BIOGRAPHIES
A-G, H-N, O-U, V-Z

Antonio Villaraigosa
Mayor of Los Angeles
Antonio R. Villaraigosa was elected the 41st mayor of Los Angeles on May 17, 2005 and sworn into office on July 1, 2005. Villaraigosa is known for his exceptional skill at building broad bi-partisan coalitions and is considered one of the leading progressive voices in the United States. He was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report, and named one of the 25 most influential Latinos by Time magazine.

Under his chairmanship, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority opened a state of the art rapid bus route, and Mayor Villaraigosa also accelerated the City’s efforts to expand renewable energy sources and increase the amount of renewable energy used in Los Angeles to 20% by 2010.
Villaraigosa began his career as an organizer with the United Teachers Los Angeles. In 1994, he was elected to the California State Assembly; in 1998, he became Speaker. He ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 2001, narrowly losing. He then was appointed a distinguished fellow at UCLA and U.S.C., where he co-authored “After Sprawl,” a policy blueprint for urban issues. In 2003, he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council, 14th District.

Born Antonio Villar on January 23, 1953, and raised in East Los Angeles, he is the oldest of four children. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and attended UCLA, where he received a B.A. in history. He is a graduate of the People’s College of Law. Villaraigosa is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since 1872. He is married to the former Corina Raigosa (Villaraigosa is a combination of the surnames), and has four children.

Mark Watts
Chief Climate Change Advisor to the Mayor of London
Mark Watts is the London Mayor’s chief advisor on climate change. His brief also covers transport, air quality and some aspects of social policy. Mr. Watts led the development of the Mayor’s recent ‘London Climate Change Action Plan’, which sets out how the city will achieve a 60% cut in carbon emissions by 2025. This includes improving the energy efficiency of homes and offices; moving London’s energy supply from the national grid to a more efficient decentralized system based on combined heat and power; and continuing successful transport policies, including a £25 a day emissions charge for the most polluting cars entering central London.

Mr. Watts also leads on the development of a Climate Change Adaptation Plan for London, which will consider how London adapts to climate change effects such as the risk of flooding and extreme summer temperatures. He is the lead officer for the Mayor for all matters relating to the C40 and its partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative.

Seth Waugh
CEO, Deutsche Bank Americas
Seth Waugh joined Deutsche Banc.-Alex. Brown, Inc. in April 2000. He was appointed Regional Head of Global Markets and Equities for the Americas in June 2000 and served as Vice Chairman of the Americas Executive Committee. In February 2001, Mr. Waugh was named CEO of Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) - Americas and in May of 2002 was appointed CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas. He is Chairman of the DBAB Board of Directors, President of the DB Trust Company, and is on its Board of Directors. He is a member of the CIB Operating Committee.
Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Waugh was Chief Executive Officer of Quantitative Financial Strategies, a $2.5 billion hedge fund in Greenwich, CT. Mr. Waugh also spent 11 years at Merrill Lynch in a variety of Trading and Underwriting Management positions in the Fixed Income Division, eventually co-heading the Global Debt Markets Division. Earlier, Mr. Waugh managed the Corporate Bond and International Trading desks at Salomon Brothers.
He is a graduate of Amherst College, with dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and English. Mr. Waugh serves on the Boards of the Securities Industry Association, the YMCA of Greater New York, Winthrop University Hospital of Syosset NY, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Greater New York, the Partnership for New York City, St. Vincent’s Services of Brooklyn, the NY Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the Lawrenceville School.

Bill White
Mayor of Houston
Bill White has been the Mayor of Houston since 2004. Immediately prior to running for mayor, White was serving as Chairman and CEO of the WEDGE Group, a Texan real estate developer. His record at city hall has been praised for the expansion of council-run leisure facilities and the introduction of performance monitoring. Most importantly, he has presided over stable finances and sought to promote consensus on the city council. The mayor was also praised for his leadership in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, providing resources for the housing of the displaced New Orleans residents who had come to the city fleeing disaster.
Mayor White was born in San Antonio in 1954, the child of schoolteachers. He then attended Harvard on a scholarship, where he graduated in economics. After studying law at the University of Texas at Austin, where he edited the college law review, Mayor White joined the Houston practice of Susman Godfrey LLP, eventually becoming partner. After 14 years with the firm, he joined the Clinton administration in 1993 as Deputy Secretary of Energy. He has also served as state chairman of the Democratic Party in Texas.

Klaus Wowereit
Mayor of Berlin
Klaus Wowereit is the Governing Mayor of Berlin. He was elected to office on June 16, 2001 and won reelection on November 23, 2006. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). As Berlin is both Germany’s capital and one of the country’s 16 federal states, Mr. Wowereit serves as mayor of the city and head of the federal state. Since November 23, 2006, he has also been the Senator (State Minister) for Cultural Affairs.

Born in Berlin on October 1,1953, the youngest of five children, he was raised in the Lichtenrade neighborhood of the city. Wowereit attended the Free University of Berlin, where he received his law degree in 1981.

