Inventing the Future: The D^3 Advisory Council

The Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard implements a 15-member advisory council to oversee the reinvention of the future of AI-driven and digital businesses.

Karim Lakhani Karim R. Lakhani , Dorothy and Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, Cofounder and inaugural Chair of the Institute, explains,

“Over the last 20 years, we have entered an era where the rate of improvement in these digital technologies is growing at an exponential rate. There are some companies that are able to take advantage of them and do amazingly well, but most of our organizations—in every single industry across every single economy—grow linearly and not exponentially. This calls for a transformation in how we structure our organizations to fully embrace these technological advancements, while also focusing on empowering our workforce and ensuring societal benefits.”

The Institute’s Advisory Council is made up of top business executives with diverse expertise and global perspectives invaluable to the mission of driving the future of business. The Council members partner with Harvard faculty within the Institute as well as Institute leadership to build and scale the structures needed to translate research findings into practical business solutions and application within industry. Jen Stave Jen Stave , Launch Director for the Institute, summarizes,

“By embedding the Institute in businesses’ transformation journeys, we influence and define their business and organizational strategies through research collaborations. This creates a symbiotic relationship where academic findings inform business practices, and real-world challenges inspire academic inquiry.”

The Advisory Council is Co-Chaired by Scott Cook, Founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit, and Marcelo Claure, Founder and CEO, Claure Group.

“I am honored to co-chair the Advisory Council of the D^3 Institute,” says Marcelo. “D^3 has brought together some of the brightest minds, including a respected group of academics and business leaders. I believe this AI revolution will be the most influential advancement of our time, and D^3 is at the forefront of shaping business and society through these initiatives.”

Complementing this perspective, Scott Cook focuses on the transformative impact of the Council:

“Our role on the Advisory Council transcends advisory; we’re here to drive a fundamental shift in how businesses leverage AI and digital technologies. It’s about creating leaps in innovation and growth for the digital age.”

Their combined insights and leadership are crucial in propelling the Institute forward in its quest to revolutionize digital and AI-driven business strategies.

The full FY 2023/2024 Advisory Council for the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard includes:

Bill Ackman, Founder and CEO, Pershing Square Capital Management
Stéphane Bancel, Founding CEO, Moderna
Teresa Hillary Clarke, Chair and CEO, Africa.com
Marcelo Claure (Co-Chair), Founder and CEO, Claure Group; Group Vice Chairman, SHEIN
Scott Cook (Co-Chair), Founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit
Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO, Asset & Wealth Management, JP Morgan Chase
Vladimir Jacimovic, CEO and Founder, ContinuumLab.ai; Co-Founder, D^3 Institute
Heidi Messer, Co-Founder and Chairman, Collective[i]
Mickey (Hiroshi) Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Group, Inc.
Dave Munichiello, Managing Partner, GV (Google Ventures)
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft
Mark Nunnelly, Chairman, Toolbox Holdings and Foundation; Special Limited Partner, Bain Capital
Yoshimi (Iyadomi) Shinohara, Founder and CEO, Yokohama Ventures
Sir Martin Sorrell, Founder and Executive Chairman, S4 Capital

More information on each Advisory Council member can be found below.

He serves as a member of the Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors of the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Ackman is co-trustee of the Pershing Square Foundation, a family foundation, that supports exceptional leaders and innovative organizations tackling important social issues and delivering scalable and sustainable impact across the globe.

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From July 2000 to March 2006, he served in various roles at Eli Lilly and Company, including as Managing Director, Belgium and as Executive Director, Global Manufacturing Strategy and Supply Chain. Prior to Lilly, Mr. Bancel served as Asia-Pacific Sales and Marketing Director for bioMérieux. Mr. Bancel currently serves on the board of directors of Indigo.

He is currently a Venture Partner at Flagship Pioneering. Mr. Bancel holds a Master of Engineering degree from École Centrale Paris (ECP), a Master of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

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For over a decade, she has served as Chair and CEO of Africa.com LLC, a holding company with digital media assets showcasing Africa-related business and arts & culture content, including the Africa.com Business Publishers Network which reaches nearly 20 million visitors per month.  She serves on the board of two Fortune 500 companies: American Tower (NYSE:AMT) a global leader in wireless communications infrastructure, and Gallagher (NYSE:AJG), a worldwide insurance brokerage active in 56 countries.

