FSI Council Directory

Susan Liautaud is the Founder and Managing Director of Susan Liautaud & Associates Limited. She also serves as Chair of Council (trustees) of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Sohaib Abbasi served as the CEO and president of Informatica Corporation from 2004-2015. Currently, Sohaib serves as Chairman of Udemy and Vice Chairman of Elastic. Additionally, he serves as a senior advisor at Texas Pacific Group (TPG).

Tarek AbuZayyad is a director at Rezayat Group and co-founder of Eighteen48 Partners and Initial Capital. Previously, he was a partner at Stanhope Capital and a director at Credit Suisse/Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette in the mergers and acquisitions departments.

Jared Cohen is president of Global Affairs and co- head of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, and is a member of the Management Committee and the Firmwide Client Franchise Committee. He is also an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ms. Cranston is the retired Chair Emeritus of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She was elected to three successive terms as the Chair and CEO of this Global 100 law firm. She is currently a member of the boards of Chemours, TPG Inc, and Go Health and US Rowing.

Susan Ford Dorsey is the president of the Sand Hill Foundation. Prior, Susan was the founder and President of Health Innovations. She serves on the boards of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Bill Draper is the co-founder and co-chair of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. He was a trustee of Yale University and has served on the board of Hoover Institution and as a member of the FSI Advisory Board.

Sakurako “Sako” D. Fisher is a cofounder of O2 Initiatives and served as a trustee of Stanford University from 2015-2025. She is the recent past chair of the Smithsonian National Board and immediate past president of the San Francisco Symphony, of which she remains a board member.

Brad is a general partner of Freeman Spogli & Co and is currently a board member of CB Richard Ellis. He serves on the board of The Center for the Study of the Presidency in Washington, DC, and he served on the Stanford Board of Trustees from 1995-2005.

Arun Gupta is the CEO of NobleReach, a venture capitalist, and lecturer at Stanford in Washington adjunct professor. Prior to NobleReach, Arun spent 18 years at Columbia Capital, initiating the firm’s cybersecurity and government technology investments with a focus on National Security, AI, and SaaS/Cloud infrastructure sectors.

Nina Hachigian most recently served as the first Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy in the State Department under President Biden. Prior, Nina spent five years as the first deputy mayor of international affairs for Los Angeles. She also served as U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 2014-2017.

Phil Halperin is a founder of both California Education Partners and the Silver Giving Foundation and has dedicated his career to the California's public school system. Phil is also a member of the VPUE Kitchen Cabinet and the Office of Development LEAD Council.

Gail Harris is currently the Lead Director of Evercore Inc. and Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Prior to their sale, she was on the board of Seacor Holdings Inc., and Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, where she was Lead Director and Chair of the Outside Directors/Audit Committee.

Yana Kalika is the President of The Koum Family Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to advancing global Jewish causes, driving innovation in healthcare, and strengthening local communities. Under her leadership, the Foundation applies a flexible, impact-driven approach to meet the evolving needs of Jewish communities, while also supporting bold initiatives in health and social innovation. Prior, Yana spent nearly eight years at Genentech as a Program Manager and held consulting roles in the technology sector.

Jae Youl Kim is currently President of Samsung Global Strategy Group. He is a veteran South Korean sports administrator and was elected president of the International Skating Union (ISU) in 2022, and to the International Olympic Committee in 2023.

Rich Kushel is senior managing director at Blackrock, head of the Portfolio Management Group and member of the Global Executive and Global Operating Committees. He is also the Global Executive Committee sponsor of the firm’s Black Professionals Network.

Anna Makanju is a public policy and legal expert and currently the Head of AI for Civil Society and Philanthropy at the OpenAI Foundation. Previously, she served as VP of Global Impact at OpenAI.

Bill McKenna serves as the President, CEO, and Principal of Footprint Retail Services. Prior to this role, Bill was the President and Chief Executive Officer and Principal of Schwarz Supply.

Jack Mosbacher is a partner at Watchfire Ventures. Prior, Jack spent a decade as a touring musician, producer, and professional theatre actor. Jack began his career as a research associate at FSI in 2012; his research and writing have been featured in Foreign Affairs, The Washington Quarterly, and The Los Angeles Times.

Ken Olivier was the Chairman, CEO, and President of Dodge & Cox. He joined Dodge & Cox in 1979. Previously, he was a member of the Stanford Board of Trustees and served on the Stanford Management Company’s Board of Directors.

Ricky Rosenkranz is an assistant professor of clinical medicine in pediatrics with Children’s Memorial Hospital at Northwestern University, specializing in neonatal and prenatal medicine. He is also the former CEO of Inovamed in Mexico.

Lily Sarafan is the co-founder and executive chair of TheKey, where she served as chief executive through December 2020. She is currently chair of the Board of Trustees at Stanford, and is a member of the Undergraduate Cabinet, the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Council, and the LEAD Council. She is also a board member of Instacart, Serve Robotics, and Thumbtack.

Ron Spogli is the former U.S. Ambassador to the Italian Republic and to the Republic of San Marino. He is a founder of Freeman Spogli & Co. Ron is a member of the Stanford Board of Trustees and the Board of Trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Diane Stewart is an attorney and investor. She serves as Chair of the Global Network for Public Interest Law (PILnet), is a venture partner of Ascension Ventures Limited UK, and owns a legal consultancy. Diane co-founded the Stanford Women’s Network UK and serves on the Advisory Council of Stanford's Clayman Institute for Gender Research.

Scott Swid is the founder and co-CEO of Washday Financing LLC, and is the chairman of Monaco Sports Group. He was previously a fund manager at Kingdon Capital and at Perry Capital, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Gretchen Gerwe Welch is a retired diplomat and arts enthusiast. She retired from the State Department in 2012 after a thirty-two-year career focused primarily on management and operations, where she served overseas in Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Kingdom, and held senior positions in Washington DC.