As the former Chairman and CEO of General Motors, Dan Akerson drove the company to become the global industry leader in automotive design and technology. During his tenure the company went from the brink of bankruptcy to the largest initial public offering in history. Prior to GM, Akerson held a variety of positions, from serving on a destroyer for the U.S. Navy to being the President and CEO of MCI Communications during the breakup of the AT&T monopoly. Since then he has held many executive positions in globally reaching companies.

Currently Akerson serves with the Carlyle Group as Vice Chairman and Special Advisor to the Board of Directors. Akerson received the 2010 McKenna Humanitarian of the Year Award from So Others Might Eat for his funding of Marguerite’s Place, a Washington, DC-based community center named for his mother.