This email has also been verified by Google DKIM 2048-bit RSA key

leslie letter

From:mpodesta@optoro.com To: podesta.mary@gmail.com, john.podesta@gmail.com Date: 2015-12-30 21:30 Subject: leslie letter

What do you think? Right now it is too long... too much resume history and not specifics? As a reminder, it should hit on the following (with emphasis on standing among my peers). One thing none of my letters really hits on is my potential contributions to CFR since i am actually not sure what to say about that... - intellectual attainment and expertise; - degree of experience, interest, and current involvement in international affairs or in other areas affecting international affairs; - promise of future achievement and service in foreign relations; - potential contributions to the work of CFR; - desire and ability to participate in CFR activities; and - standing among his or her peers. I am writing to second the nomination of Mae Podesta to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Term Member. I’ve known Mae since she was a child, having the pleasure to both watch her grow up and navigate her career, as well as seeing her work first hand when she spent a summer at Walmart with my Sustainability team. Mae would be a terrific Term Member to the Council and she’ll bring a wealth of knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm for foreign relations and a passion for emerging markets. Mae’s interest for international issues, particularly trade, economic development, and international business, has been the constant thread in her academic and professional career. In college, Mae pursued double majors in International Relations and Economic Relations and spent a summer interning under Ambassador Nicholas Burns at the US. Embassy in Athens in 2001. Shortly after graduating, she jumped at the chance to join the Clinton Foundation Health Access (CHAI) and contribute to fighting the burgeoning AIDS epidemic in Africa. Starting as a volunteer in South Africa, she worked her way up the ranks, opening offices in Lesotho and Ethiopia and Liberia, and becoming Regional Director of all West and Central Africa when she was only 27, managing many people twice her age. She loved CHAI, but came to believe she’d make a bigger difference through the private sector, ultimately bringing her to Columbia Business School, Walmart, McKinsey, and now Optoro. At Walmart, Mae helped shape our Global Sustainable Agriculture goals, and made her mark pushing forward our global women in agriculture work. I was impressed at her ability to immerse herself in Sustainability team, drive the agenda, and credibly present her recommendations to Walmart’s senior leadership. She spent the last 4 years at McKinsey where she was rated a distinctive member of her class. At McKinsey, she continued to build her international business chops, focusing on emerging markets growth strategies for healthcare clients. Excited to get back to a more entrepreneurial environment like CHAI, Mae was recently recruited to join Optoro, a high profile startup in DC, as the Director of Corporate Strategy where she’ll be leading its international expansion agenda. Whether it’s as the head of Optoro’s international division or coming back to public service, I have no doubt that Mae will continue to have an extremely successful career in foreign relations as she continues to pursue her interests in business, economic development, and sustainability. The Council will be lucky to have her as a term member.