系統性改變大師班（4月18日）

Paula DiPerna is a renowned US-based policy advisor currently in Hong Kong as Civic Exchange’s Visiting Fellow.

Ms DiPerna is a prolific author, public speaker, media commentator and inspirational filmmaker.

Who should attend:

• Individuals who are eager to have a dialogue with a leading practitioner on strategies and tactics of effecting systemic change

• Individuals who want to obtain insights and stimulus on effective strategies to change government and company policies

• Individuals who want to seek inspiration from a world-renown changemaker on the challenges and excitement of creating a better world

• Entrepreneurs and senior executives who want to know why it is imperative to transform their businesses into a force for good

How it works:
The Master Class will be highly interactive and participative. Ms DiPerna will give a short introduction on her past experience, current interest, and future aspirations. This will be followed by sharing of soul-searching questions by the participants. Ms DiPerna will enter into a frank and stimulating dialogue with the participants. She will be direct and constructive, as well as inspirational and demanding. Everyone present is expected to be active participant; sitting back as an observer is not an option – just as real life. For most of the participants, the end of the Class will mark a new beginning of their careers and life aspirations.

Unique experience
Ms DiPerna is currently a Special Advisor to the CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) which runs a global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts.

According to Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, United Nations, “The work of CDP is crucial to the success of global business in the 21st century… helping persuade companies throughout the world to measure, manage, disclose and ultimately reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. No other organization is gathering this type of corporate climate change data and providing it to the marketplace.”

Ms DiPerna has deep expertise in the fields of climate change and green finance, through her work at the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and Tianjin Climate Exchange (TCX).

Ms DiPerna was previously CCX’s Executive Vice President for Recruitment and Public Policy, and President of the International Division. She had special responsibility for emerging markets like China, India and Korea, and led the expansion of CCX membership among greenhouse gas emitters. Along with CCX Chairman Dr Richard L Sandor, Ms DiPerna spearheaded the joint venture that created the establishment of the Tianjin Climate Exchange (TCX), the first of China’s pilot carbon trading markets, and served on its founding Board of Directors.

She was also the former President of the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, which had assets of approximately $1 billion and a grantmaking portfolio of $40 million per year. She has acted as a consultant to the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility, and LEAD-International. In 1998, Ms. DiPerna was named an Eisenhower Fellow, an international program recognizing emerging leaders. DiPerna was also awarded a residency at the Bellagio Center by the Rockefeller Foundation. She is also a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations.

Ms DiPerna spent nearly two decades with the Cousteau Society, where she had served as Vice President for International Affairs, working closely with underwater pioneer Jacques Cousteau, and wrote and co-produced a dozen documentary films from locales around the world.

Ms DiPerna has extensive experience with environmental issues at both the high-level policy and community level. Her book, “Cluster Mystery: Epidemic and the Children of Woburn, Mass.” (1985), about a mother who discovered water pollution sites in her town after her child became ill with leukemia, remains a touchstone study of environmental epidemiology.

Ms DiPerna holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from New York University.