UBS Optimus Foundation, Corporate Voice of Mental Health Award accepted by Liza Green

Liza Green, Executive Director UBS Optimus Foundation
Head, Programs, Optimus and Volunteering
Social Impact and Philanthropy Americas
UBS Group Functions

Liza is Head of Programs, Optimus and Volunteering, in the Social Impact & Philanthropy group at UBS. She oversees the bank’s philanthropic programming under the Optimus Foundation brand in the region and employee volunteering. The Social Impact & Philanthropy team guide clients, colleagues, and communities to unlock the potential of impact and philanthropic giving to achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes.

Liza has over 15 years’ experience in strategic philanthropy, Foundation development and employee and client engagement. Before joining UBS, she held leadership positions in corporate citizenship at Credit Suisse, including Global Head of Corporate Citizenship and Foundations, Executive Director of the Credit Suisse Americas Foundation and Executive Director of the Credit Suisse APAC Foundation.

Liza is also the Co-Founder of New Day Asia, a HK-based giving circle that supported projects helping women and girls in crisis across the region from 2007 to 2020. She currently serves as Director on the US board of EMpower, the Emerging Markets Foundation.

Liza relocated to New York in 2023 following 22 years living and working in Hong Kong.

Tom Kitt, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, arranger, orchestrator, and producer

He is a two-time Tony, two-time Emmy, two-time Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize Award winner. As a musical theater composer, he has written the music for six Broadway shows: Next to Normal (Tony Award, Olivier Nomination), If/Then (Tony Nomination), Almost Famous (Tony Nomination), Flying Over Sunset (Tony Nomination), High Fidelity, and Bring it On, The Musical.

His work for the stage has also been seen Off Broadway at Second Stage (Next to Normal, Superhero), The Public Theater (The Visitor, Shakespeare in the Park) and he has worked at some of the most prestigious regional theaters including The Old Globe, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, The Signature Theater, and ART. In addition, Tom’s Broadway credits as an orchestrator, arranger, and music supervisor include: Next to Normal (Tony Award), Hell’s Kitchen (Tony Nomination, Grammy Award), The SpongeBob Musical (Tony Nomination), Jagged Little Pill (Tony Nomination, Grammy Award), Almost Famous, Head Over Heels, Everyday Rapture, American Idiot, and Redwood. Tom has also been active in the world of film and TV.

As one of the vocal arrangers working on the Pitch Perfect films, Tom most notably helped create the classic “Riff-off.” Tom also served as music supervisor/arranger/orchestrator for Grease Live, and contributed songs for Royal Pains, Penny Dreadful, and Sesame Street. He also provided music supervision for the NBC series, Rise and served as a Supervising Music Producer on the Bobby Lopez/Kristen Anderson-Lopez/Steven Levenson/Thomas Kail musical television series Up Here. And he is known for his three original opening numbers for The Tony Awards, “This Party’s for You” in 2024, written with Amanda Green for Ariana Debose, “Live” in 2019, written with David Javerbaum for James Corden, and the Emmy Award winning “Bigger” in 2013, written with Lin-Manuel Miranda for Neil Patrick Harris. Tom is also proud that his musical adaptation of Freaky Friday, co-written with Bridget Carpenter and Brian Yorkey was turned into an original movie musical for Disney Channel and made its UK debut at HOME, Machester in the fall of 2025. Upcoming projects include: 10 Things I Hate About You, The Princess Bride, August Rush, and The Ghost Writer.

John MacPhee, CEO, The Jed Foundation

John serves as the CEO of The Jed Foundation (JED), a leading nonprofit organization that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults. JED works across the country helping youth, families, schools, and community organizations to take actions to support youth mental health and reduce risks for suicide. Passionate about supporting young adults in their transition to adulthood, John advises several organizations including the S. Jay Levy Fellowship for Future Leaders at City College, Trek Medics, Opera Ebony, the Health Policy and Management Department at the Mailman School of Public Health, and HIV Hero.

Earlier in his career, he served in executive positions and board roles for several pharmaceutical companies, where he oversaw functions such as business development, alliance management, clinical development, regulatory affairs, and commercial operations.

John is a recipient of The Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award for Excellence in the field of public health from the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He earned a BA from Columbia College, an MBA from New York University, and an MPH from Columbia University.

Phillip M. Satow, Former Chair of the Board, Co-founder & Board Chair Emeritus, The Jed Foundation

Phil Satow is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of JDS Therapeutics, an innovative health care company in the nutritional supplement industry. Phil, in 2021 and 2024, and his son, Michael, sold divisions of the firm to a major private equity healthcare company and to Otsuka, a public Japanese pharmaceutical company. He was Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of JDS Pharmaceuticals LLC, which developed and marketed branded pharmaceutical products before it was acquired by Noven, a public pharmaceutical company, in 2007. Phil is the former President of Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and former Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of Forest Laboratories, Inc., its parent company. In addition to the Forest Laboratories Board, he was formerly a member of the Board of Directors of three other publicly traded pharmaceutical companies. Phil is also a past President of the Columbia College Alumni Association, a recipient of Columbia’s John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement and the Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest honor paid to a member of the Columbia College community.

He co-founded The Jed Foundation in 2000 with his wife Donna after the loss of their son, Jed. Phil has subsequently been an active member of the suicide prevention community serving for years as a Board Member of The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and as a former Co-chairman, with the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, of the suicide prevention taskforce which created, A Prioritized Research Agenda for Suicide Prevention: An Action Plan to Save Lives.

