Judith Seitz Rodin
Judith Rodin is president of The Rockefeller Foundation, a position she has held since March 2005. She was previously president of the University of Pennsylvania and the provost of Yale University.
The first women to lead the Foundation in its 103-year history, Dr. Rodin has recalibrated the institution’s focus areas and goals to create and scale innovative solutions to 21st century problems in an era marked by unprecedented disruption, volatility, and complexity. The Rockefeller Foundation today supports work that promotes more inclusive economies and strengthens resilience to social, economic and physical challenges—affirming its pioneering philanthropic mission since 1913 to promote the well-being of humanity.
An internationally recognized leader in academia, science, and global development, Dr. Rodin is an a sought-after participant at influential global forums, including the World Economic Forum, Clinton Global Initiative, and United Nations General Assembly. In 2014, she was a co-chair of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Dr. Rodin was also a member of the African Development Bank’s High Level Panel, and is a board member of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (co-created by The Rockefeller Foundation).
When Dr. Rodin was named president of the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, she was the first woman named to lead an Ivy League institution, and the first Penn graduate to serve as its president. Under her leadership, Penn doubled its research funding, tripled both its annual fundraising and the size of its endowment, and attracted record numbers of undergraduate applicants, including its most selective classes in history. The University also engineered a comprehensive, internationally acclaimed neighborhood revitalization program in West Philadelphia.
A pioneer of the behavioral medicine health psychology movements, Dr. Rodin was trained as a research psychologist.In recognition of her scientific achievements, Dr. Rodin served on President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology and is a member of several leading academic societies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
She has authored of more than 250 academic articles and chapters, and has written or co-written 15 books, including her most recent, The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong (Public Affairs 2014). Dr. Rodin has been named to Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list three years in a row, as well as the National Association of Corporate Directors' (NACD's) 2011 Directorship 100, in recognition of her work promoting the highest standards of corporate governance.