NEW YORK, NY November 10, 2025 – Just Capital, the leading independent nonprofit on corporate stakeholder performance, today announced the appointment of six new members to its board of directors: Mehdi Ansari (Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP), Jonathan Auerbach (Former EVP and Chief Strategy, Growth & Data Officer, PayPal Holdings Inc.), Laxman Narasimhan (Former CEO, Starbucks Corporation; Reckitt; PepsiCo LatAm, Europe, and SS Africa); Franz Paasche (EVP, Corporate Affairs, Verizon Communications Inc.), Stephanie Stahl (Senior Advisor & Executive Coach, Boston Consulting Group), and Charles C.Y. Wang (Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School).
The additions bring deep leadership experience and expertise across technology, research, communications, and corporate strategy and governance, positioning the organization to accelerate its transformation into an AI-powered corporate intelligence platform that helps business leaders optimize both business and stakeholder performance.
The new board members join under the leadership of Board Chair Dan Schulman (CEO of Verizon Communications Inc.), alongside Co-Founder Paul Tudor Jones II, whose vision launched JUST Capital in 2014.
“At a time when executives are transforming their businesses to win in an AI-powered economy and deliver long-term sustainable growth, Just Capital’s work has never been more critical,” said Dan Schulman. “These six exceptional leaders bring precisely the expertise we need to help America’s companies navigate complexity, deploy AI responsibly, and generate value for business, stakeholders, and society. I’m thrilled to welcome them to the board.”
The appointments come as Just Capital prepares to fully launch its Just Intelligence platform in 2026, following a successful beta period. The platform provides C-suites and boards with interactive insights on stakeholder performance, competitive benchmarking and scenario planning capabilities, and strategic guidance on critical issues including worker engagement, customer treatment, responsible AI deployment, and environmental and community impacts.
“These board additions accelerate our ability to deliver against our mission and drive impact at scale,” said Martin Whittaker, Chief Executive Officer of Just Capital. “Each brings a unique lens that will help us deliver even greater value to the companies and communities we serve. Together with Dan’s leadership and Paul’s founding vision, this board is equipped to guide Just Capital through its most ambitious chapter yet.”
Full bios for new board members can be found below.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Tyler Spalding: tspalding@justcapital.com
Mehdi Ansari is a partner and Co-Head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Intellectual Property and Technology Group and the Firm’s Artificial Intelligence Practice. Mehdi’s practice focuses on advising clients on a wide range of transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, licenses, collaborations, research and development agreements, settlements and strategic advice.
Mehdi is widely recognized as a leader in his field, known for “deftly handling major transactions” for industry icons (IAM Patent 1000). He is ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA, was named an “MVP in Technology” by Law360, an “IP Trailblazer” by The National Law Journal, one of the world’s leading patent professionals by IAM Patent 1000 seven years in a row, and a “Rising Star in Sports & Betting” by Law360.
Jonathan Auerbach is a globally respected executive and strategic advisor with over 30 years of leadership experience spanning technology, telecommunications, and financial services. Throughout his career, he has counseled CEOs, Executive teams, and Boards and led growth and transformative initiatives at some of the world’s most prominent companies.
Most recently, Jonathan spent nearly a decade at PayPal, serving as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer and a member of PayPal’s Executive Leadership Team. In this role, he was instrumental in defining and driving the company’s global strategy, platform expansion, and customer engagement, as well as leading PayPal’s M&A and Ventures Teams. He also served as Chairman of PayPal’s Operating Group for four years, where he led cross-functional coordination and enterprise execution. Among his most notable accomplishments, Jonathan incubated PayPal’s blockchain and digital currency business and launched the PayPal USD, the company’s stablecoin — placing PayPal at the forefront of the emerging digital asset ecosystem.
Prior to PayPal, Jonathan was Chief Executive Offer of Digital Life at SingTel, Asia’s leading communications group. As CEO of Digital Life, he was responsible for shaping and scaling a portfolio of digital businesses across video, data analytics/machine learning and mobile commerce. He also served as a member of SingTel’s top executive leadership team, playing a central role in the company’s strategic transformation from a traditional telecom provider to a forward-looking digital technology enterprise.
Jonathan spent 27 years at McKinsey & Company, advising global clients on strategy, innovation, and large-scale transformation. As a Senior Partner of McKinsey, he held multiple leadership roles. He led the Firm’s technology Practice in the United States, working with top-tier technology companies through periods of major disruption and growth. He later relocated to Singapore to lead the Southeast Asian Region for 5 years, and he later led the Firm’s Telecommunications, Media & Technology (TMT) Practice in Asia.
