaviana Matata Foundation (FMF) and Founder and Chief Executive Officer, LAVY Beauty 44
“Passion is the log that keeps the fire of purpose blazing.” Oprah Winfrey
Ending Homelessness Myung J. Lee, President and Chief Executive Officer, Volunteers of America - Greater New York, Inc. 48
Public Service The Honorable Jesse White, Secretary of State, Illinois 50
Climate Action Leonardo Lacerda, Global Managing Director, Climate, The Nature Conservancy 52
Compassionate Care Laura L. Forese, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, NewYork-Presbyterian 55
The Intersection of Business and Technology Nitin Seth, Chief Executive Officer, Incedo, Inc. 58
A Community Treasure Kwofe Coleman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Muny 60
Redefining Luxury Living Scott J. Avram, Senior Vice President, Development, Lightstone 78
Transparency, Dialogue, and Knowledge Sharing Dr. Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc. 63
Marine Conservation Kristie Wrigglesworth, Executive Director, Pacific Whale Foundation 66
Building a Better Government Max Stier, President and Chief Executive Officer, Partnership for Public Service 68
Reigniting a Mission Monsignor Thomas W. Powers, Pastor, Saint John the Evangelist, Darien 70
Pharmaceutical Development Anthony C. Hayes, Esq., Chief Executive Officer, AIkido Pharma, Inc. 76
Capitalizing on the IT Revolution Dr. Satya Sharma, Executive Director, Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology at Stony Brook University 80
Inspiring the Next Generation Robert L. Dilenschneider, Founder and Principal, The Dilenschneider Group, Inc. 82
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Mission-Driven
EDITORS’ NOTE Frank Slootman currently serves as Chairman and CEO at Snowflake. He has more than 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the enterprise software industry. Slootman served as CEO and President of ServiceNow from 2011 to 2017, taking the organization from around $100 million in revenue, through an IPO, to $1.4 billion. Prior to that, he served as President of the Backup Recovery Systems Division at EMC following an acquisition of Data Domain Corporation/Data Domain, Inc., where he served as the Chief Executive Officer and President, leading the company through an IPO to its acquisition by EMC for $2.4 billion. Slootman holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics from the Netherlands School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam. COMPANY BRIEF Snowflake (snowflake.com) enables every organization to mobilize their data with Snowflake’s Data Cloud. Snowflake’s customers use the Data Cloud to unite siloed data, discover and securely share data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single data experience that spans multiple clouds and geographies. Thousands of customers across many industries, including 223 of the 2021 Fortune 500 as of October 31, 2021, use Snowflake’s Data Cloud to power their businesses.
How do you describe Snowflake’s mission?
Snowflake’s mission is the Data Cloud. A Data Cloud is a global orbit of data where data can be analyzed, enriched and broadly accessed. A Data Cloud has not existed in the history of computing. Unlike computing infrastructure and enterprise applications which have been massively scaling and consolidating in the cloud, data continues to be highly fragmented, proliferated and difficult to access. The ability to enrich data from any source and/or location enables data scientists to discern data relationships which in turn can be used for prediction.
The Data Cloud also has to enable a broad array of workloads so that customers do not have to export, copy and move data, and then go elsewhere for workload execution. So, our mission is to broadly enable the data cloud with options that span the workload spectrum.
How has Snowflake’s business evolved and how do you define the Snowflake difference?
I joined Snowflake in early 2019. The company had done well focusing on modernizing legacy analytical workloads and moving them to the cloud. Cloud scale combined with Snowflake’s revolutionary architecture yielded incredible performance breakthroughs which fueled its growth trajectory. While this worked great as an entry strategy, we could not stay there indefinitely. We subsequently evolved to a Data Cloud strategy which combined Snowflake’s legendary workflow performance with unfettered access to data. Each customer, and industry, would have incarnations and instantiations of their unique data relationships comprising their data cloud.
The Snowflake difference is a software architecture redesigned and reimagined for cloud scale computing. Aside from stellar performance, it solved the data access and sharing problem through a frictionless and zero latency approach. Data is the beating heart of the modern enterprise and Snowflake is the technology that enables it.
How did Snowflake adapt its business to address the challenges caused by the pandemic and how proud are you to see the resilience of your team during this challenging time?
