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Kathy Calvin      

Former President & CEO of the United Nations Foundation

Kathy Calvin served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation from 2013 to 2019. The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner's historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. Calvin first joined the UN Foundation in 2003, and under her leadership, the organization focused on advocating for the UN and connecting people, ideas, and resources to help the United Nations solve global problems. As a public charity with many other partners, the UN Foundation's work is concentrated on decreasing child mortality, empowering women and girls, creating a clean energy future, using mobile technology for development, and improving U.S.-UN relations.

Before joining the UN Foundation, Calvin served as President of the AOL Time Warner Foundation, where she guided AOL Time Warner's other philanthropic activities and was the chief architect of the company's corporate responsibility initiatives. She initially joined America Online in 1997 as Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer. Prior to this, she was a Senior Managing Director at Hill and Knowlton, a global public relations company, where she led the U.S. Media Relations practice. For 12 years before that, Calvin was the Director of Editorial Administration for U.S. News & World Report. From 1976 through 1984, she served as Senator Gary Hart's press secretary in his Senate office and in the 1984 presidential campaign.

In addition to her career, Calvin is recognized as one of The B Team B Leaders, a group of leaders from the business and non-profit sectors who advocate for better ways of doing business. She was recognized in 2011 by Newsweek magazine as one of "150 Women Who Shake the World" and was listed in Fast Company's "League of Extraordinary Woman" in 2012. She was also honored with the Women and the Green Economy (WAGE) Leadership Award at the Climate Leadership Gala in 2018 and was named Administrator of the Year by the Romney Institute of Public Management at the BYU Marriott School of Business in 2019.

Throughout her career, Calvin has actively participated in a range of philanthropic activities, including the boards of the International Women's Media Foundation, City Year, Internews, Newseum, Share Our Strength, the United Nations Association of the United States of America, and the East-West Center. Calvin graduated from Purdue University and has received numerous awards for leadership and philanthropy.

News


Behind the career: Kathy Calvin - The Washington Post
Kathy Calvin was 26 years old when she was asked to be then-Sen. Gary Hart's press secretary.
UN Foundation President and CEO Kathy Calvin: The Global ...
United Nations Foundation President & CEO Kathy Calvin highlights important commitments made toward polio eradication at the Global Vaccine Summit and ...
9 books UN Foundation's Kathy Calvin thinks you should read ...
Kathy Calvin, president and CEO of the United Nations Foundation, on what it means to be a girl, the methods with the greatest impact and the power of standing ...

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