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As Co-CEO, Mellody Hobson is responsible for management, strategic planning and growth for all areas of Ariel outside of research and portfolio management. Additionally, she serves as chairman of the board of trustees of Ariel Investment Trust, the company’s publicly traded mutual funds. Prior to being named Co-CEO, Hobson spent nearly two decades as the firm’s President. In 2021, Hobson co-founded Ariel Alternatives, LLC—a new asset management enterprise offering a patient, focused and non-consensus approach to private equity. Its initial strategic initiative, Project Black, has a mission to scale sustainable minority-owned business enterprises to serve as Tier 1 suppliers to Fortune 500 companies—driving economic growth and equality from the entry level to the boardroom.

Outside of Ariel, Hobson is a nationally recognized voice on financial literacy. Her leadership has been invaluable to corporate boardrooms across the nation. She currently serves as chairman of the board of Starbucks Corporation. She is also a director of JPMorgan Chase. She previously served as chairman of the board of DreamWorks Animation until the company’s sale and was a long-standing board member of the Estée Lauder Companies. Hobson’s community outreach includes her role as chairman of After School Matters, a Chicago non-profit that provides area teens with high-quality after-school and summer programs. Additionally, she is co-chair of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and a board member of the George Lucas Educational Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies. She also serves on the board of trustees of the Center for Strategic & International Studies and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Hobson is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Rockefeller Foundation board of trustees and serves on the executive committee of the Investment Company Institute. Hobson earned her AB from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy. In 2019, she was awarded the university’s highest honor, the Woodrow Wilson Award, presented annually to a Princeton graduate whose career embodies a commitment to national service. She has also received honorary doctorate degrees from Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, St. Mary’s College and the University of Southern California. In 2015, Time Magazine named her one of the “100 Most Influential People” in the world.

Jodie Wallis is a decisive, results-driven leader with more than 25 years of experience developing and leading transformation programs and agendas. As the Global Chief Analytics Officer at Manulife, she leads the company’s efforts worldwide to leverage data and analytics to deliver personalized customer experiences, achieve process excellence across functional domains and support strategic decision making. 

Prior to joining Manulife, Wallis was a Managing Director at Accenture where she led the Canadian Applied Intelligence Practice.  In that role she was responsible for working with clients across industries to develop and implement data and analytics strategies and pushing the boundaries of applied machine intelligence models to deliver incremental value for Canadian organizations. 

As a recognized expert in Artificial Intelligence, Wallis was recently named as one of the “10 Women advancing AI in Canada” by ITWorld Canada, and “Digital Leader of the Year” by Women in IT. She is also a co-host of the award-winning podcast series “The AI Effect.”  

Wallis holds an Honours Co-op Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. 

Dr. Vivek Goel is the University of Waterloo's President and Vice-Chancellor. He has held a number of senior leadership roles at the University of Toronto including as Vice-President and Provost and most recently as Vice-President Research and Innovation.

He served as founding President and CEO of Public Health Ontario from 2008 until 2014 and also as a founding scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). Goel has served as Chief Academic Strategist with Coursera, a global platform that connects universities and learners with online courses.

Goel obtained his medical degree from McGill University and completed post-graduate medical training in Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Goel obtained a master’s degree (MSc) in Community Health from U of T and a master’s degree (MS) in Biostatistics from Harvard University School of Public Health.

Dr. Mark Weber is the Eyton Director of the Conrad School and Professor of Management and Organizations. Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Waterloo, Weber served on faculty and taught courses on leadership, negotiations and organizational behavior to students at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, INSEAD and at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Weber's research focuses on leadership, cooperation, negotiations, decision-making, and trust. He consults extensively and has provided training to executives and professionals in the automotive, education, healthcare, pharmaceutical, broadcast media, entertainment, telecommunications, professional services, and financial services industries, and in government at all levels.