Lata Reddy

Lata N. Reddy is senior vice president of Inclusive Solutions at Prudential Financial and chair of The Prudential Foundation.

In these roles, Reddy harnesses the power of capital markets to drive financial and social mobility. By combining diversity strategies, impact investments, philanthropy, corporate contributions and employee engagement with Prudential’s full business capabilities, she helps position the company to promote inclusive economic opportunity and sustainable growth.

Under Reddy’s leadership, Prudential became one of the first institutional investors to grow and manage an impact investing portfolio with $1 billion in assets under management. Additionally, she oversees a yearly grant-making budget of $40 million through The Prudential Foundation, and a $20 million corporate contributions budget.

Reddy originally joined Prudential in 1997. Prior to joining Prudential, she was a civil rights attorney with the U.S. Department of Education. Her dedication to promoting equity has spanned her career in the nonprofit, public and private sectors.

In addition to serving as chair of The Prudential Foundation and of the Newark Alliance, Reddy currently serves on the boards of several local and national organizations including Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation and Living Cities. Additionally, she serves on the Advisory Board for the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation, and is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leaders Network. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reddy was named to Mayor Ras Baraka’s Newark Reopening and Recovery Strikeforce in 2020, leading the Economic Recovery Committee.

Reddy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Emory University School of Law.

Shamina Singh

For more than 20 years, Shamina Singh has been on the frontlines of developing and implementing solutions to make the global economy work for everyone, everywhere.

Shamina is the Founder and President of the Center for Inclusive Growth, the philanthropic hub of Mastercard. She also serves as Executive Vice President of Corporate Sustainability.

Since 2014, she has led the Center with a remit to leverage Mastercard’s data, technology, capital and expertise for social impact. In her role as EVP for Sustainability, she is responsible for the development and implementation of the environmental, social and governance strategy across the company.

In 2018, Mastercard pledged $500 million to advance inclusive growth around the world. Shamina was named President of the Mastercard Impact Fund and charged with activating those philanthropic dollars to advance inclusive growth and financial inclusion around the world.

Currently, Shamina sits on the Boards of Data & Society and ADL, a leading anti-hate organization. In addition, she serves as a Board Member of the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders and the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University. Shamina co-chairs the Ad Council’s Advisory Committee on Public Issues and serves on the Advisory Boards of social enterprise Women Reignite and The Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellowship. She is also a Henry Crown Fellow with The Aspen Institute.

Deeply committed to public service, Shamina has held senior positions in the White House and the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2015, Shamina was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a six-year term on the Board of the Corporation for National and Community Service. She is a graduate of the Presidential Leadership Fellows program and an alum of the Young Global Leaders program of the World Economic Forum.

Jim Shelton

James “Jim” Shelton is Chief Investment and Impact Officer at Blue Meridian Partners. In this role, Jim leads Blue Meridian’s efforts to continuously increase the impact, reach, and influence of our investees and investments. This includes driving the evolution, expansion, and ongoing implementation of Blue Meridian’s regional investment strategy — integrating the work of expanding effective solutions nationwide with developing regional and local strategies that capture the compounding benefits of continuums of services — to produce the strongest possible outcomes for children and families and achieve community-wide impact.

Jim also oversees Blue Meridian’s efforts to investigate new areas where significant focused capital can help solve problems at scale. Areas Jim will explore include new approaches to economic and social mobility and racial equity; supporting comprehensive place-based and regional strategies; the roles of for-profits, policy and advocacy; and the potential to leverage targeted universalism to have broad impacts.

Before becoming Chief Investment and Impact Officer, he was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the organization, bringing to Blue Meridian deep multi-sector experience and expertise on the intersection of innovation, entrepreneurship, and systems change. Jim is currently a Senior Social Impact Advisor to KKR and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute. Prior to joining Blue Meridian, he founded Amandla Enterprises, an impact investment and advisory firm, and was President of Education for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, President and Chief Impact Officer at 2U, and Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education.