MONTRÉAL, Jan. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ – LawZero today announced the appointment of seven global leaders to its Board of Directors and Global Advisory Council. These initial appointments mark a significant step in LawZero’s strategic evolution, solidifying its corporate governance structure.
The appointees to the Board of Directors are:
- Maria Eitel (Chair of the Board), Founder of the Nike Foundation and Founder and Chair Emeritus of the Girl Effect
- Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former justice of the Supreme Court of California
- Yuval Noah Harari, leading global thinker and historian, bestselling author of Sapiens, Homo Deus, Nexus and more, and co-founder of Sapienship, a social impact company promoting collaboration around the most pressing global challenges
- Valérie Pisano, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mila – Quebec AI Institute
- Sir John Rose, Senior Adviser to Rothschild & Co, former Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce Group
- Yoshua Bengio, Professor, Université de Montréal; Co-President and Scientific Director, LawZero; Founder and Scientific Advisor, Mila – Quebec AI Institute
Joining as the first member of the Global Advisory Council is:
- Stefan Lofven, former Prime Minister of Sweden
Working closely together, LawZero’s Board of Directors and Global Advisory Council will ensure strategic oversight of LawZero’s operations and safeguard the alignment to its mission and commitment to developing AI as a global public good. In the year ahead, the group’s priorities will include stewarding LawZero’s fundraising efforts and compute strategy, and helping grow its global presence.
“Given the immense and transformative potential of frontier AI for our societies, it is imperative that this technology be governed with the help of the right individuals and reliable governance guardrails. We are extremely proud of the initial group we are announcing today, selected not only for their exceptional professional track records, but first and foremost for their deep commitment to humanity,” said Yoshua Bengio, Co-President and Scientific Director of LawZero.
“Our mission is to deliver technical solutions for trustworthy, highly-capable, safe-by-design AI systems as a global public good. An effective corporate governance structure is essential to reach this objective. This vision has been central to LawZero since its inception, and we are thrilled by the caliber of individuals joining us to champion it,” said Sam Ramadori, Co-President and Executive Director of LawZero. “These appointments are coming at an especially opportune time for LawZero, as we continue to increase our fundraising and hiring efforts.”
Complete Biographies
Yoshua Bengio is Full Professor at Université de Montreal, Co-President and Scientific Director of LawZero, as well as Founder and Scientific Advisor of Mila. Considered one of the world’s leaders in AI and deep learning, he is the recipient of the 2018 A.M. Turing Award, known as the Nobel prize of computing. He is the most cited computer scientist worldwide, and the most-cited living scientist across all fields (by total citations).
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former justice of the California Supreme Court. He has held senior roles in three U.S. presidential administrations and was a professor at Stanford University. His work spans law, technology, international affairs, and governance.
Maria Eitel is a seasoned executive and changemaker who began her career in journalism and public service before leadership roles at The White House, Microsoft and Nike, where she became the founding VP of corporate responsibility. She later founded the Nike Foundation and Girl Effect, launching a global movement to empower adolescent girls experiencing poverty. She served on the Board of Cloudflare and is Chairman Emeritus of Girl Effect.
Yuval Noah Harari is a historian and one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals. He is the bestselling author of Sapiens, Homo Deus, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, and Nexus. His work has sold over 50 million copies in 65 languages and shaped global conversations about technology, power, and the future of our species. In 2019, together with his husband, Itzik Yahav, he co-founded Sapienship: a social impact company advocating for global responsibility, through research and projects in the field of storytelling.
Stefan Löfven is chair of the governing board of the Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (SIPRI), as well as chair of the Olof Palme Memorial Fund and ambassador for the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM). He is also a member of Club de Madrid, the largest forum of democratic former presidents and prime ministers.
Previously, Löfven was the Prime Minister of Sweden from 2014 to 2021 and the leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2012 to 2021. In 2022, he co-chaired the UN High-level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism.
Valerie Pisano is President and CEO of Mila, a leading artificial intelligence institute based in Montreal, Canada, where the LawZero project was incubated. Valerie has 20 years of experience in leadership, strategy and transformation including Chief Talent Officer at Cirque du Soleil as well as cofounder of The Mobïus Bias Project, an initiative focused on diversity and female leadership.
Sir John Rose is a senior adviser to Rothschild & Co, and previously served as Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce Group from 1996 – 2011. He is on the Advisory boards of: BW Group; Alloyed; the green hydrogen firm Protium; Arctic Research & Development and the Global Nuclear Scaling Initiative.
About LawZero
LawZero is a nonprofit startup developing technical solutions for highly-capable, safe-by-design AI systems. Its scientific direction is based on new research and methods led by Professor Yoshua Bengio, the most cited AI researcher in the world.
Based in Montréal, LawZero is building a multi-step pathway to safe advanced AI, ensuring that future AI systems are developed and deployed responsibly, equitably, and as a global public good. LawZero is backed by generous donors, including the Gates Foundation, Coefficient Giving, Schmidt Sciences, Future of Life Institute, Jaan Tallinn/Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
LawZero was incubated at Mila, an AI research institute founded by Professor Bengio, and For more information, visit www.lawzero.org
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SOURCE LawZero
