Marie-Josée Kravis

Marie-Josée Kravis (née Drouin; born 11 September 1949) is a Canadian businessperson and philanthropist.

Marie-Josée Kravis
Born
Marie-Josée Drouin

11 September 1949
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
EducationUniversity of Ottawa
OccupationBusinesswoman, philanthropist
Spouse(s)Henry Kravis

Early life and education

Marie-Josée Drouin was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, of French and English parentage. She earned an MA in economics from the University of Ottawa.

Career

She serves on the international advisory board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and on the boards of Publicis S.A. and LVMH. Since 1989 she has attended all conferences of the Bilderberg Group except the one in 1997 and serves on its steering committee.[1]

From 1971 to 1984 she was a consultant to the Hudson Institute of New York and executive director of the Hudson Institute of Canada. She has served on the boards of CIBC, the Ford Motor Company, the Standard Life Insurance Co., Hasbro Inc., Hollinger International, Vivendi Universal and IAC/InterActiveCorp.[2] She was a board member at Conrad Black's Hollinger International until late 2003. Black was later charged with fraud and obstruction of justice. Kravis was called as a witness at Black's trial in 2007 and testified that she had been unaware of the corporate malfeasance during her tenure.[3] Additionally, she previously served as vice-chair of Canada's Royal Commission on National Passenger Transportation and co-chaired a national commission on prosperity and competitiveness. She served on the binational dispute settlement panel established under the NAFTA agreement.

She has been a regular columnist for La Presse, the Montreal Gazette and the Financial Post of Canada, and she has contributed to the Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications. She hosted a weekly television show on the public television network TV Ontario.[4] She is also the author with B. Bruce-Briggs of Canada Has a Future and with Maurice Ernst and Jimmy Wheeler of Western Europe: Adjusting to Structural Change.

Philanthropy

Together with her husband, she is ranked the 25th highest donating individual according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. She and her husband have been major contributors to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, where they established a composer-in-residence program and the Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music, awarded in 2012 to French composer Henri Dutilleux. They have also supported Carnegie Hall and The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. They have also supported scientific research at the Environmental Defense Fund with a gift of $5 million in 2015.[5]

She chairs the selection committee of The Henry R. Kravis Prize in Nonprofit Leadership, which is awarded for innovations in non-profit work. At the Mount Sinai Medical Center, she serves as a major patron and with her husband has given close to $30 million for heart research. At the Museum of Modern Art, where she was appointed as president in July 2005, Kravis and her husband have donated more than $100 million. At the Sloan Kettering Institute, she and her husband established a chair in Human Oncology and Pathogenesis in 2006. In 2013 with a gift of $100 million they established a Center for Molecular Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is also a supporter of the Metropolitan Opera, the Tate Museum and Somerset House, London.[6] She is president of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She also serves as vice-chair of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and chair of the Sloan Kettering Institute. She is vice chair of The Economic Club of NY.

She sits on the board of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. She is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a board member of the Qatar Museums Authority and a member of the International Council of the Prado Museum.[2][7]

In 1994, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2006, she received the Légion d'honneur award.[4]

Personal life

Marie-Josée Kravis (Born as Drouin) is the youngest of seven children, and was born in Ottawa, Canada.

In the 1970s she was linked to Jean-Pierre Goyer, a minister in the government of Pierre Trudeau.[8] She married Montreal Symphony conductor Charles Dutoit in 1982; they subsequently divorced.

In 1994, she became the third wife of billionaire financier Henry Kravis.[7][9] The Kravises have homes in New York City; Southampton, New York; Meeker, Colorado; Palm Beach, Florida; and Paris, France. Their principal residence is a Park Avenue triplex.[10]

References
  1. "Steering Committee". bilderbergmeetings.org. Bilderberg Group. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  2. Business Week(Business Week profile) accessed 20 July 2012
  3. "Paths diverge for Conrad Black and an ally." The New York Times, 17 May 2007.
  4. Interview: Marie Josee Kravis. Interview Nation, accessed 27 December 2010.
  5. Marie Josee Kravis's Faces of Philanthropy profile page. Faces of Philanthropy, accessed 17 December 2010.
  6. The Museum of Modern Art Elects Robert B. Menschel Chairman of Board of Trustees, Marie Josee-Kravis is Elected President. Google Docs, accessed 17 December 2010.
  7. Marie-Josée Kravis's profile page. NNDB, accessed 27 December 2010.
  8. B.Bruce-Briggs, "Supergenius" (N.Y., 2000) 318-20;'*Thomas, Landon. Paths diverge for Conrad Black and an ally.New York Times, accessed 27 December 2010.
  9. Jr, Landon Thomas (17 May 2007). "Paths diverge for Conrad Black and an ally". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  10. DeShazer, Danae. "Portraits of New York wealth: Henry Kravis." Time Out New York, 17–23 January 2008
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