Developing an early interest in politics, he joined the SPD party at 18 and quickly ascended through the ranks. He served from 1979 to 1984 as an assembly member in Berlin’s Tempelhof district and worked for the Senate Department of the Interior from 1981 to 1984. At 30, he became the city’s youngest municipal council member in the Tempelhof district, and in 1995 he was elected to the city’s parliament.

He served as deputy head of the SPD parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999 and later as their leader from December 1999 to June 2001. On the federal level, he was appointed President of the Bundesrat, the upper house of the German parliament, for one term from November 1, 2001 to October 31, 2002. On January 1, 2007, he started a four-year term as Germany’s Commissioner for Franco-German Cultural Affairs.

Kathryn S. Wylde
President & CEO, Partnership for New York City
Kathryn Wylde is President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization of the city’s business leaders, established by David Rockefeller in 1979. The Partnership is dedicated to maintaining New York City as a center of world commerce, finance and innovation. Its public policy focus is on issues in the areas of education, infrastructure and the economy.

The Partnership’s economic development arm is the New York City Investment Fund. Wylde served as founding President & CEO of this $110 million civic fund, which was established in 1996 under the leadership of Henry R. Kravis.
Wylde was also founding President & CEO of the Housing Partnership Development Corporation, serving from 1982–96. In that capacity, she was instrumental in creation of a number of pioneering initiatives in affordable housing at the local, state and national levels. Under her leadership, more than $2 billion in private funds were invested in public-private partnerships that produced affordable housing and commercial developments in economically distressed communities across the city.

An internationally known expert in housing, economic development and urban policy, Wylde serves on a number of boards and advisory groups, including the Mayor’s Sustainability Advisory Board, the Special Commission on the Future of NYS Courts, Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commission for the First Judicial District, NYC Economic Development Corporation, NYC Leadership Academy, Governors Island Advisory Council, the Manhattan Institute and the Biomedical Research Alliance of New York. She has authored numerous articles and policy papers and has been recognized for leadership by dozens of educational, professional and nonprofit institutions.
Wylde resides in Brooklyn and has a second home in Puerto Rico. She is a native of Madison, Wisconsin, and a graduate of St. Olaf College,’68.

Will Wynn
Mayor of Austin
Will Wynn was elected Austin’s 50th Mayor in 2003 and re-elected in 2006 with over 78% of the vote. Prior to becoming Mayor, Will was a member of the Austin City Council, to which he was first elected in 2000. Before his first election to Austin City Council in 2000, Will served as Chair of the Downtown Austin Alliance. In addition to his many duties locally, Will has risen to a leadership position with the U.S. Conference of Mayors. As chair of the U.S.C.M. Energy Committee, he is driving national debate on federal energy policy and climate protection.

Will also has over 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. In 1997, Will founded CIVITAS Investments, Inc. to focus on historic restoration projects. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, believing that better land use practices can help Austin deal with challenges like traffic, air quality, affordable housing, and environmental protection. In 2001, he was one of the founding members of what became Envision Central Texas.
Will was named Austinite of the Year by Austin Under Forty; Energy Executive of the Year by the Association of Energy Engineers; and Local Public Official of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers. Born and raised in Beaumont, Will was the sixth of seven children. He attended Texas A&M University, graduating cum laude in 1984 with a degree in Environmental Design. Will is the proud father of two daughters ages 10 and 8.

Mohammad A. Zaidi
Executive Vice President—Market Strategy, Technology, and Quality, Alcoa
Dr. Mohammad A. Zaidi was appointed Chief Technical Officer for Alcoa in March 2003 and was elected a vice president of the company a month later. He is responsible for corporate technology programs and projects, as well as strategic product and process developments. In 2006, Dr. Zaidi added accountability for Alcoa’s market sector teams. Dr. Zaidi is also a member of the Alcoa Executive Council, the group providing strategic direction for the company.
Dr. Zaidi joined Alcoa in 1985 as a senior engineer. Since then, he has held assignments of rising responsibility, including being named manager of technology development and transfer for the aluminum-intensive vehicle in 1991. Dr. Zaidi moved to Germany in 1992 for the startup of the Alcoa Automotive GmbH plant in Soest, Germany. In 1995, he was named director of product strategy, which involved new automotive product development, and in 1997 vice president of technology development for Alcoa’s automotive business. In 1998, he became director of technology for worldwide automotive and extrusions, with accountability for best practice transfer and technology management throughout Alcoa’s extrusion and automotive businesses. In 2001, Dr. Zaidi became president of Alcoa Automotive’s Fabrication and Assembly business and chief operating officer of Alcoa’s Automotive Castings business.

Dr. Zaidi, a native of India, graduated in 1975 with a metallurgical engineering degree from IIT, in Kanpur, India. He obtained a master’s degree in materials technology in 1977 and a Ph.D. in mechanical metallurgy in 1980, from Imperial College in London. He has authored many papers or articles in varied scientific journals and books.

Biographies provided by participants.