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Michael Milken

Chairman, Milken Institute

Mike Milken has been at the forefront of successful initiatives in medical research, education, public health and access to capital for more than five decades. Fortune called him “The Man Who Changed Medicine” and Forbes listed him among “Visionaries Reimagining Our Children’s Future.” In 1982 he formalized his philanthropy by co-founding the Milken Family Foundation, which has worked closely with more than 1,000 organizations around the world. In 1993, he founded the Milken Institute, which hosts more than 250 events annually, including major conferences in the Middle East, Singapore, Japan, New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.; the Institute hosts its annual Global Conference in Los Angeles each spring. Mike also chairs FasterCures, which speeds progress against all life-threatening diseases, as well as the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the world’s largest private funder of prostate cancer research. He is a co-founder of the Melanoma Research Alliance. The Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University offers 30 degree options. His latest book, Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health, chronicles his personal journey and progress in medical research and public health over the past half century. The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, housed in several historic buildings directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House and the Treasury building in Washington, D.C., will open in 2025. As a financier, Mike revolutionized modern capital markets by pricing and rewarding risk more efficiently. The thousands of companies he financed created millions of jobs, including much of the early growth of cable television, homebuilding, cellular phones and other industries. A Washington Post column said Milken “helped create the conditions for America's explosion of wealth and creativity” in the late 20th century, a process that BusinessWeek said, “shook America's defeatist establishment out of its gloom.” A graduate of Berkeley, he earned his M.B.A. at the Wharton School. He and his wife Lori have been married since 1968 and are members of the Giving Pledge. They have three children and 10 grandchildren. www.mikemilken.com.