Advisors to the Global URI
The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, President
Bishop William Swing is the President and Founder of the URI. Bishop Swing had the original vision of URI in 1993 in response to an invitation from the United Nations which asked him to host an interfaith service honoring the 50th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. Bishop Swing served as the Episcopal Bishop of California from 1980 until his retirement in 2006. In that capacity, he was a national and international leader in response to the AIDS crisis, co-founded Episcopal Community Services to address San Francisco’s homeless problem, and co-founded Community Bank of the Bay to support local businesses and the economy.
John Weiser, Chairperson
John Weiser served as a partner in the New York law firm of Shearman & Sterling. He joined Bechtel Group in 1980 as General Counsel and Director. After retiring in 1996, he became a trustee of the Graduate Theological Union and served as Chairman of the Board for eight years. He was also a director of XL Capital Ltd for 20 years, serving there as Chairman of the Governance Committee and Chairman of the
Compensation Committee. He currently serves as a trustee of the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation. John and his wife Maria have eight children and eleven grandchildren.
Lord Amir Bhatia
After leaving India, Lord Bhatia joined his family business in Tanzania. He administered some 55 Kindergarten and technical schools, and managed a large scholarship program which enabled students to receive a university education in Europe, U.S.A., Canada and other parts of the world. After arriving in the UK in 1972 (where he lives now) he built a successful business and has become an outstanding leader and champion of social and charitable causes in the UK. As an Ismaili Muslim, Lord Bhatia has been involved in a wide range of initiatives focused on ethnic minorities. He is on the Board of the Queens Awards for Enterprise Advisory Committee, the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, St. Christopher Hospice, Project Fullemploy, Overseas Students Hostels, Water Aid Project and many more. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1977 and was amongst the 15 peers appointed from 3000 nominations to the House of Lords in 2001.
William K. Bowes, Jr.
Mr. William K. Bowes has had three careers – each somehow leading to the next. After twenty-five years of investment banking in San Francisco, he founded U.S. Venture Partners in 1981, providing him with the opportunity to help create initiatives at their earliest stage. “Venture Philanthropy” followed naturally and has included “Start-ups”; financing initiatives inside established institutions; larger “transformative” investments in institutions. The following Board and Advisory Council assignments are indicative of areas of interest: the University of California San Francisco Foundation, Exploratorium, Grace Cathedral, Environmental Defense Fund, Stanford’s Bio-X, Asian Art Museum, QB3, Institute for Systems Biology, San Francisco Jazz, Xoma Corporation, Creative Capital, Harvard Business School Visiting Committee, San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
The Honorable George P. Shultz
The Honorable George P. Shultz has had a distinguished career in government service, the private sector and academia. He served as Secretary of State and Chairman of the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board during the Reagan Administration. During the Nixon Administration he served as Secretary of Labor, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Secretary of the Treasury, and Chairman of the Council on Economic Policy. He was also a Senior Staff Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors during the Eisenhower Administration. He has also played a leading role at a number of universities. Secretary Shultz was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1989. He also received the Seoul Peace Prize, the Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service, and the Reagan Distinguished American Award. He rejoined Stanford University in 1989 to teach international economics. He is currently the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Dame Charlotte Mailliard Shultz
Dame Shultz has served seven San Francisco Mayors as Chief of Protocol and Director of Special Events for the City and County of San Francisco. During her tenure, she was responsible for receiving and entertaining many world leaders, including the Pope, Queen Elizabeth, Mikhail Gorbachev and Francois Mitterand. Shultz is a member of many civic boards such as the War Memorial Performing Arts Center, the San Francisco Symphony, Grace Cathedral, the Commonwealth Club of California, and the San Francisco Ballet. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the State of California Woman of the Year Award, the United Nations Association of San Francisco’s Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Commonwealth Club of California’s Distinguished Citizen Award. She is married to former Secretary of State, George P. Shultz.
Wade M. Aubry, M.D.
Wade Aubry is a San Francisco physician who has had a career as a clinician, administrator, health policy researcher, and health care consultant. He is a member of the core faculty of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, a former chief medical officer for Blue Shield of California, and a former chief of staff for Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. Dr. Aubry has served on numerous national health care advisory panels and has international health care experience. He is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, and he has been a supporter and volunteer in varying capacities in the Episcopal Diocese of California over the last two decades, including service on the Board of Trustees of Grace Cathedral during the United Nations 50th Interfaith Service at Grace Cathedral in 1995, which provided a spark for the creation of URI.
Biff Barnard
Biff Barnard has 30 years of experience in small and middle market companies. He is currently owner of Barnard/Montague Capital Advisors. Until recently, Mr. Barnard was a partner of Wood Warren & Co., a middle-market focused advisory firm. Previously he was Managing Director of Caltius Capital Management; Senior Vice President of Allied Capital Corporation; Founder, Chairman, CEO, and President of First Capital Corporation, and one of the founding operating partners of the Rusty Scupper restaurant chain. Mr. Barnard served on the Advisory Council of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, as its Vice Chairman and then Chairman. He is Past-President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and has served on the Board of Directors of ACG-Global. He currently serves on the board of advisors of TS Restaurants. Mr. Barnard received a B.A. from Stanford University. He lives in Walnut Creek, California, with his wife, Connie.
Jonathan Burgstone
Mr. Burgstone is Managing Director of Symbol Capital, a San Francisco-based hedge fund, where he leads the firm’s activities in portfolio management and research. He also serves as Faculty Chair and Adjunct Professor of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. Earlier in his career he was co-founder and CEO of SupplierMarket, then served as Vice President and co-head of corporate development in Ariba. Jonathan has also worked as a high-tech strategy consultant and in general management for Ford Motor Company. He is a trustee of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and serves on boards of the Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School and the University of Illinois College of Engineering. Mr. Burgstone actively supports organizations working to improve education and to promote human rights. For more information: www.burgstone.com/
Bob Freelen
Bob Freelen worked at Stanford University for thirty years where he earned the title of Vice President of Public Affairs Emeritus. He also held senior level positions in Development, the Dean of Students Office, and the Alumni Association. Mr. Freelen then served as Vice President of External Affairs at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He has served as a volunteer in higher education as a board member and Chair of CASE, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, and the Stanford Alumni Association. Mr. Freelen is currently the Vice President of the Stanford Historical Society Board. He has served as a trustee for National University System from 1990-2009. He was Chair of the National Board from 1991-1995 and 2008-2009. He is on leave from the National University Systems Board to serve as National University’s Vice President for University Relations in San Diego.
William P. Fuller
William P. Fuller served as President and CEO of The Asia Foundation from 1989 until 2004 and is currently President Emeritus. From 2004 to 2008 he was Vice Chairman of ChinaVest, a merchant bank with offices in Shanghai, Beijing and San Francisco. Mr. Fuller was Deputy Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C. from 1987 to 1989. He joined USAID in 1981 as Director of the USAID mission in Indonesia. From 1971 to 1981, Mr. Fuller served with the Ford Foundation in Thailand, and later as head of the Foundation’s office in Bangladesh. He worked with the World Bank in Paris, and with UNICEF in Beirut, Cairo, and New York. Mr. Fuller is on the board of the Bank of the Orient in San Francisco, Give2Asia, the World Affairs Council, the Japan Society, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a two-time recipient of the United States President’s Meritorious Service Award and USAID’s Distinguished Honor Prize.
Margaret G. Gill
Margaret has been Chair and President of the Stephen and Margaret Gill Family Foundation since 1999. She was the Senior Vice President of Legal, External Affairs & Secretary from 1994 to 1999 with Air Touch Communications. Prior to this she was Associate of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro from 1966 to 1972, and Partner from 1973 to 1993. She was the Practice Group Manager and Senior Partner, Corporate and Securities Group (46 attorneys in 6 offices) from 1983 to 1993. She is on the Board of Directors/Trustee for Con-Way, Inc., Episcopal Church in the Diocese of California (President through 2008), the San Francisco Ballet (Vice Chair, Chair of the Governance Committee, Chair of the 75th Anniversary Celebrations), and Episcopal Charities (President 2001-2006). She is a member of the International Women’s Forum and Women’s Forum West, and the Wellesley College Capital Campaign Class Committee in California.
Rupert H. Johnson Jr.
Rupert Johnson earned a Bachelor of Arts / Science from Washington and Lee University, and then served as a Marine. He next took over his father’s business, Franklin Templeton, with his half brother, Charles. Johnson is on the board of trustees at Santa Clara University, and has made charitable contributions to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the Delaware Art Museum.
Jill H. Kramer
Jill Kramer is President & CEO of the Kramer Family Foundation; a Director of the Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research in Los Angeles; a Trustee of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and a founder of CLAW, a group dedicated to raising public awareness and support for the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She has been a member of Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation since 1977, and has served in many capacities on the National and Northern California Chapter Boards. Focusing on non-profit organizational development, her other projects have included a pilot program on career development with the Junior League of San Francisco and the San Francisco Community College, as well as the development of Coro Foundation’s pilot project for women over 40. A native of Southern California, Mrs. Kramer lives in San Francisco and the Napa Valley.
