Penny Abeywardena

Commissioner for International Affairs, Mayor's Office, City of New York; former Director of Girls and Women Integration, Clinton Global Initiative

Penny leads the City's global platform for promoting its goals for a more just society, showcasing the diversity of New Yorkers and sharing policies and best practices with the world. Her agency serves the largest diplomatic corps in the world, including strategic partnerships and programming reaffirming NYC's local leadership on global issues. From 2009-2014, Penny was the Director of Girls and Women Integration at the Clinton Global Initiative, where she led the program's evolution into one of CGI's most successful efforts. Penny is a French-American Foundation Young Leader (2017), a WEF Young Global Leader (2016), and co-Chair of the WEF Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization (2019).