Ms Clarke was one of 15 private sector leaders appointed to President Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa. She is Chair of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Chair of the Friends of the Legal Resources Centre of South Africa, and Chair of the Student Sponsorship Programme of South Africa.  She is a member of the Africa Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

She earned an A.B. in economics, cum laude, from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

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Marcelo was then promoted to CEO of SoftBank Group International where he oversaw strategy alongside SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.

In 2021, he left to establish Claure Group, a multi-billion-dollar investment firm focused on high-growth sectors. In addition to investing, Marcelo serves as Group Vice Chairman at SHEIN, the largest on-demand fashion platform globally; founder of Bicycle Capital, Latin America’s leading growth equity fund; and Vice Chairman and Managing Partner of eB Capital, a leading Brazilian-focused alternative investments firm. He graduated from Bentley University and holds honorary doctorate degrees from Babson College and Bentley University.

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He previously worked for Procter & Gamble, the household products giant, in various marketing positions, including brand manager, for four years.

Cook is on the boards of directors of Intuit, the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors, and the Valhalla and Intuit Scholarship Foundations. Cook earned an MBA from Harvard University and received a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Southern California.

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Since joining the firm over 25 years ago, Erdoes has held senior roles across Asset & Wealth Management before becoming its CEO in 2009 and joining the JPMorgan Chase Operating Committee, the firm’s most senior management team.

Erdoes serves on the boards of the U.S.-China Business Council and the Robin Hood Foundation of New York City. She is also a board member of Georgetown University, where she earned her Mathematics undergraduate degree, and serves on the Global Advisory Council of Harvard University, where she received her MBA.

Erdoes and her husband, Philip, reside in New York City and have three daughters.

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A seasoned investor with over 30 years of venture, private equity, public investing, and operating experience, Vladimir  has invested in and helped build more than 30 technology companies since 1996. He served on many private and public boards, including the advisory boards of Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, and McKinsey & Company. He began his career with operating roles at Intel, Ingres, and McKinsey & Company; was a Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Managing Director at Crosslink Capital. Vladimir earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of San Francisco where he played NCAA basketball and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

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She is the co-Founder and Chairman of Collective[i], a foundation model leveraging AI to generate insights related to B2B economic activity. Collective[i] is on a mission to provide intelligence that helps people and companies prosper in highly volatile economic markets. With over 20 patents issued on its technology, flagship offerings include intelligence.com, Intelligent WriteBack, and C[i] for Sales. In addition to her work at Collective[i], Ms. Messer currently serves on the boards of Aperture Investors, Union Square Hospitality Group, the Board of Trustees for New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the advisory boards of the Johns Hopkins University Department of Physics and Astronomy, AXA Venture Partners, and the investment committee for The Equity Alliance. Ms. Messer received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.

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Rakuten has a dynamic ecosystem of more than 70 services, spanning e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications, bringing the joy of discovery to 1.7 billion members around the world. Rakuten also became Japan’s newest mobile network operator in 2019.

Born in Kobe, Mikitani was educated at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, began his career in investment banking, and earned his MBA at Harvard Business School. He is a recipient of the Legion of Honour, awarded by the French government in recognition of contributions to the economy and culture of France. In 2011, he was appointed Chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, which has the longest history and tradition of any orchestra in Japan, and serves as Representative Director of the Japan Association of New Economy (JANE).

He also serves as Vice Chairman and Co-CEO of Rakuten Medical, Inc., a global biotechnology company developing precision, cell-targeting investigational therapies on its Alluminox™ platform.