Bob Lurie
Bob Lurie has a lifelong dedication to business, civic and community affairs in San Francisco. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1953 before returning home to enter the San Francisco business community. Upon his father’s passing in 1972, Bob Lurie assumed the presidency of the Lurie Company, a San Francisco and Chicago-based real estate company specializing in commercial properties. In 1976, a Lurie Company subsidiary purchased interest in the San Francisco Giants Baseball Club. Under Lurie, the team won the National League Western Division title in 1987 and the National League Championship in 1989. The team was sold to a group of local investors in 1993. Lurie is a vigorous participant in a host of local civic and charitable activities. In addition to his duties with The Lurie Company, he serves as President of the Louis R. Lurie Foundation. Bob is married to Connie, who is active in a wide variety of civic, social and charitable endeavors.
Jane Taylor McCoy
Jane Taylor McCoy spent her childhood in Palo Alto, California, USA, graduated from Smith College in 1966, and received her M.Ed. from Stanford in l967. She moved with her husband, John, to Columbus, Ohio for 30 years where she was active in Planned Parenthood’s Volunteer Speakers program, and served on the boards of The Kenyon Festival Theatre, The Columbus Academy, and The James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State Univ. Though now living in Florida and California, she is still active in LeaderSpark, an Ohio program educating students in leadership skills, and currently serves on the board of The Monterey Museum of Art and the Advisory Council of the Big Sur Land Trust.
Robert A. Oden Jr.
Robert A. Oden Jr. is the past president of Carleton College, an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. He began his tenure on July 1, 2002 and retired in June 2010, which marks the end of Carleton’s current academic year. Oden was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University. He then earned a second bachelor’s degree and a master’s from Cambridge University (where he was a Marshall Scholar) and a master’s in theology and a Ph.D. in near Eastern languages and literatures from Harvard. He served on the faculty of Dartmouth College as a professor of religion from 1972 to 1989, where he was the first recipient of Dartmouth’s Distinguished Teaching Prize. Oden then served in administrative positions, first as headmaster of The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut from 1989 to 1995, and afterwards as president of Kenyon College from 1995 to 2002, when he accepted the presidency at Carleton College. He also currently holds a faculty appointment in the religion department at Carleton, and regularly teaches a fly-fishing course at the college.
James Sherman
James Sherman is an experienced financial executive with strong operational experience in large and mid-sized companies. Following two decades of merchant banking experience in Chicago, London, Sydney, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, he has served as CFO and COO of public and private companies. He now advises operating companies on efficiency measures, organizational and marketing strategies, and financings of debt and equity. James has served on the boards of Cathedral School for Boys (Chairman), Grace Cathedral, The San Francisco Yacht Club Youth Sailing (Chairman), St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church, Shared HR, FGIC, and The Heritage in San Francisco (Chairman). The father of three adult children, he resides in Marin County, California, with his wife of twenty-eight years and two labradors.
Roselyne C. Swig
Ms. Swig is Founder & President of ComCon International, and member of the Board of Directors of The Swig Company and founder of Roselyne C. Swig Artsource (1978-94). She was appointed Director of the U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program by President William J. Clinton (1994-97). She has devoted decades to philanthropic and community service efforts, at local, national and global level with focus on women empowerment, social welfare, fine art, political advocacy and education. Ms. Swig is founder of Partners Ending Domestic Abuse. Additional board memberships include Vital Voices Global Partnership; NCPB/KQED; National Public Radio Foundation; Mills College; SF Art Institute; Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Contemporary Jewish Museum, past-president; AIPAC; American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Ms. Swig is the widow of Richard Lewis Swig and has four children and twelve grandchildren.
Kat Taylor
Kat is active in a variety of social business, public benefit and philanthropic ventures in the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently focuses on beneficial banking services and food systems through two primary organizations. She and her husband, Tom Steyer, are the Founding Directors of OneCalifornia Bank and a Foundation which lends to low-income communities to support local economies and job creation. Kat is also a Founding Director of TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation dedicated to returning to sustainable food production. Kat is a Partner in INKA, a startup renewable food company pioneering closed loop food systems. Since 1986, Kat served on the board of the Good Samaritan Family Resource Center and the Insight Prison Project. Kat has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of KQED, Inc., the Bay Area and Northern California’s public radio and television station. Kat and Tom reside in San Francisco with their four children and many animals.
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Sister Jenna is a spiritual leader, author, radio and TV personality, renowned speaker and founder of the Meditation Museum I & II in metropolitan Washington, DC. Selected as one of the Empower a Billion Women 100 List of Most Influential Global Leaders Empowering Women Worldwide and served as a principal partner with the Oprah Winfrey Network and Values Partnerships on the Oprah Winfrey Belief Team, a community of individuals from diverse spiritual, cultural and faith backgrounds, and as an influential connector, she coordinated bringing on-board organizations and thought leaders to engage in this global dialogue on Belief.