Snowflake did not miss a beat as a function of the pandemic. One day in March 2020 we vacated our offices worldwide and the next day we resumed our operations using the same video conferencing platforms everybody else used. We were already a fully cloud hosted enterprise without data centers or any on-site equipment which made things easier. Our people adapted and adjusted admirably to this new dynamic. We never slowed down on growth, and we even took the company public in 2020 without ever hitting the road to sell the offering. The Snowflake IPO was billed as the largest software IPO in history at the time.
No doubt our employees suffered Zoom fatigue during the day, juggled kids and school and missed the interpersonal interactions of our offices, but they never let that get in the way of doing their very best for Snowflake.
You have a new book, Amp It Up. What interested you in writing the book and what are the key messages you wanted to convey?
I had written a book in 2010 to share the experiences at an earlier company called Data Domain. I joined Data Domain in 2003. We took it public on NASDAQ in 2007, and it was acquired by EMC, now Dell Technologies, in 2009. I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction – many readers clutched it like a combat manual for entrepreneurs. It was meaningful to them to hear from a fellow traveler in pointed, unvarnished terms. Amp It Up adds the next 10 years when I served as CEO of ServiceNow and Snowflake. Frank Slootman The book is a Snowflake production, and any proceeds will be used for charitable purposes. As before, I feel a responsibility to share experiences that from many accounts can help leaders of all sorts. A book is an efficient and scalable method to do just that. I could not possibly accommodate the constant onslaught of requests for speaking engagements, meetings and events while I hold down a demanding day job as CEO of Snowflake. I do some of that with business schools and VC firms as well, but the book has to serve a broader audience. I wrote an article on LinkedIn with the same “Amp It Up” title in 2018 which received many views and comments, so we decided to expand it and turn that into a book. The key Amp It Up message is that organizations have significant room up on performance by eliminating the slack that tends to amply exist in organizations. Things can get done better and faster by amping up the urgency, energy, pace and focus. It doesn’t require new talent, fancy consultants or strategy changes. You literally can start this today. Every meeting, e-mail, interaction and moment is an opportunity to amp it up.
What do you see as the keys to a successful transformation of an organization and how critical is the right leadership mindset to driving true change?
The right leadership is the only way to successfully transform an organization. Becoming a high functioning organization is within most people’s reach but you need to amp up your mind set. Insist and demand that we aim higher, move faster, develop clear mission posture and awareness, and narrow the focus on what matters. There are many other aspects so consider this as a journey you would embark on. While I have done a few of these, I am still on the journey every day myself.
Will you discuss your 5 steps to rapid growth and meaningful change?
Amp It Up tees up these principles:
Raise Your Standards: Too often, our daily existence feels like going through the motions, checking boxes, getting things off our desk. Good enough has become the standard. It sucks the life out of organizations. It doesn’t take that much more mental energy to raise the bar. Expect and demand that we’re excited and thrilled about what we’re doing. The standard is not “passable.” It should be what the late Steve Jobs called “insanely great.” Try applying that standard on a daily basis.
Align Your People: The lack of alignment in organizations is everywhere because it doesn’t just happen by osmosis. Humans are not known for pulling on the same oar in the same direction. If you’ve ever seen five-year-olds playing soccer, you know what that looks like. A lack of alignment results in friction, low productivity, marginal progress, and becomes exponentially more pronounced as organizations grow in numbers.
Narrow Your Focus: Most organizations don’t have much orientation. They try to progress with a million things to do, a mile wide and an inch deep. It feels like swimming in glue, moving like molasses. Narrow the plane of attack. Instead of moving in parallel, sequence the priority. Figure out what needs to happen first, now, and what doesn’t at all. Park everything else on the backburner. Take things off people’s plates instead of putting more stuff on. The energy and pace will pick up immediately.
Pick Up The Pace: Absent leadership, people will move at a glacial pace. Ever seen the inside of a California DMV? There is no purpose, no direction, no urgency. Almost everybody has room up on tempo because they naturally slow down to a trickle. Start compressing time frames. Question and challenge timelines at every turn. It’s actually quite easy because most people do not know why they are timelining things a certain way. They are after comfort, not purpose.
Transform Your Strategy: Most of Amp It Up is execution-centric but there obviously is a strategic vector as well. The issue is that execution comes first. You cannot transform strategy without optimizing execution because it is impossible to know what is ailing. Why transform strategy when you are merely a lousy executer? You will become a much better strategist as you become a better operator because it will sort and magnify the issues properly. Most problems tend to be execution-related but humans prefer to tweak strategy instead, especially in places like Silicon Valley where strategy talk is some kind of high-minded parlor game. You can go far with world-class execution whereas you will go nowhere without it, no matter how brilliant your strategy.
Amp it Up expands on these principles and uses the examples and learning at Data Domain, ServiceNow and Snowflake to illustrate the ideas.
What do you see as the keys to effective leadership and how do you describe your management style?
I describe my management focus as “mission-driven.” The mission creates constant focus and context to everything we do, and helps us avoid and fight off inevitable distractions, things that do not have sufficient or any mission relevance. Having a clear, compelling and credible mission is an absolute requirement. Everything else flows from there. Without it, you become a rudderless ship.
In terms of personal attributes, you need to develop personal conviction and courage. If you seek approval – try to please and appease – you will be a marginal leader. Popularity is optional. Steve Jobs was quoted as saying that if he wanted to be popular he’d be selling ice cream. Paradoxically, you will be wildly popular when you win, and you will have no friends when you lose. You’re no different than a football coach. They want you to win championships – not to be a cool guy or gal to hang out with.
Your life journey took you from a teenage maintenance worker to a groundbreaking leader. What do you attribute to your ability to overcome obstacles and achieve success?
A relentless pursuit of whatever the task or mission at hand is. There are no silver bullets or quick fixes. It’s hard to stop somebody who is completely resolved and committed to making things happen. I learned early on that dogged persistence can carry you a long way. Planning and organization can massively amplify a committed mission posture. Goals drive behavior and are powerful in their own right. Not having goals makes you rudderless.
Did you always know that you had an entrepreneurial spirit and desire to build your own company?
Strictly speaking, I am not an entrepreneur because I never started a company. I did join one of our companies, Data Domain, as CEO at an early stage, before it had customers or revenue. I am best described as what they call an “operator” in Silicon Valley – somebody who runs things, as distinct from somebody who starts things (entrepreneurs/ founders) or funds things (venture capitalists). I am a builder at heart though – that seems to be my DNA. I am not motivated by rewards or outcomes per se. I am inspired by envisioning and building great things. The reward is in the journey.
With all that you have accomplished in your career, do you take moments to reflect and celebrate the wins?
I am not much of a congratulator or a celebrator. I don’t do victory laps. As in football, we are supposed to score touchdowns, so what is the point of celebrating in the end zone? I am always on to the next play. I was semi-retired for a few years not long ago and I found having all the time in the world to be a quite satisfying experience. But, eventually I ended up back in the arena; it’s in my temperament. When I do reflect on our experiences, it is often when I receive a random text, sometimes late at night on the weekend, from a former employee who wants to express their gratitude for how profoundly the journey has affected them and their families. That’s a source of reward we never tire of.
What advice do you offer to young people beginning their careers during this unprecedented time?
I wrote another LinkedIn article called “Amp Up Your Career” which is intended for young people. It has many pointers, but one stands out – I always suggest they are careful about the so-called “elevator” they are about to step into rather than the job description, title, location and compensation. The “elevator” is a metaphor for the company and, like elevators, some companies go up, some go down and some don’t move at all and there’s not much you can do about it, no matter what your individual merit. So choose wisely; forget the job, they come and go. Instead, pick a good elevator.•
Addressing Hunger in America
An Interview with Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Chief Executive Officer, Feeding America
EDITORS’ NOTE Claire Babineaux-Fontenot serves as Chief Executive Officer of Feeding America. Prior to joining Feeding America, she spent 13 years as a part of Walmart’s leadership team with her most recent role being Executive Vice President and Global Treasurer. In this role, she had global responsibility for tax, treasury operations, capital markets, investor relations, global risk management, casualty and self-insurance leading teams across 28 countries with over 1,000 associates worldwide. Before Walmart, she was partner-in-charge of the Baton Rouge office and tax practice leader for Adams and Reese LLP, one of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Law Firms.” Earlier in her career, she was dispute resolution practice group leader for the southwest region at PwC (formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers) and an assistant secretary for the Office of Legal Affairs for the State of Louisiana. Later, Babineaux-Fontenot served on a number of nonprofit boards including the Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, the board of directors and audit committee for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and the board of trustees and finance and audit committee for the National Urban League and the National Association of Black Accountants. She also was on the corporate advisory board for the Association of Latino Professionals for America. Additionally, she served on the global board of directors and executive committee of the Walmart Foundation. Her board experience also includes the board and the audit committee for Walmart Chile S.A, chair of the board of directors for ATLAS Technical Consultants and audit committee member and nominating and governance committee chair at Charah Solutions. Babineaux-Fontenot was named one of TIME’s 100 most influential pioneers, leaders, titans, artists and icons of 2020. She holds a BS degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette; a JD from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and a Master of Laws in Taxation from SMU Dedman School of Law in Dallas, Texas. ORGANIZATION BRIEF Feeding America® (feedingamerica.org) is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 6.6 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve, brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation, and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry.
