Jean Oelwang is Co-Chair of the 2016 SLOW LIFE Symposium.
Jean Oelwang is President and a Trustee of Virgin Unite, the entrepreneurial foundation of the Virgin Group. In 2003, Jean left her post as joint CEO of Virgin Mobile Australia to begin working with Richard Branson and the Virgin staff from around the world to create Virgin Unite. Over the last 12 years, Jean has worked with partners to create new approaches to social and environmental issues, such as the Branson Centres of Entrepreneurship and a global platform to support budding entrepreneurs. She has helped incubate a number of global leadership initiatives such as The Elders, the Carbon War Room, The B Team and Ocean Unite. In addition, Jean has been instrumental in working with Virgin’s businesses and others worldwide to put driving positive change at their core.
In her previous life, Jean lived and worked on six continents helping to lead successful mobile phone start-ups in South Africa, Colombia, Bulgaria, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and the US.
Jean has long explored the overlap of the business and social sectors and has been involved in both, having worked for the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife in Australia, and in numerous volunteer roles, including a stint as a VISTA volunteer where she worked with – and learned from - homeless teens in Chicago.
She sits on the Advisory Council for The Elders and the Boards of the Carbon War Room, Ocean Unite, Ocean Elders, Just Capital and the Sara Blakely Foundation. She is also a Senior Partner in the B Team.
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Participants at the 2014 SLOW LIFE Symposium. Successful initiatives such as WHOLE WORLD Water and Learn to Swim were born out of the SLOW LIFE Symposium. Following…... more
