Ms. Hope Murera is the Managing Director of ZEP-Re (PTA Reinsurance Company), a specialized institution of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) charged with the development of the insurance industry in the region.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from Makerere University, an MBA from IMD International, Lausanne Switzerland and is an alumnus of Stanford Business School where she majored in strategic leadership. Hope has over 20 years’ working experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry in Africa.

Ms. Murera, a mother of two, is passionate about girl-child education, mentorship and empowerment of women in the workplace. This has seen the ZEP-RE’s core CSR develop around supporting girl-child education in several member states. She has put in place a Young Professionals Programme (YPP) with a bias on girls. Through deliberate actions such as these, ZEP-RE has achieved gender parity across its ranks and currently 30% of the management team are ladies.

Hope sits on the Boards of African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), the Organization of Eastern and Southern African Insurers (OESAI), Uganda Reinsurance Company (Uganda Re) and the Global Give Back Circle, a girl mentorship and empowerment organization.

Sarah Henry is the Executive Director of the Global Center for Gender Equality. As Executive Director, Sarah is at the forefront in building out a Global Center for Gender Equality focused on addressing root causes of inequality throughout the world, currently partnering with development projects deeply connected to work in Kenya, Ethiopia, India, and beyond.

Prior to assuming the Director role, Sarah served the Center as a Program Director, developing a portfolio on Gender Equality primarily with the development of a Lancet Series on Gender Equality, Norms, and Health. Since 2013, she has been seconded to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a thought partner to advance thinking around how to incorporate a gender equality perspective strategically and intentionally across the foundation. Sarah has more than 15 years of experience working in global health with a focus on maternal, newborn, and child health.

Sarah previously worked at Global Partnerships as the Director of Health Services responsible for building and managing a portfolio of initiatives in Latin America to help microfinance institutions (MFIs) and cooperative partners build on their credit delivery channels to provide essential health services with fully sustainable, scalable business models. Sarah also served as the Executive Director and Dominican Republic Country Director at World Connect, a Boston-based NGO dedicated to improving the health and well-being of women and children.

Margo is the retired Vice President of U.S. Education for Microsoft Corp. She was responsible for the U.S. Education strategy and sales to K–12 and higher education customers across the U.S. Through partnerships, programs, and technology, Microsoft plays a significant role in helping institutions and educators transform learning that makes a real impact on educational outcomes and helps students realize their full potential.

Margo has more than 31 years of experience in high-technology and has held several exec roles at Microsoft over the past 14 years. She was a 2014 Circle of Excellence, Platinum Club Founders award winner, 2006 Microsoft Most Inspirational Woman award winner, and in 2012 was nominated for the Anita Borg Women of Vision Social Impact Award.

Making a difference in people’s lives is important to Margo. She has been deeply involved in funding the building of secondary schools for vulnerable girls in Kenya. She took a one-year leave of absence from Microsoft to focus her energies on raising funds and awareness for World Vision’s Kenya Child Protection and Education Project. This project is positively affecting 17,000 children in four areas across the Rift Valley.

Margo is the former national co-chair for the World Vision National Leadership Council for Child Protection, Board of Advisors President for the Renton/Skyway Boys & Girls Club, and past founding board member of SeeYourImpact.org.

25 years of entrepreneurial experience, on a global basis, in change management and business development, and a desire to give back to society enables Linda to transfer commercially successful applications from the private sector to bring structure and sustainability to a critical social intervention; the empowerment of the world’s disadvantaged girls so that they can gain employment, live independent lives, and give back too. Linda has a BS from Drexel University and an MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University.

Dr. Nancy Onyango is the Director of the Office of Internal Audit at the International Monetary Fund. She has 30 years’ experience in IT audit & consulting, risk management, internal audit, corporate governance, systems, and process assurance. Nancy also previously worked with PwC in the UK, Europe, Asia, and East Africa, and with E&Y as the Governance, Risk and Compliance Africa leader. Nancy is also a Gender Leadership specialist.

Nancy has a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA). She is also a certified public accountant, IT audit, risk, governance, and information systems control practitioner. Her doctoral dissertation was on the “Perceived Barriers Faced by Women in Ascending to CEO Positions in Kenyan Corporations”.

Nancy is a Board member of Fairtrade America. She was previously a Board member of Fairtrade Africa and Fairtrade International Board (Finance Committee) She was the Chair of the Finance & HR Committee of FTA. She also sat on the Boards of KCB Group, KCB Kenya, and Cytonn Investments Limited. She was also the first female President of ISACA Kenya Chapter and a Board member. She is a Global Give Back Circle mentor, and a mother of three sons.