What excited you about the opportunity to lead Feeding America and made you feel it was the right fit?
Two things rise to the top of the list: the fact that the impact on people’s lives is so meaningful and that the challenges, though
difficult, are actually solvable. A country that throws away over 66 billion pounds of perfectly edible food each year (not counting household waste) can choose not to have any of its people struggle with food insecurity. We are far from daunted – though the work is certainly not done, we’re really making progress! As for what led me to Feeding America, you probably don’t have enough room in this piece for the whole story. It will need to suffice to say that I’ve always known that we do not need to look to distant shores to find people who do Claire Babineaux-Fontenot not have access to enough nutritious food. I’ve had remarkable professional opportunities and a career that exceeds even my childhood fantasies about “what I’m going to be when I grow up.” Corny though it may sound, I think all of those experiences that I couldn’t understand the “why” of have led me to this one – the greatest chance I’ve ever had to provide meaningful service to people. I’ve been privileged to partner with so many people across this country who show generosity and kindness to their neighbors. Blue Ridge Area Food Bank volunteers unload produce at Mobile Food Pantry distribution in Rustburg, Virginia as they prepare to serve the neighbors that visit during the pandemic
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot attends the grand opening of the new food bank in Puerto Rico
How do you define Feeding America’s mission and purpose?
Feeding America exists to ensure that every person in the United States, no matter where they live, has equitable access to enough nutritious food for a healthy life. We understand that achieving that mission will take more than the conventional concept of food banking and it will take more than just us. So, who are we? Our network includes more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, serving all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. To be sure, getting food to people who need it is core to what we do – from last summer (2020) to this one (2021) our network provided 6.6 billion meals to people facing hunger. We did not stop there. We also recognize that while the food we provide meets people’s immediate needs, it is critical that we also address the factors that cause people to experience food insecurity in the first place.
In partnership with food banks, policymakers, supporters, community partners and people with lived experience of hunger, we also support programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people who utilize food bank services, bring attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation, and advocate for legislation designed to provide the food access that everyone needs and deserves.
Is there an effective understanding today about the critical state of hunger in America and what more can be done to build a better understanding of this crisis?
The pandemic certainly raised awareness of the existence of hunger in America. I doubt that we will soon forget those lines of cars that went on for miles, sometimes lined up for hours before the distributions started, waiting for food. The lines included so many people who never imagined being there, having suddenly lost their jobs and turned to our network for support. My concern is that the American public will wrongly think all is well now. But the lines have returned to the insides of buildings – the most recent estimates from the USDA are that 38 million people are food insecure.
To heighten the awareness that the crisis continues for so many and that tens of millions of people in this country were living with food insecurity before the pandemic will require partnerships. Trusted sources like yourselves will need to continue to write and televise stories about the ongoing challenges. We will need to celebrate the successes when we have breakthroughs and “fail fast” and learn quickly when something isn’t working.
A key and essential missing voice in this work is that of people with lived experience of hunger. They are our key partners and those who are most impacted by our actions or inactions. Imagine how catalytic it would be if they – nearly 40 million people with invaluable expertise – were more actively engaged in this work alongside charitable organizations, lawmakers, community groups, schools, faith-based communities and members of the general public who together truly decide that hunger in our country is unacceptable. If all of those constituencies came together it would have an amazing impact.
How has the work of Feeding America evolved and will you provide an overview of Feeding America’s initiatives?
