[2] Irene Natividad was born in Manila, Philippines, the eldest of four children of a chemical engineer.
The family followed their father to several countries where he worked, including Japan, Iran, Greece and India.
Over the three-decade history of the Global Summit of Women, participants have included South African President Nelson Mandela,[13] numerous sitting Presidents including Mary Robinson of Ireland, Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, and Tarja Halonen of Finland, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe,[14] Prime of France Manuel Valls, and corporate leaders including PepsiCo Chair and CEO Indra Nooyi and Chair of MCM Holdings AG Sung Joo Kim.
She has also advocated for countries to take proactive measures to accelerate gender diversity on corporate boards.
Among the venues in which she has spoken on the issue include: In addition, Natividad was invited by the European Commission to address the Committee on Women Rights and Gender Equality in 2010, as it deliberated on a measure to mandate a quota for women board directors across the EU.
The Market Opens have taken place at NASDAQ (2006) in New York, the Toronto Stock Exchange (2008), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (2009), Madrid (2011), Istanbul (2011), Barcelona (2012), Warsaw (2012 and 2016), Sao Paolo (2012), Hong Kong (2012), Zurich (2013), Kuala Lumpur (2013), the Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt (2013), the Euronext Paris Exchange (2014), ASX in Sydney (2014), Manila (2015), Mexico City (2016 and 2018), Ho Chi Minh City (2017), Bangkok (2017), and Bogota, Colombia (2018).
In 1994, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of Sallie Mae Corporation, a Fortune 100 company, by President Clinton.
In addition, she was a member of the 2012 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission on Board Diversity[22] Gale Encyclopedia of Biography: Irene Natividad Homepage of the Global Summit of Women[25] Biography Irene Natividad, Homepage Globe Women[26]