Jonathan serves on the Board of Directors of the Principal Financial group and has served on the Board of the National Committee on US-China Relations. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an active venture investor and strategic Advisor
Jonathan graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College, where he was a National Harry S. Truman Scholar, and received a BA and an MA from Oxford University in England, where he was a Keasbey Memorial Foundation Scholar.
Laxman is a transformational, people-driven operator with over 30 years of experience leading and advising global brands. He brings demonstrated strategic skills, operational grit, and commercial acumen to deliver world-class outcomes and exceptional results. Laxman is focused on leading, advising and investing in an era of deglobalization, shifting consumer dynamics, and the rise of AI.
At PepsiCo, Laxman rallied talent to fundamentally transform the Latin American Sector through consumer-centric and digital innovation, operational excellence and execution, while positioning the European and Sub-Saharan business for long-term growth. At Reckitt, he reinvigorated the company’s ownership culture to better deliver on its purpose to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. Laxman led the team through an immediate strategy reset, courageous portfolio reshaping, and digital transformation; invested in science and innovation as well as commercial excellence; and stepped up productivity and talent focus to deliver very strong performance amid a global pandemic. At Starbucks, after working in stores for six months to deeply learn the business, he led a reinvention program to fundamentally improve the partner experience while implementing the strategic roadmap for customer experience and connection over coffee-navigating headwinds and positioning the company for its next phase of growth.
Prior to PepsiCo, his global career at McKinsey over 19 years straddled consumer, retail, consumer health, consumer tech, industrial, and private capital. He is a trustee of Brookings Institution, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of Verizon’s Board of Directors. He was previously a member of the UK Prime Minister’s Build Back Better Council.
Laxman speaks six languages. He and his family have lived around the world, as he has worked across the private, public, and social sectors throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, University of Pune, India. He also has an MA in German and International Studies from The Lauder Institute at The University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Franz brings more than 30 years of experience leading public affairs, communications, government relations, and social impact across both private and public sectors. In his newly-created leadership role at Verizon, Franz is establishing a Corporate Affairs function that includes the company’s Global Communications, Responsible Business, and Public Policy and Government Affairs teams.
Before joining Verizon, Franz served as EVP of Public Affairs and Communications at Columbia University and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at PayPal. Under his leadership, he played a pivotal role in defining PayPal’s mission and values and building its reputation, which contributed to the company’s consistent recognition by Fortune as one of the World’s Most Admired Companies every year from 2017 to 2023.
Prior to his time at PayPal, Franz held key leadership roles in communications, reputation risk management and law, including serving as the Head of External Relations for North America at McKinsey & Company, Senior Partner at Fleishman Hillard, Managing Director of Clark & Weinstock, General Counsel of Market Data Corporation and litigator at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind and Garrison.
Franz earned his JD from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and graduated with high honors from Swarthmore College.
Stephanie Stahl is a consumer driven and value-creation focused business leader, brand builder, board member, executive coach, and advisor with extensive marketing and strategy experience in high growth, turnaround, and early-stage operating environments. She has significant business transformation, post-merger integration and public board leadership experience – including M&A, sustainability, and activist expertise.
Stephanie is an active public and private company board director and was formerly Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at both Coach, Inc. and Revlon, Inc., and a Managing Director & Partner at Boston Consulting Group. She is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Ace of Air – a B Corp Certified circular beauty and wellness brand.
Stephanie serves on four public company boards: Carter’s, Inc., where she chairs the Business Transformation Committee; Dollar Tree, Inc., where she chairs the Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Committee; Edgewell Personal Care Company; and Newell Brands Inc. She previously served on the boards of Knoll, Inc., where she chaired the Nominating, Governance & ESG Committee, and Founders Table, an L Catterton portfolio company. Stephanie also serves on the board of Kibo, a Vista Equity portfolio company. She is an early-stage venture advisor and angel investor through her company Studio Pegasus LLC and serves as an Executive Coach and Senior Advisor to BCG.
Stephanie previously served as a board member for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in quantitative economics from Stanford University, and an MBA, with distinction, and a master’s degree in sustainability, Dean’s List, from Harvard University.
Charles C.Y. Wang is the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). His research focuses on corporate governance and valuation, examining how information, incentives, and institutional design shape corporate behavior and value creation. His research on these topics has been published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and The Accounting Review, as well as practitioner outlets including Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe.
Professor Wang’s academic leadership includes editorial positions in two leading management journals: Associate Editor of Management Science and Journal of Accounting Research. Within Harvard Business School, he serves as the Course Head of Financial Reporting and Control and a Faculty Coordinator of the school’s doctoral program. Beyond academia, Professor Wang serves on the board of Wanin International, a leading Taiwanese online video gaming and digital-entertainment group.