The Feeding America network was established in the late 1970s as food banks started operating across the country. In fact, our founder is credited with creating the very first food bank. Our network has grown to be the largest hunger-relief organization in the country. The initial focus was food rescue and food assistance. The food banks of today have not forgotten – and in fact have improved upon – that important aspect of what we provide, and they have become so much more. They are pillars in their communities, providing food, nutrition assistance, benefits outreach and even job skills training programs. Food banks are a part of their communities, partnering with thousands of local nonprofits and reaching tens of millions of people each year.
We know that we cannot be all things to all people, but our access, infrastructure, credibility and resources uniquely position us to be better partners than we have ever been. We are doubling down in four key areas where we believe doing so will result in positive, material and sustainable change: 1. FEED – All people have reliable access to a nutritious mix of food. We are engaging technology and other resources to more quickly, more deeply and more equitably provide food to our food-insecure neighbors. 2. NOURISH – All people facing hunger have the support they need to make healthy choices. We are increasing the nutritional values of our offerings and providing nutrition training that raises awareness of the impact of those new choices on health and well-being, including preparation training and recipes. 3. EMPOWER – All people facing hunger have access to economic mobility pathways. We provide job skills training and employment pathways and support data-informed public policies known to support economic mobility and food security. 4. UNITE – People take action to end hunger. We work to create bigger tables and more chairs with people facing hunger at the center and with a critical and influential seat, joined by partners across the spectrum of public, private and philanthropic partnerships working toward our vision of an America where no one is hungry.
Will you discuss the impact that COVID-19 has placed on the issue of hunger in America?
Tens of millions of people in our country have long struggled with hunger. COVID-19 has shone a bright light on the challenges that so many face. It has also made clear just how close many of us are to waiting in one of those long lines. It made it easier for us to now ask: What if all income earners, or even one, in my home suddenly lost their job for reasons other than a pandemic? What if I lost everything that I earned in a hurricane, tornado or wildfire? What if medical expenses outpaced my income? What if I suddenly had no access to childcare, so I couldn’t take that job that I really wanted or had to leave one that I really love? These questions have become easier to process with empathy because of the pandemic. Maybe that newfound empathy will be channeled into actions. The good news is that we’ve seen so many more people do just that, but there’s more work to be done.
How did Feeding America adapt the way it works to address the challenges caused by the pandemic and how proud are you to see the resilience of your team during this unprecedented time?
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot volunteers in south Louisiana after Hurricane Ida
The Feeding America network has a long history of rising to crises, like natural disasters, but never in our history have we been called upon to respond to such a widespread and enduring crisis as this pandemic. I am unapologetic in my pride for our network at the national offices, at food banks and across our remarkable partner organizations. We’ve collectively shown such resilience and innovation. To stand in community with people facing hunger despite the personal risks from the very start of the pandemic to today, after standing with them since the very first food bank was created by our founder so many decades ago, is something to behold. To do so, when demand increases practically overnight by 70 percent, is something to laud and respect – I know that I do.
Food banks adapted their operating models almost overnight to provide a safe environment for our volunteers, staff and our neighbors facing hunger. Most noticeably, you saw drive-through distributions, which were the most efficient and safest ways to get food to people in need. Food banks also piloted home-delivery programs to drop off food boxes to seniors and families that could not attend a food distribution. Many food banks embraced technology as a way to reach more neighbors in need, providing an online ordering system where they could schedule a pickup at a convenient time and location. You will remember from my earlier response that together, we distributed a record 6.6 billion meals last fiscal year, the most we had ever distributed as a network. This unprecedented feat was accomplished against unprecedented difficulties.
What do you see as the keys to effective leadership and how do you describe your leadership style?
Others are the better arbiters of whether my approach is effective, but I can certainly speak to what I’m attempting to do and how I’m attempting to do it. I suppose it can be summarized into: 1. Care – People are strikingly good at sensing what other people believe in or, said differently, they can tell when you are being authentic.
Care for the People – Have you ever met a person who was a people leader and thought, “I don’t really think that he likes people very much?” I know that I have. When contemplating my own path to people leadership, advising others who aspire to it or deciding whether to promote or hire someone into it, I ask that fundamental question, “do they care about people?” There will be moments when things that are happening in the lives of team members are and should be more important to them than the work assignments they’ve been given. If that’s difficult for you to conceive or accommodate, don’t lead humans.
