Ballou-Aares was born to Pamela Ballou, who used to be a receptionist in Brooklyn, and George Ballou, who used to be a longshoreman in Manhattan before he died.[7]
Ballou-Aares was a management consultant for Bain & Company in the U.S., U.K., and South Africa.[7][2] She was one of the co-founders of Dalberg in 2004 and helped it grow into a global consulting business with offices in more than two dozen countries across several continents. Ballou-Aares was the first Regional Director for Americas at Dalberg.[2] She also set up the firm's global health practice.
Ballou-Aares is an advisor to Apolitical Foundation, a Berlin, Germany-based nonprofit organization.[13]
Ballou-Aares is currently the CEO of the Leadership Now Project which she founded in 2017.[14][15][16]
Leadership Now Project
The Leadership Now Project is a membership-based nonprofit501(c)(4)issue advocacy organization. The New York Times described it as a "coalition of 400 politically active current and retired executives ... " [1] The Associated Press described the Leadership Now Project as a "group of business executives, academics and thought leaders."[17]Bloomberg noted the Leadership Now Project as a "group of business leaders who had organized to counter what they saw as threats to democracy during the last Trump administration."[18]
The Financial Times sourced The Leadership Now Project while explaining what will happen now to the campaign funds President Biden has so far raised after Biden's announcement that he is withdrawing from the 2024 Presidential race.[20]
Among other things, the Leadership Now Project supports efforts to ensure voting access, election integrity, and efforts that address issues like gerrymandering.[15] Ballou-Aares wrote about how her State Department work experience and the 2016 U.S. elections were among the factors that led to the creation of the Leadership Now Project.[21]
In 2024, Melinda Gates participated in the Annual Meeting of the Leadership Now Project in New York to discuss women's leadership in democracy.[22][23]
In 2024, Ballou-Aares wrote in Fast Company about the rise of authoritarianism and what Gen X leaders must do to stop this.[26]
In 2021, Ballou-Aares and Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School wrote about the need for business leaders to take action on climate issues and voting rights.[27]
In 2020, Ballou-Aares and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan wrote in the Harvard Business Review about How Business Leaders Can Champion Democracy.[28]
In her TED talk in 2023, Ballou-Aares talked about why business leaders need to play a role in protecting democracy and how business leaders can play a role in renewing democracy.[34]
In a Masters of Scale podcast with Bob Safian, former editor of Fast Company, Ballous-Aares discussed the role of businesses, business executives, and business leaders including CEOs in the democratic process and she also noted[15]
So I think the transactional nature that many companies have taken to politics can be really detrimental. And actually, I think a lot of Americans have taken a transactional nature to politics. They’ve just said, “Hey, I care about one issue. And I’m just going to vote based on that issue. I care about one policy.” If you just do that, and you’re not worrying about: Are these political leaders governing well for the totality of the citizens and the issues? You end up where we are today.
In May 2024, Ballou-Aares was part of a panel discussion at the 2024 Global Conference organized by the Milken Institute on the topic Can Capitalism Safeguard Democracy?[36]
In July 2024, Ballou-Aares was a keynote speaker and participated in a discussion on Mitigating Risk and Managing Relationships at the Aspen ESG Summit of the Aspen Institute.[37]
In August 2024, Ballou-Aares was quoted by the Financial Times in their article about how American corporate CEOs are approaching the upcoming Harris-Trump presidential contest. She noted that "existing Democratic supporters who had pulled back or weren’t supporting at the presidential level . . . are back and re-engaged."[38]
Personal life
Ballou-Aares is married to Martin Aares whom she met while both were at Harvard.[7] They have two daughters.[39]
^"Vance Rallies Supporters in Arizona as Walz Stumps in Pennsylvania". nytimes.com. The New York Times. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024. Leadership Now Project, a coalition of business leaders that pushed President Biden to leave the race, will endorse Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday evening, said Daniella Ballou-Aares, the group's chief executive. The group, founded in 2017, has endorsed both Democrats and Republicans ...