Professor Wang’s work has been cited by major media outlets such as The Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, and Forbes as well as in legal proceedings and policy discussions, including the Council of Economic Advisers’ economic report to the President and congressional testimonies. His research has won several awards, including the Jensen Prize for the Best Paper in Corporate Finance (Journal of Financial Economics) and the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute’s Annual Investor Research Award. He has taught MBA, doctoral, and executive education courses in corporate governance, valuation, and financial reporting. His teaching excellence has been recognized with several awards, including the Charles M. Williams Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Wyss Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring.
NEW YORK, NY October 28, 2025 – As executives across industries race to deploy AI’s transformative potential, another urgent question looms: What do the people who determine a company’s success — employees, consumers, communities, and investors — actually expect from corporate AI implementation?
Today, Just Capital released new survey findings as part of a comprehensive effort to define responsible AI deployment through the eyes of the key population groups. Drawing on a decade of polling the American public, this research, conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll and Robin Hood Foundation, reveals areas of alignment and divergence across two core audiences: the American public and investors.
Just Capital will be tracking these perceptions quarterly as the technology evolves, offering leaders a real-time compass as they navigate a rapidly changing business landscape. The organization will also begin surveying business leaders this fall to compare stakeholder and corporate expectations.
“We’re at an inflection point. Every day, leaders are grappling with both the opportunities AI creates and the risks it poses at scale. What responsible AI leadership looks like is being defined in real time,” says JUST Capital CEO Martin Whittaker. “Our research aims to equip corporate leaders with additional insights to realize AI’s full promise including the business value it can unlock and the wider prosperity we all need it to deliver. If we can get this right, everyone wins.”
1. Expectations of productivity
The vast majority (96%) of investors believe AI will have a net positive impact on worker productivity. However, only 47% of the public say AI will result in a net positive impact on productivity.
2. Distribution of AI-related gains
The public is in favor of distributing AI-driven corporate profits across several efforts, including lower prices for customers, workforce supports including for laid-off workers, and investments in safety and security. Investors believe the majority of gains should be allocated to shareholders, but do believe in gains going to other efforts including lower prices for customers.
1. AI safety as a top concern
Despite recent emphasis on an AI race between the United States and international rivals, both the American public and investors are more concerned about preventing accidents, misuse and other consequences of AI. Both groups also see impacts on social stability as a greater concern than U.S. competitiveness.
2. A significant amount of spend toward safety
The majority of the public and investors believe companies should be spending more than 5% of total AI spend on the safety of these tools and platforms. Given recent capital allocations to AI investments, 5% represents a dollar amount in the hundreds of billions. According to JUST Capital tracking to date, top AI developers and users have not publicly disclosed the amount spent on safety.
Are you a corporate executive? Please take our AI-focused survey here to inform how we continue to define and measure AI leadership.
Ten years ago, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon made a bet that flew in the face of conventional retail wisdom: invest heavily in frontline workers through higher wages, better training, and expanded benefits. The result was increased value for the company, shareholders, and their associates. Just’s analysis frequently highlighted this. This week, in a powerful LinkedIn reflection and in remarks from the company’s workforce conference in Bentonville, McMillon connected that decade-long commitment to how the company plans to navigate AI-related transformation.
The timing is striking. Headlines have focused on AI-driven job cuts, and McMillon himself acknowledged that “AI is going to change literally every job”. But he’s using this moment to double down on the philosophy that got Walmart here: “investing in wages, benefits, and education shouldn’t be seen as a line item, it should be valued as the strategic enabler that it is.”
This approach aligns perfectly with what the majority of Americans want. Worker issues such as fair pay, well-being, and training and advancement consistently rank as top priorities in our polling. And our data supports the business case: since 2021, companies excelling on worker issues in our rankings have outperformed the Russell 1000 equally-weighted index by over 20%. McMillon noted that Walmart’s shareholder returns are up about 490% since 2015, outperforming the S&P500.
Behind fair wages, the #2 issue for the American public this year was ethical leadership. McMillon’s remarks may offer the blueprint for ethical leadership in the AI era. He didn’t sugarcoat the challenge. AI will eliminate some jobs and create others. He outlined that the composition of Walmart’s 2.1 million-person workforce will change dramatically over the next three years, even as headcount stays flat. That transparency builds trust.
As we work over the next few months to begin to define what just AI deployment looks like, Walmart’s strategy is an exciting place to start.
Be well,
Martin
(Getty Images/Bill Pugliano)
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