Care for the Work – It’s been my practice to engage in work that I truly care about – choosing an organization whose mission speaks to you, as I have with Feeding America, is only one way to do that. I’ve also found authentic inspiration to work in companies or disciplines because I had a unique opportunity to provide a diverse perspective or I thought others with a passion for the area would feel more confident in pursuing it because I provided an example of someone who was successful in the space and came from a similar background (e.g., first generation high school/college/law school graduate, woman in leadership, person of color in leadership, HBCU graduate in a position of influence, etc.). 2. Serve – How I define my job description has not changed since 1989 when I got my first job. It is when I got “a clue” about how to thrive in them. My longtime job description is to lend whatever resources I have to the organization in which I have the privilege to serve. That means that, while I am certainly not competent to do every job, no job in my organization is beneath me. Importantly, it also means that it is my responsibility to serve the team and to adopt an enterprise view. 3. Count – It has been said that “one moves what one measures.” My experiences have taught me that such is absolutely true. I came to Feeding America from a role as a finance executive. I’ve joined a team that is purpose-driven and highly sophisticated in finance. We’ve made a number of critically important decisions, a shift toward an outcomes framework is chief among them. We are holding ourselves accountable to be a part of moving metrics that matter to the ultimate arbiters of our success – people facing hunger. We’ve mapped out a Vision, a Mission, a Strategy, Priorities, Incentives and Dashboards to monitor progress and decide when midcourse corrections are necessary.
Did you always know that you were attracted to this type of work and that this was your passion?
While my path may not always have been clear to me, I believe that all of my experiences led to this place. I am fortunate to have been raised by parents who possessed an extraordinary capacity for love and generosity. Over the course of their lives, they raised 108 children who came into my family through biology, foster care and adoption. Most of my brothers and sisters became members of our family after experiencing some form of neglect or abuse, and most of them suffered from hunger. Until they joined my great big family, that is. I witnessed the restorative power that food had on their bodies and spirits. In this role, I have come full circle and returned to a cause that was so familiar to me as a child.
How do you measure success of Feeding America’s work and how important is it for the organization to take moments to celebrate the wins?
Our success will be measured by our partners who live with food insecurity and the positive, sustained and tangible impact on their lives. Success won’t come swiftly or easily because there is no quick answer to a problem as complex as hunger. It will be important for us to celebrate the moments and milestones we reach on our journey to an America where no one is hungry.
My hope is that we build on the momentum we’ve begun and the lessons we’ve learned from the pandemic to meaningfully address hunger in America. We have an awareness now, and we have a desire, and I know that we have the resources. If we can match up all three of those, we’ll get to real, lasting solutions.•
Public Health
An Interview with Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, Dean of the School of Public Health, Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health
EDITORS’ NOTE A practicing physician, Ashish K. Jha, M.D., MPH, is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as on health policy research and practice. He has led groundbreaking research around Ebola and is now on the front lines of the COVID-19 response, leading national and international analysis of key issues and advising state and federal policy makers. He came to Brown University School of Public Health after leading the Harvard Global Health Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Jha has published more than two hundred original research publications in prestigious journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the BMJ, and is a frequent contributor to a range of public media. He has extensively researched how to improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare, focusing on the impact of public health policy nationally and around the globe. Dr. Jha was born in Pursaulia, Bihar, India in 1970. He moved to Toronto, Canada in 1979 and then to the United States in 1983. In 1992, Dr. Jha graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a BA in economics. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1997 and then trained as a resident in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He returned to Boston to complete his fellowship
in General Medicine from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In 2004, he completed his Master of Public Health degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013. INSTITUTION BRIEF Brown University School of Public Health (brown.edu/academics/public-health) is committed to tackling pressing health Ashish K. Jha challenges and improving population health by advancing science and training tomorrow’s leaders. Its nationally renown research centers have expertise in key aspects of health and the ability to translate cutting-edge research into high-impact policies and care initiatives. The School’s studentcentered academic training and culture of collaboration prepare future health leaders to respond to urgent health challenges. Public Health at Brown goes beyond preventing disease to reshaping healthcare and safeguarding vulnerable populations.
