Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker applauded the announcement of four new distinguished entrepreneurs to serve as Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship.

The new members of PAGE include:

• Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx
• Patrick Collison, Founder and CEO of Stripe
• Steve Jurvetson, Partner at DFJ
• Jane Wurwand, Founder of Dermalogica

“The United States – and the Department of Commerce in particular – has a unique role to play in ensuring entrepreneurs all over the world have access to the support structure they need to thrive," said Secretary Pritzker. "One of the ways we meet this charge is through a public-private partnership called the President’s Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship – which I am honored to chair. PAGE brings together some of America’s top entrepreneurs, who use their stories and knowledge to mentor and inspire young people and start-ups, not only across our own country but around the world.”

The four new members were announced by President Barack Obama at the seventh Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), which is taking place at Stanford University. Secretary Pritzker is also attending GES for the fourth time since assuming office in June 2013. With these new additions, PAGE now has 21 members.

Also today, President Obama released an Executive Order institutionalizing the PAGE program. The Executive Order highlighted the Federal Government’s commitment to supporting innovation, global entrepreneurship, and the American private sector by providing guidance for the administration of the PAGE program and selection of PAGE Members

More information on the Executive Order can be found here.

In addition to lending their time and their networks to support entrepreneurship at home and around the world, PAGE members have each committed to a signature initiative to further that aim. An update on some of these initiatives is included below:

• PAGE member Julie Hanna (Kiva)'s PAGE Signature Initiative, “Global Capital Access,” first committed to fund and deliver $100 million in crowdfunded loans to 200,000 women and young entrepreneurs around the world through Kiva.org. One year later, $107 million in loans have reached almost 300,000 entrepreneurs across 77 countries, from Silicon Valley to the Great Rift Valley. Each of these are women-owned or youth-owned businesses that create jobs for people in their communities. Julie's work as a member of PAGE has also inspired 111,000 new citizen lenders from 152 countries to join Kiva.org.
• PAGE members Daniel Lubetzky and Andrew Yang today announced that their respective nonprofits, the KIND Foundation and Venture for America, will host a Summit for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs focused on building businesses that will positively impact their communities. The Summit will take place in November during national Entrepreneurship Month. Daniel and the KIND team will lead mentoring sessions at the Summit.
• In connection with this year's GES, PAGE Member Antonio Gracias (Valor Equity) has launched Adelante, an international exchange program for Cuban entrepreneurs. This program provides emerging Cuban entrepreneurs with an opportunity to visit the U.S., meet and exchange ideas with U.S. entrepreneurs, network with business leaders, and receive relevant training. By building connections between entrepreneurs in Cuba and the United States, Adelante seeks to foster a closer relationship between the people of the two countries. As part of this program, 11 Cuban entrepreneurs are in California this week to attend GES 2016; this is the first year that Cuba has participated in GES. These entrepreneurs are engaged in various business endeavors in Cuba, from enterprise computing consulting to operating restaurants and barbershops.
• For her PAGE Signature Initiative, Daphne Koller (Coursera) developed a Coursera Specialization in Entrepreneurship: a new online series of courses for entrepreneurs to help them start and grow their businesses. Since the program’s inception, Coursera has launched more than 50 courses and five Specializations in Entrepreneurship in partnership with top universities such as the University of Maryland, Michigan State University, Universidad de Los Andes, Wharton, and more. These courses are available in 6 languages with subtitles in more than 15 languages. More than one million learners have enrolled in these Entrepreneurship Specializations and courses on Coursera to date, with strong representation from 174 countries (each with more than 100 learners).

More information on the PAGE initiative and a list of the appointees can be found here.