Good Things Happen E6: Embracing Demographics

Melissa Gong Mitchell is Executive Director of the Global Coalition on Aging, the leading business voice on aging policy and strategy. She also serves as Senior Managing Director at High Lantern Group, a strategic communications consulting firm. GCOA uniquely brings together global corporations across industry sectors to promote good public policy and market-based solutions to enable healthy aging and drive growth in the silver economy. In her role, Melissa is responsible for the operations and management of the coalition, internal and external advocacy and communication strategies, and member and stakeholder outreach and development, including fostering relationships and aligning partners across industry, academia, the NGO community, advocacy organizations, governments and global institutions. Melissa has spoken around the world about the opportunities of the aging mega-trend and the role of business in leveraging aging for economic growth. She has served as a Board Member of Champions of Aging, a non-profit aimed at strengthening cross-generational connections by offering paid service year opportunities to college students and graduates, as well as a member of the Professions Working Group for Age-friendly New York City and a member of the Benefit Committee of the Skin Cancer Foundation. Her more than 20 years of public affairs experience includes specialties in policy-related and CEO-level strategic communications, advocacy campaigns and coalition building. Previously, Melissa was Director of Industry Relations and Strategic Outreach at the U.S. Travel Association, responsible for grassroots development and industry initiatives, having driven multiple campaigns leading to positive legislative outcomes. Prior to U.S. Travel, she served as Executive Director of the Travel Business Roundtable, a CEO-based advocacy organization, and an associate at Prime Policy Group (formerly BKSH & Associates), a Washington-based government affairs firm. Melissa holds an MBA from Georgetown University and a BA in Journalism and Psychology from the University of Mississippi.

Professor Ian Goldin was the founding Director of the Oxford Martin School from September 2006 to September 2016. He is currently Oxford University Professor of Globalisation and Development, Senior Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, a Professorial Fellow at the University’s Balliol College and responsible for the Oxford Martin School Programmes on the Future of Work, Technological and Economic Change, and Future of Development. During his decade as Director the School established 45 programmes of research, bringing together more than 500 academics from across Oxford, from over 100 disciplines, and becoming the world’s leading centre for interdisciplinary research into critical global challenges. Professor Goldin initiated and was Vice-Chair of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, which brought together international leaders from government, business, academia, media and civil society to address the growing short-term preoccupations of modern politics and business, and identify ways of overcoming today’s gridlock in key international negotiations. The Commission's report, Now for the Long Term, was published in October 2013. From 2003 to 2006 he was Vice President of the World Bank, and prior to that the Bank’s Director of Development Policy (2001-2003). He served on the Bank’s senior management team and led the Bank’s collaboration with the United Nations and other partners as well as with key countries. As Director of Development Policy, he played a pivotal role in the research and strategy agenda of the Bank. From 1996 to 2001 he was Chief Executive and Managing Director of the Development Bank of Southern Africa and served as an advisor to President Nelson Mandela. He succeeded in transforming the Bank to become the leading agent of development in the 14 countries of Southern Africa. During this period, Goldin served on several Government committees and Boards, and was Finance Director for South Africa’s Olympic Bid. Previously, Goldin was Principal Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, and Program Director at the OECD Development Centre in Paris, where he directed the Programs on Trade, Environment and Sustainable Development. He has a BA (Hons) and a BSc from the University of Cape Town, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and an MA and Doctorate from the University of Oxford. Goldin has received wide recognition for his contributions to development and research, including having been knighted by the French Government and nominated Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. He is the presenter of three BBC series After the Crash, Will AI Kill Development? and The Pandemic That Changed the World and has published over 50 articles and 23 books, the most recent of which are Rescue: From Global Crisis to a Better World, and Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years.

Nathan Sheets, PhD, is Global Chief Economist at Citigroup. In this role, he leads the firm’s surveillance and forecasting of the global economy and directs the analysis of the firm’s economics team. He interacts closely with Citi’s major institutional clients and internal risk takers, and publishes research on cross-cutting themes shaping the global economy and financial markets. Most recently, Mr. Sheets was Chief Economist and a member of the senior investment team at PGIM Fixed Income, a $900 billion asset manager. He also has served as Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Affairs, representing the U.S. government on international economic issues. Previously, he held positions with Citigroup, as Global Head of International Economics, and with the Federal Reserve Board, as Director of the Division of International Finance and FOMC Economist. In addition, Mr. Sheets was a senior advisor to the U.S. Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund and a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.