How do you define the Brown University
School of Public Health’s mission and purpose?
Our mission is to champion health and health equity around the world, to improve the health of all populations, especially those most vulnerable, by producing world-class public health scholarships, forging strong community partnerships, and educating the next generation of diverse public health leaders. We tackle the big challenges facing human health and engage deeply with the world to meet these challenges.
Brown University School of Public Health has a clearly defined set of values. Will you highlight these values and how they are at the foundation of the Brown University School of Public Health’s culture?
We value diversity, equity and inclusion, excellence and innovation, collaboration and community, curiosity and truth. These values are central to making the Brown School of Public Health an open, nurturing, and welcoming environment to those who don’t always fit in at more traditional public health institutions or who don’t think of themselves in the context of public health. We can stretch boundaries to bring in people who share our values and goals to work with us to confront what the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed: the social determinants of health, the racial inequities, the weaknesses in our public health infrastructure, the need for new global collaborations and partnerships.
Will you provide an overview of the Brown University School of Public Health’s initiatives and focus areas?
This is a dynamic time for the Brown University School of Public Health. We are working both on ensuring the strength of existing areas of focus and moving to advance new initiatives central to addressing urgent global challenges such as climate change and its impact on global public health. Important
work continues on addiction, aging and mental health, as we move to create new centers for research, education and action on pandemic preparedness, climate change and health, data science, combating information disorders and addressing racism in public health to promote equity.
How critical is the focus on research to Brown University School of Public Health’s impact and efforts?
The Brown University School of Public Health ranks among the top five schools of public health for NIH funding with $64 million in annual external funding. Our nationally renowned research centers and institutes focus training and research on key areas including HIV/AIDS, addiction, global health, aging and environmental health and will expand to include pandemic preparedness, climate change and health, and data science, among others.
You have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 response. Where does the fight against the pandemic stand today?
The fight isn’t over, as Americans and people around the globe recognize. We have new tools to fight COVID-19 – importantly, safe and effective vaccines, now available to children, too. We know how to stop and slow transmission, the importance of vaccines but also of mask-wearing indoors, and improving ventilation. Still, misinformation and disinformation keep too many from getting vaccinated and recognizing the difference between what works in stopping the spread of COVID-19 and what doesn’t. We have made a lot of progress in the U.S. at a high cost in human suffering and death. People in too many nations have paid – and are still paying – the same price. We must do more to get more people vaccinated, here and around the globe, continue testing, improve data collection and analysis, and confront the inequities in our healthcare system that have left people in communities of color and economic stress bearing an unfair burden throughout this pandemic.
How critical is it that there is a focus on lessons learned from the pandemic in order to be better prepared to address future public health crises?
It is urgently and critically important to learn from this pandemic as we have from earlier pandemics. That process is already underway around our country and the globe. We are moving to advance this work through a new Center for Pandemic Preparedness we are creating at the Brown University School of Public Health.
What do you see as the keys to effective leadership and how do you describe your leadership style?
Effective leaders are good listeners and communicators, able to collaborate and create consensus around advancing shared values and goals. These skills – listening, communicating, collaborating, advancing shared goals – are central to my approach to this work.
Did you always know that you were attracted to this type of work and that this was your passion?
In high school, I thought I wanted to be a journalist and started down that path in college, but I found I really liked science. I spent college summers in India, where we lived with my father’s older brother, a medical doctor. Every morning, he would make rounds through his village. He provided most of that care for free, but the poor people he cared for would try to pay him with rice or other food. I loved that interaction and it moved me to consider medical school. It was in medical school that my passion for health and public health began.
How do you measure the success of the Brown University School of Public Health’s work and how important is it for the organization to take moments to celebrate the wins?
We aim to impact and inform public information and public health policy in the U.S. and around the globe. In this time of a pandemic, it has been difficult to stop for celebration when so many challenges remain that make the “wins” illusive, but it is important to recognize positive impact and change and to keep moving.
What advice do you offer to young people interested in a career in medicine?
Go for it! Talk to people who are engaged in medicine and public health. Where and when you can spend time with them on the job, do so to understand what they do and what it takes. This pandemic has pushed too many away from medicine and healthcare; this is hard – and in a pandemic especially – risky work. But it’s a field where you can literally change people’s lives, health and well-being. It is so worth doing.•
