Named three times to FORTUNE’s list of the most influential women leaders in business, LOIS QUAM, Pathfinder’s CEO since 2017, is a senior leader in the corporate, government, and civil society sectors. At Pathfinder, Lois and her colleagues provide global leadership demonstrating the vital role women play, when supported, in addressing the central challenges of our day. Deeply committed to putting power and decisions closer to those who experience their impact, Lois relinquished her role as Pathfinder’s President to form a leadership group with two other women – President Lydia Saloucou Zoungrana in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and President Tabinda Sarosh in Karachi, Pakistan. Prior to joining Pathfinder, Lois served at the U.S. State Department as leader of President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative with annual U.S. investment over $8 billion addressing the biggest health challenges facing millions of people across over eighty countries. In the corporate sector, she was the founding CEO of a division of UnitedHealth Group, providing services to older Americans and low-income families across the United States through the Medicare and Medicaid programs and in partnership with AARP. A Rhodes Scholar from Minnesota, Quam has degrees from Oxford University and Macalester College.
"""Just as women's rights are human rights, women's progress is human progress. Achieving a world where women everywhere can fulfill their potential is the great unfinished work of today and the very work we must do to make progress. Lois Quam first worked with me over thirty years ago, and she demonstrates in her life and leadership-and now in her book Who Runs the World?-the resilience and creativity needed for this work. Lois shows how we can build the future we envision for us all by supporting women and girls around the world."" -Hillary Rodham Clinton 67th U.S. Secretary of State ""This is an inspiring book by an inspiring woman. Lois Quam is a leader, thinker, and mother who has put into words key insights about our world and how to change it. Who Runs the World? is a powerful call to new kinds of action and new ways of thinking."" -David Miliband President and CEO, International Rescue Committee; 74th U.K. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ""Women's leadership in climate solutions is required everywhere. Who Runs the World? Unlocking the Talent and Inventiveness of Women Everywhere rightly highlights the vital role women have to play. I see this at the global COP forums and in the local village. For anyone who cares about addressing climate change, investing in women is the catalytic move that can make all the difference."" -Sherry Rehman Member of the Senate of Pakistan; Former Minister for Climate Change and Ambassador to the U.S. for Pakistan ""It is clearer every year that we cannot afford to pursue responses to one challenge at the expense of another. We need holistic, global solutions to climate change that also benefit sustainable development. So, if you want to make a difference on climate, add Who Runs The World? by Lois Quam to your reading list. Quam, a longtime partner with us on setting the climate agenda in Norway, shares why and how empowering women is at the heart of the sustained effort we need for climate resilience."" -Frederic Hauge Founder and Leader, Bellona Foundation ""Lois and I worked to end preventable maternal deaths through the Saving Mothers, Giving Life initiative. I am delighted she has shared this important work and her vision in Who Runs the World. In it, Lois makes the powerful- and obvious but neglected-point that unlocking women's talent is key to addressing many of the challenges of the twenty-first century. She's right and we can all do our part to make this happen."" -Christy Turlington Burns Founder and President, Every Mother Counts ""Imagine a future where women and girls everywhere have the same opportunity to run the world. Lois Quam imagines and more. These stories of leadership decisions, experiences and lessons, provide a front seat view of her transformational allyship, and a key to unlocking the power of women everywhere."" -Mary-Ann Etiebet, MD, MBA Merck for Mothers ""Lois writes Who Runs the World? as we mark a halfway point for the Sustainable Development Goals, set for 2030. Yet we already know we will not achieve many of these goals, unless we enable women to realize their full potential. At the core of this pursuit is the right for women to decide if and when they want to have children, afforded through rights-based family planning."" -Samukeliso Dube, MD, MPH, MBA Executive Director, Family Planning 2030"