Elisha London

Elisha is a social entrepreneur and mental health advocate who has been at the forefront of catalysing the global movement for funding and action on mental health. She is the Founder of United For Global Mental Health, and is now an advisor to leading companies, funders and high profile individuals working to improve mental health around the world and CEO of Prospira Global.

She established the global mental health insight and advisory firm Prospira Global in 2021 in response to demand from leading global companies and funders seeking to understand, design, implement and measure effective mental health solutions. Under Elisha’s leadership Prospira Global has been recognised for its innovative and high impact strategic advisory insights on financing for mental health across a global client base that is grounded in lived experience, evidence, and authentic impact.

She was instrumental in creating the Global Business Collaboration for Better Workplace Mental Health, launched at Davos in 2021 to create a platform for collaboration between businesses and mental health experts. She has also been a regular member of the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council on Mental Health, and Co-Chaired the Global Futures Council on Neuro-technologies in 2019. She was honoured for her leadership in 2020 when she was appointed as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

She also sits on the Kate Spade New York Social Impact Council and Selena Gomez’s Rare Impact Fund Mental Health Advisory Council. She holds an MBA from TRIUM (NYU New York, LSE London, HEC Paris), and an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics.

Stephanie Pacheco, 2024–2025 National Youth Poet Laureate

Stephanie Pacheco is a multi-hyphenate storyteller, performer, and advocate from the South Bronx. She is the 8th U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate and has served as both the NYC and NYS Youth Poet Laureate before earning the national title. Stephanie is a long-time advocate for equity in arts and education, organizing with The Healing Centered Schools Task Force and Alliance for Quality Education since her teen years.

Stephanie is a playwright, recently completing her debut artivist play “On The Other Side” with Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Stephanie has been highlighted by The Today Show, NPR, and CBS for her poetry and advocacy, and has performed at The Barclays Center, Lincoln Center, The Apollo Theater, The Kennedy Center, and more. Stephanie’s intention is to free others by freeing herself — one poem, play, and performance at a time.

Young People’s Chorus of New York City Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director and Founder

YPC is an internationally acclaimed choral ensemble, praised for its virtuosity and brilliant sound by The New York Times. Under the leadership of Founder and Artistic Director Francisco J. Núñez, a MacArthur Fellow and Musical America’s 2018 Educator of the Year, and Creative Director Elizabeth Núñez, the nonprofit organization uplifts over 2,000 young people annually, representing every neighborhood of New York City and empowering children of all backgrounds with a unique program of music education and choral performance that unlocks pathways to success through the arts. Since its inception, YPC has served over 40,000 children.  Beyond performance, the organization provides critical tools for each child to succeed long after they leave YPC. Its College Bound program offers classes ranging from financial literacy to college application coaching, and scholarships for college and comprehensive artistic programs are awarded annually, supporting hundreds of hours of intensive group and private voice lessons, chorus rehearsals, dynamic dance and choreography training, exhilarating performance opportunities, and inspiring tours each season. Central to this work is YPC’s commitment to the well-being of the whole child. Through initiatives like YPCares, a chorister-led effort addressing loneliness in senior communities, and a vocal program that builds in consistent one-on-one check-in time with trusted teaching artists, YPC creates space for reflection, connection, and personal growth. Major multimedia installations such as This Time Round and Alone Together have brought young people’s lived experiences with isolation and connection into public spaces, ensuring that YPC choristers remain at the forefront of these critical conversations. These structures support young people not only as artists, but as individuals learning how to navigate stress, build confidence, and care for themselves and others. Learn more about YPC at www.ypc.org and follow along via IG @ypcofnyc.

Emily Saliers

Emily Saliers is founding member and one half of grammy-winning duo Indigo Girls. Indigo Girls have sold over 15 million albums worldwide and are recipients of the Americana Lifetime Achievement Award as well as being inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Over the years they have worked to support Indigenous, LGBTQ+, Voting rights and social justice causes.Emily’s song Closer to Fine was recently featured in the movie Barbie.Emily wrote music and lyrics for the musical Starstruck (most recently Bucks County Playhouse) and is also writing music for Country Radio, a new musical. She loves her family, friends, dogs, the sea and diversity.

Adrienne Warren

Adrienne Warren most recently starred opposite Nick Jonas in the 2025 Broadway production of The Last Five Years. She previously won the Tony, Drama Desk, Antonyo and Outer Critics awards for her performance as Tina Turner in TINA – The Tina Turner Musical. Warren originated the role in the West End, earning her Olivier and Evening Standard Award nominations. Other Broadway credits include Shuffle Along (Tony, Chita Rivera, Fred Astaire nominations), Bring It On: The Musical, The Wiz (Encores!) and Dreamgirls (The Apollo; NAACP Theatre Award nomination). In 2024, she made her solo Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops. Select film and television credits include Netflix’s Rustin, Hulu’s Black Cake, Sony Pictures’ The Woman King, ABC’s Women of the Movement, where she starred as Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till’s mother.  Warren is a Co-Founder of Broadway Advocacy Coalition (BAC), which won an honorary Tony Award in 2021. BAC’s mission is to use arts and storytelling to build a more equitable society, while building the collective capacity of individuals, organizations, and coalitions to do the same. Warren is also the voice of Maybelline New York. She is a proud graduate of The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, VA.