Daniella Ballou-Aares

Daniella Ballou-Aares is the CEO and co-founder of the Leadership Now Project, a national membership organization of business and thought leaders committed to renewing American democracy. She began her career at one of the top global management consulting firms, Bain & Company. From there, she became a founding partner at Dalberg, where she led the Americas business and transformed it from a seven-person startup to the largest global social impact strategy firm with 25 offices worldwide. Ballou-Aares then spent five years in the Obama administration as the senior advisor for development to the secretary of state, serving under Secretaries Clinton and Kerry.

Her perspectives have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Fast Company, POLITICO, and at the World Economic Forum, among others. Ballou-Aares is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was a 2014 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. She holds both an MBA and an M.P.A. from Harvard University (MA) and a B.S. in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University (NY).