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Dave’s active investments include Cockroach, Modular, RedPanda, SambaNova, Snorkel, Upbound, and Wonder. Prior to his Google Ventures role, Dave built and led enterprise software product, sales, and operations teams for highly-technical products under pressure in rapidly-changing markets. An early exec at Kiva Systems, he grew the enterprise-enabling robotics and software platform from pre-PMF to $120 million in annual revenue before it was purchased by Amazon, becoming Amazon Robotics. Dave is a combat veteran and former paratrooper who served as a Captain in the U.S. military’s most elite units before his startup career. Dave earned his bachelors degree in mathematics and computer science from Emory University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

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He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mangalor University, his master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and his MBA from the University of Chicago.

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After stepping down as chairman of Bain Capital in 2014, Mark served in Governor Charlie Baker’s cabinet as Secretary of the Office of Technology Services and Security, and Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. He led a significant modernization effort across the Commonwealth’s diverse digital and technology services platform. Prior to Bain Capital, Mark was a partner at Bain & Company. He also worked at Procter & Gamble in product management and as an entrepreneur.

Mark is an active supporter of a number of charitable organizations. He sits on the boards of KIPP Schools, Boston Medical Center (where he serves as chair), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Broad Institute, and Centre College (where he serves as chair).

Mark earned an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Centre College. Mark lives with his wife Denise in the Boston area, and has four adult children (all located in the Rocky Mountain West).

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She has built startups like HERO Software and RIZE Global, actively investing in companies tackling the future of work. Yoshimi studied at Yokohama National University in Japan and earned her bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Oregon.

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In 2018, S4Capital merged with MediaMonks, the leading AdAge A-listed creative digital content production company, and then with MightyHive, the market-leading digital media solutions provider for future thinking marketers and agencies. Since then, MediaMonks and MightyHive have combined with more than 30 companies.

In August 2021, S4Capital launched its unitary brand by combining MediaMonks and MightyHive into Media.Monks. As the operational brand, Media.Monks underpins S4Capital’s agility, digital knowledge and efficiency and is the next step in delivering on its foundational promise to unify Content, Data&digital media and Technology services with over 8,000 people in 32 countries. S4Capital is listed on the London Stock Exchange under SFOR.L.

Sir Martin supports a number of leading business schools and universities, including his alma maters, Harvard Business School and Cambridge University, and a number of charities, including his family foundation. He was ranked the second best-performing CEO in the World by the Harvard Business Review in 2016 and 2017, and received the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award. He has also been nominated as one of the TIME 100: The Most Influential People. He is also an Honorary Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge and a Director of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

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Institute Leadership

Karim has published over 150 scholarly articles and case studies and is known for his original scholarship on open source software and open innovation and has pioneered the use of field experiments to help solve innovation-related challenges while simultaneously generating rigorous research in partnership with organizations like NASA, Harvard Catalyst, and The Broad Institute. His digital transformation research investigates the role of analytics and AI in reshaping business and operating models. He co-authored Competing in the Age of AI (2020), an award-winning book published by the Harvard Business Review Press. He has developed six online-courses that have educated thousands of executives on AI strategy, technology-driven transformation, and entrepreneurship. 

Karim is an advisor to senior executives at leading companies. He serves as an Academic Partner at Flagship Pioneering, member of the Board of Directors of Mozilla Corporation and VIDEA Health, and an advisor to several AI-based startups. He is the co-founder of Aspire Institute, a non-profit that aims to transform the lives of first-in-family college students world-wide.

Karim was awarded his Ph.D. in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds an SM degree in Technology and Policy from MIT, and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Management from McMaster University in Canada. He is a recipient of the Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship and a doctoral fellowship from Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council. Prior to coming to HBS he served as a Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Karim has also worked in sales, marketing and new product development roles at GE Healthcare and was a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.

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Her academic research focused on the dynamics of organizational effectiveness and decline, specifically investigating the use of quantitative methodologies to measure the impact of policy interventions on stymieing the decline. Jen spent her career in industry, with senior roles in consulting and public policy institutions, most recently in the financial sector as a Managing Director of Strategy and Operations within Wells Fargo’s Customer Excellence organization where she oversaw the development and scaling of AI/NLP data science competencies across lines of business. She has presented globally on leveraging data assets, including to the United Nations Congress and engages in the steering committee for initiatives within the United Nation’s AI for Good program. Jen lives in Boston MA with her husband and has two children.