Judith Samuelson

Judith Samuelson is the founding Executive Director, spokesperson and expert facilitator of programs for the Business and Society Program at the Aspen Institute. Judy is a regular speaker on the role of business in society, publishes widely, and blogs for the Huffington Post.

A leading proponent of business as an agent of positive social and environmental change, the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program works through dialogue, education and leadership programs designed to build the courage of business executives to tackle complex global issues and unleash business creativity in pursuit of socially useful goods and services. Judy’s ground-breaking work on short-termism in business and capital markets helped recognize the Business & Society Program as one of “50 Stars in Seriously Long-Term Innovation.”

Judy’s work experience spans the business, government and nonprofit sectors. She started her career as a lobbyist and policy analyst in the California State Legislature and Governor’s Office.

After her MBA, she managed a sales and lending team in New York’s garment center for Bankers Trust Company and then moved to the Ford Foundation to head up the Office of Program-Related Investments, philanthropy’s first “Social Impact” fund in community and economic development. In 1994, she launched the Foundation’s Corporate Involvement Initiative to encourage private-nonprofit partnerships and business opportunities that create long-term value for business and society, which led to the founding of the Aspen Business & Society Program.

In 2013, Judy received a Bellagio Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation to write on her experience influencing business. In 2012, Judy was named to the “Good Business New York™ Leading Women for 2012” list as one of 25 women who are creating a better world through work and business. In 2011, Judy was named a Top 100 Thought Leader in Trustworthy Business Behavior.

Judy studied Political Science and Art History at UCLA and has a Master's Degree from the Yale School of Management. She held Board positions at ACCION-New York, All Souls Unitarian Church, and Net Impact, where she is Chair Emeritus.

Follow Judy on Twitter @judysamuelson.