Linda Mason

The chair of the nonprofit group Mercy Corps, Linda Mason is a prominent entrepreneur, working mother, and humanitarian. As chair of Mercy Corps, Linda Mason oversees an international development and relief agency that operates in more than 40 countries around the world, and was active in disaster relief operations in Haiti, Japan, and New Orleans. Prior to joining the agency, she conducted refugee and famine relief efforts in Cambodia, along the border of Eritrea, and in Sudan.

In addition to serving as the chair of Mercy Corps, Ms. Mason is the co-founder and chairperson of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, the world's leading provider of on-site childcare and early education centers for companies, academic institutions, and government organizations. Over the past 26 years, the company has grown to more than 750 childcare centers around the world, and serves more than 80,000 families. The firm, which serves 90 Fortune 500 companies, has been consistently ranked one of the best places to work by leading publications, including Fortune Magazine. In November 2011, the Boston Globe ranked Bright Horizons as the best company to work for in the state of Massachusetts.

In addition to being recognized for her humanitarian work with Mercy Corps, Ms. Mason's efforts in the corporate sector have been acknowledged by leading publications. In 1996 she was named National Entrepreneur of the Year by USA Today, and has since been lauded as one of the nation's "Best Entrepreneurs" by Business Week and one of the "25 Most Influential Working Mothers in America" by Working Mother Magazine. She was also a recipient of the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership from President Bill Clinton.

Ms. Mason earned her Bachelor's degree from Cornell University, and studied classical piano at the Rachmaninoff Conservatory and French language and literature at the Sorbonne. She earned an MBA from Yale University.