Aspen Institute names Dan Draper a Finance Leaders Fellow

The Aspen Institute named Dan Draper (MBA ’99) a Finance Leaders Fellow. He is one of just 22 senior leaders who will participate in a two-year fellowship designed to inspire an active role in shaping the global finance industry’s future through values-based leadership.

Draper is managing director and global head of PowerShares, the exchange traded funds (ETFs) division of Invesco. PowerShares is the world’s fourth largest ETF provider with $125 billion in assets under management. It has been the industry pioneer in offering smart beta and factor-based ETFs to investors, winning numerous innovation awards since its founding in 2002.

Draper held asset management, wealth management and investment banking leadership positions in New York, London, Hong Kong and Jakarta with Credit Suisse Asset Management, Lyxor Asset Management, iShares/Barclays Global Investors, Goldman Sachs, UBS Wealth Management and Salomon Brothers. He is a chartered director and fellow at the Institute of Directors in the U.K. and a Governance Fellow at the National Association of Corporate Directors in the U.S.

The Finance Leaders Fellows will gather at four seminars over the course of two years to explore their leadership, core values, desired legacies and vision for the global finance industry. Each fellow commits to take action by launching a leadership venture that will have a positive impact on the finance sector and society.

Fellows represent various sectors within finance from around the world including pensions, endowments, regulation, banking, asset management, debt and equity investing, impact investing, credit card and operational finance, among others.

“We welcome these proven leaders who have reached a point where they want to leverage their platforms, ingenuity and networks to apply finance to some of society’s toughest challenges,” said Jennifer Simpson, Finance Leaders Fellowship managing director.

“The Fellows bring a variety of experiences and viewpoints to the table; we at the Aspen Institute are prepared to help them to move from success to significance on a societal level,” said Peter Reiling, Aspen Institute executive vice president.

Launched in 2016, the fellowship was co-founded by Henry Crown Fellow Ranji Nagaswami, CEO of Hirtle Callaghan, and Christopher Varelas, founding partner of Riverwood Capital, with founding sponsorship from the CFA Institute and other individual donors.

Draper and the other Finance Leaders Fellows join more than 2,500 other entrepreneurial leaders from over 50 countries to become members of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN), a community of more than 2,500 high-integrity, entrepreneurial leaders from more than 50 countries who share a commitment to enlightened leadership and to using their creativity, energy and resources to tackle the foremost societal challenges of our times. Fellows are chosen to be part of one of 14 geographic or sector-specific initiatives around the world – each modeled after the Aspen Institute’s flagship Henry Crown Fellowship Program. The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues.