How to Build 1,000 Next-Gen Leaders | Fortune Daily

0:00Kim Ng: There's no way I can take this and not turn it into something, something very real and tangible. And I said to myself, I'm going to build something that is more impactful than she could ever have imagined doing in her lifetime. What if the measure of a leader isn't just how high they themselves rise, but how many people they bring along with them? That's the idea at the heart of the Wesley Mitman Lepatna Foundation, which is created to honour the late Blackstone senior executive who was tragically killed in a mass shooting at her New York office building in July 2025. 25. Wesley was known for being committed to mentorship, to excellence and to community.

0:43Kim Ng: And her husband, Evan Lepatna, is carrying that legacy forward as the foundation's board chair with a very specific goal of developing more than a thousand next generation leaders for non-profits and for community organisations. He joins me now to talk about turning a deeply personal legacy into lasting opportunity and also what it truly means to lift others as you lead. From the Most Powerful Women's Summit here in beautiful Santa Barbara, I'm Ellie Austin and this is Fortune Daily.

1:23Kim Ng: Abbott, hello. Thank you so much for joining us. Ali, thank you so much for having me. So tell me first of all about who Wesley was. Paint a picture of her. us? Wesley was a absolute fireball of a person. She exuded energy and warmth. She built relationships. She invested deeply in others. She was extraordinarily committed to excellence in everything that she did. She was grounded in values. What mattered most to her was family and faith and investment in her community and the world around her. She looked always for opportunities to elevate organizations and people and communities in which she lived.

2:01Kim Ng: and she cared deeply about outcomes and impact. She wanted to make a difference in the world in every single thing that she did. And she was always able to achieve and then reach higher in her goals along the way. And you two met at Yale? We met the first day of college. The first day? Tell me a bit about that. Oh, what a story. So we were both in the same resident advisor, our A group called Residential College at Yale. We were sat across from each other about 20 feet away. And I looked across, I made eye contact with her and I felt like I knew her because our families actually did know each other, but we had never been.

2:36Kim Ng: And then that first night was this party that gets thrown by some older boys who throw it for younger kids to get to know the school. And I went there with a bunch of my roommates and she was there with her roommates and the party was sort of ending and we were walking back towards our dorm and I fell into conversation with her and we were talking about the school year coming up and she had studied everything in the course catalog, everything already. She had figured out everything she was going to do. And I, of course, was just figuring it all out. And then she said to me, well, I have to get my computer set up and I don't know how to do that.

3:08Kim Ng: I haven't found an IT advisor. And I said, I'm pretty good at this. I can help you sometime tomorrow. When can I come over? And she said, 7.30 AM. I'll see you there tomorrow morning. And so that was the start of my relationship. And did you successfully set up the computer? I did. I did set up the computer. She actually had two of them, a laptop and a computer. So I did both. And then a week later, we started dating. We were together for 26 plus years until she was killed. Wow. So she was a real high achiever from the second you met her. She was a total dynamo. And so she went on to become CEO of Blackstone's Real Estate Income Trust, which is a$70 billion business.

3:45Kim Ng: At just the age of 43, she was CEO. Yeah. She had been made ahead of what's called Global Core Plus, which was the larger business as well, including the VRE business. So she was involved in overseeing north of$120 billion prior to her death.

3:59Evan LePatner: Had she always wanted to be a CEO? How did she foresee her trajectory?

4:04Kim Ng: So when I met her, I think she thought she was going to be a professor or in the legal world. And her parents were both lawyers, and that was the world that she kind of knew, and she would be exceptional at that or running an institution, a university or otherwise. And I was interested in financial services, and I think I moved her out of her comfort zone in some ways. And I was looking to do internships and jobs in those areas. And like everything Wesley did, I was trying to get a job at this place and she went to Goldman Sachs. So it was always for her, she was really identifying places that she felt really reflected the kind of culture and values and commitment to excellence that she was a part of.

4:43Kim Ng: And then she went after it. She got the job working there in investment banking. And from there, she moved on to do a number of roles in the firm. And then she went over to Blackstone in 2014. And at Blackstone, she also ran the Women's Initiative. She did, yeah. How did she take on that role? How did that come about? Everything Wesley did, she did at a higher level. And with incredible respect to all the women who were doing this before, it had tended to be sort of a one-woman leadership at a time kind of role. And passing the torch had been something that was challenging because taking on this kind of role when everybody's very ambitious and wants to build something in their own careers can be a distraction often when you're trying to figure out how to accommodate all those things at once.

5:24Kim Ng: And Wesley looked at it and said, okay, I'm going to do it differently. I'm going to build a team. So she went and found a number of women around the firm who she saw as being exceptional. And she said, come, you're going to join me on this. We're all going to work together. And eventually one of you in sequence will take this over from me, but we're going to do this in a different way. Instead of just making it about speeches and large events talking about how to go build and strengthen women in the workforce. She said, I'm also going to bring in people from my life who I know have real influence in terms of changing the way I think about time and efficiency.

5:58Kim Ng: Saban was speaking a bit earlier that Wesley could also be pretty tough. And I think you've alluded to that a bit. We're talking about her in such glowing terms, which obviously are completely appropriate. But tell me a bit about that tougher side of her character. Oh my goodness. So I'll give you a funny example going back. This is a good one back to my college days for an example. So we had started dating that first semester. And I had friends who were very social and I was trying to figure out college. And Wesley, of course, was very rigorous. And so I take all the hardest classes I possibly could take, including this very, very difficult math class.

6:32Kim Ng: And I end up getting a not great grade in the class. I did find other classes, but not great grade. And we get to the end of the semester and we're off on break and we're hanging out together and we get the report cards. They post them. She says, can you show me the report card? I said, no, it's everything's great. I was like, it's totally fine. She says, no, no, you need to show me the report card. So I hand the report card and she looks down and she goes, what is that? I said, well, I obviously didn't do as well as I like. She said, no, no, that's a C plus. She said, that is unacceptable. You will not ever do that again and go out with me.

7:05Kim Ng: So you have a choice. And she's like, and I'm going to show you how to study and you're going to do well and you're going to get great grades on every single subject. And she scared the academy in a really great way. But she was all about reinforcing what around her she was going to elevate everyone's game all the time. And to her, if you were going to be in her orbit, you saw the world through a different lens. You thought about everything you did a certain way that connoted the respect you had for the institutions where you were, for the work you were doing and the people who relied on your work.

7:34Kim Ng: It wasn't just about showing up. It was about showing up with a huge amount of respect and intent and purpose. Did you ever get another seat bus? Never again. Never again. So a year after Wesley was killed, you announced that you were launching the Wesley Mitman Lepatna Foundation in her honor. First of all, tell me what you think she would have thought of having this foundation in her name. Wow, what a complicated question, Ellie. I'll rewind it back for one moment. In July of 2025, Wesley was killed on the 28th, at the end of the month. we had a chance our kids were both away we had a few days together alone which was like the first time in many many years we'd had you know that much quality time together away from the kids and we were talking that entire time about impact and this is a person who had just been made a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art who had just joined UJA Federation Board who had been on our son's school board who was on the Yale University Library Board who was on the Mount Sinai AI Advisory Board.

8:36Kim Ng: I'm just giving you a sense. Very steeped in the New York Jewish community as well. Absolutely. And she had helped with a number of others launch what is now the fastest growing synagogue in New York City and incredible inspiration. And so she was full out and she was telling me it's not enough. She said, I need to do more. I'm not getting enough done. I'm not reaching enough people. And I thought about that right after she was killed. and I obviously had to look out for the kids and her parents came in and lived with us for a year after she died and Wesley's brother. And I started meeting with people and thinking about, what do I do?

9:12Kim Ng: I have to keep her going. There's no way I can take this and not turn it into something, something very real and tangible. And I said to myself, I'm going to build something that is more impactful than she could ever have imagined doing in her lifetime. And if I can achieve that, I will have some piece of peace with her life and that I didn't let her go. And that started snowballing into many conversations and groups I pulled together and meeting with leaders of leadership training institutions and mentorship organizations. I started forming around this idea of what became this foundation and the flagship program we have, which is called Wesley Leaders, which is really about taking these exceptional rising leaders in our private sector community, people who have demonstrated success, but also have this values system at their core, which looks like Wesley's and figuring out how to dramatically accelerate their impact professionally, civically, philanthropically, but always around elevating others around them.

10:11Kim Ng: So it's not just about personal achievement. It's about how do you pull up others around you and deeply invest in the world that you live in. And it's activating people at a point in their careers when they're not 22 years old anymore. They're 35, 45 years old. They're at a place where they've established themselves. They have a level of gravitas and influence over the world. And yet they often don't think about how to reset where their mind is and think about impact. And we're at a time now in this country where we have to focus on getting the most out of our private sector leadership. It is not enough to say, I'm gonna work my entire career.

10:46Kim Ng: And at the age of 75, I'm gonna be really wonderful and charitable and volunteer. we have to get more out of people today because our society needs people who have been achieving in the private sector to get their hands and their minds into supporting our civic world, our cities and our institutions and the nonprofits that are doing so much good work for people who are badly in need. And how have you selected your first cohort of leaders? So the first cohort was, we just announced our first eight fellows. So that's public and they're an exceptional group of people. All of these eight are people who are incredible human beings, who reflect Wesley's values, and are people that Wesley and I both knew really well.

11:26Kim Ng: So to me, this was, in some ways, the easiest and most beautiful ask in the world was I went to people who I have huge respect for, who knew her well, and I said, hey, I would like you to be a part of this. We're going to do something incredible, and you're going to give me feedback along the way too. I mean, these are people who have done a number of leadership training programs, who have gotten guidance along the way, oftentimes some coaching, but all of them to a person as they've gone through the beginning parts of this process and realized they have another gear or two or three to unlock in their impact.

11:56Kim Ng: And we are going to pull it out of them. I think a lot of people want to know, how are you doing? How are the children doing? Dean Muntz? It's a big question. And the simple answer I would give you is we stand on the foundation that Wesley built for all of us. And I would be nowhere without the incredible amount of work she put in every single day. Decision-making, researching, thinking. It is a constant amount of work to get the most out of all of us as individuals. It is not something we just hit a button and let it go. Particularly these younger years for kids, these are pivotal times to grow and develop and also focus on your challenging spots and your weaknesses.

12:35Kim Ng: And finally, we have a lot of leaders who watch this show. we have a lot of aspiring leaders who watch this show. I wonder what's the one thing you would like them to remember when we think about Wesley's leadership and what you want Wesley's legacy to be? Wesley was about furiously climbing the ladder and furiously pulling people up at the same time. And the impact that any of the leaders who you know and are following this will have in life is about what they do for others. It is not about what they do for themselves. That is a legacy that when we are on the last moments of our life, we're going to look back and say, what did I do for others around me?

13:14Kim Ng: Ivan, thank you so much for telling us about Wesley and thank you so much for being here. Thank you. I'm honored. Thank you so much.

13:22Kim Ng: Kim Ng made history as the first woman to become a general manager in North American men's pro sports. But now she's building something of her own because after more than 30 years in major league baseball front offices, Ng is leading a professional softball league as commissioner. She joins us now to talk about what it takes to build a sports league from scratch and how she's turning women's sports momentum into a lasting business.

13:54Evan LePatner: Kim, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. This is great. Of course. So you made history with the Miami Marlins as the first female general manager in a major men's professional sport. But you're doing something new now. So I want to start by saying, you know, what drove your decision to step out of kind of that established, long-time legacy space and try, you know, a Build It From Scratch challenge like the athletes on the Midnight Softball League? Yeah, so we had just made it to the playoffs. First time in a full season in 20 years. his fourth best record in franchise history.

14:32Evan LePatner: But at the time, I just felt I was ready for something new, took some time off. And then I reconnected with John Pachikoff, who was the CEO of Athletes Unlimited. And he described what was going on here, you know, starting up a new professional softball league, traditional format, eventually anchoring down into cities. Softball was my sport as a youngster. I also played in college, just a little D3 school. But it was really something, you know, I have spent my career advocating for women, you know, trying to create opportunities for women. And this just seemed like it was right in line, you know, in terms of pro softball and, you know, all of these, you know, we had never really had a solid softball league before.

15:26Evan LePatner: And so this was just something that, given what we were seeing in the women's pro sports landscape, this was a train that I definitely wanted to hop on. Because if you are not on the inside, you're on the outside. People have tried and maybe not successfully launched, you know, pro softball leagues in the past. What are you doing differently this time that you think is really going to make this stick? You know, I think there's a lot of different things. I think number one, just sort of the long-term commitment from investors. I think that is number one, first and foremost. And so it gives us a fairly long runway with which to work.

16:02Evan LePatner: I think secondly, the talent that we have in this league is just incredible. We have the 2028 Olympics coming up, and so we're going to see much of this talent in the Olympics. And I think third, in terms of the business proposition and it's not, of course, last. But it is getting these women, these incredible athletes, a platform from which to show their craft. And so that means the media platform, which is ESPN, we have a three-year deal. We play 50 games on ESPN. Our other 40-plus games or out on other distribution outlets. Obviously, having sponsorships in your portfolio. We have Sephora as one of our major supporters.

16:54Evan LePatner: So that has been going well. And then, you know, obviously getting investors as well. So Renee James, who is the former president of Intel, recently joined as an investor. So I think many of those things, when you add them all up, you know, sort of creates this vision of, you know, creating a long, sustainable model from which we can grow. Yeah. I want to dive more into that model because we love to chat a business playbook here. So is there anything you took from your time at the MLB, either in terms of, you know, media rights or any partnerships or any, anything you took that really translates?

17:32Evan LePatner: And then conversely, is there anything that you think, worked for the MLB but isn't going to work for you today? First of all, obviously men and women is the obvious difference, but also I think 125-plus-year established, very mature, sophisticated organization, entity like MLB is very different than an emerging sports league in a very sort of, let's just say, unacknowledged or little acknowledged landscape, you know, like women's pro sports. So I think there are differences. In terms of the similarities, I would say out of the MLB playbook, obviously our media partners, you know, ESPN, like I mentioned.

18:21Evan LePatner: And I think, you know, in terms of ESPN, they have been an incredible partner to softball, not just AUSL, but, you know, you look at how they've supported the Little League World Series, look at what they've done for NCAA, you know, D1 and the viewership numbers that we're seeing from that college fan base, you know, year over year setting viewership records. So obviously media partnership is really, really important. And then I would say in terms of the differences, again, you know, mature, sophisticated organization and we are a startup. But I think, you know, when you're a startup, you have flexibility and you You can be nimble on a lot of things.

19:04I think one of the other things that it really, I think, sets us apart,

19:09Evan LePatner: even from some of the other women's pro sports leagues, is that we're a single-owner entity model. So the league owns all of the teams as of right now. And will for the foreseeable near future. And I think what that allows you to do, I think it allows you to set policy. and in a good way across all of the teams. It allows you to set standards that are really necessary, particularly in the women's sports arena. I think another interesting thing about Athletes Unlimited is the model from which we work, which is you're really trying to be in partnership with the athletes. So we have something called the Player Executive Committee.

19:56Evan LePatner: It's made up of five members. Two of them are elected by the player group. And we meet with this group weekly during the off season. We talk to them about all types of business decisions. We talk to them about scheduling, things that affect them as well, you know, on the field, off the field, scheduling, uniforms, you know, all types of different items, markets, which markets we ended up in. And so to get their insight, I think is incredible for them to communicate that to the rest of the player group, I think is, you know, it's efficient. And I think it hopefully it makes the athletes feel like they are involved in in growing all of this.

20:42Evan LePatner: And thank you so much for joining me. OK, thank you so much.

20:47Kim Ng: next up Diane Brady is joined by Melissa Bamberg the founder and CEO of Nodpod the viral weighted

20:55Evan LePatner: eye mask company so Melissa the Nodpod it came out 11 years ago give us a quick origin story there since I know it's such a hit I reached the sleeve of my sweatshirt one night on a cross-country motorhome trip I have always been a sleep mask wearer and I mean never mind that I don't like straps or velcro but they had these little pads on the inside of my mask it just helped close my eyelids and turned my brain off and I we were traveling without it so when I used the sleeve of my sweatshirt I thought there's my big idea and and my mom is a exceptional seamstress and I said I've got this idea okay it's long no straps no velcro and I needed something to fill it and my kids at the time had beanie babies that was constantly washing and drying.

21:42Evan LePatner: And I thought, what's inside of these? That makes a great film material. You killed the beanie babies to make your sleep mask. Okay. A few were sacrificed. It's true. And I researched the beads and upon my research, found them in a thing called a weighted blanket. Now this is back in 2012. Yeah. What the heck is a weighted blanket? That's weird. Yeah. Right. But I'm doing this deep dive on the science. At the time, it had been used clinically in occupational medicine for people with ADHD, anxiety, depression, very successfully to help them calm the central nervous system. And the science is so simple.

22:23Evan LePatner: Gentle, constant pressure against your body. You feel something. So let's go to today, because obviously there's a huge wellness boom. Everybody's talking about sleep. What does the company look like today? Because you seem to have doubled down on this. You could have expanded to weighted blankets, weighted shoes, whatever you wanted. But yet you're still in this category. When I brought an odd pod to retail, it was... I cried a lot. There were a lot of nights. Over what? Just people thinking it was weird, strange. What is this? When you're the only one in the space saying it's called deep touch pressure simulation.

22:59Evan LePatner: It's amazing. I mean, I didn't invent it. I'm not a sleep doctor or scientist. I just discovered a practice that was being used successfully in a space. And I thought, why can't we all benefit from this? So no, the sleep mask was my, when I got my utility patent, I just committed. In a way, it sounds like you're almost a bit early to market, right? Now sleep is having a huge moment. So when did you start to realize that you were in a sweet spot? when the gravity blanket launched on kickstarter two and a half years after i was in the market i remember getting a text from a friend that here's this weighted blanket on kickstarter and they're going completely viral and i just cried the biggest ugliest tears because i knew nodpod wouldn't make it because rising tides lifts all ships and they made everybody want a weighted blanket and cool and they explained the science so beautifully because i'm still a business company like one of one, bootstrap, no clue what I'm doing, learning on the job every day.

24:02Evan LePatner: And then along comes the gravity blanket and just makes weighted products a thing. And I quickly got on the phone with my patent attorney and I said, the weighted blanket for your eyes, because that's how I was describing it. Oh, you know, the weighted blanket that, yeah, yeah. It's like that, but for your brain, like across your eyes, it turns your mask on, mind off. And so when I trademark, when I got that trademark, that's when people just got it. And it was such a moment for me, because you're never going to survive in retail. Do you have five minutes so I can describe the science and all these beautiful things?

24:39Evan LePatner: You are a founder who has doubled down and extended the product line, but you're very much focused on this one product. It would have been tempting to expand in a lot of different areas and call yourself a wellness company. Why did you not do that. Because Nodpod is the mask is so special and utility patents are so hard to get because of its inherent uniqueness. I just didn't want to dilute something that I knew was so remarkable and and effective. Look forward to seeing what's next.

25:15Kim Ng: Thanks for joining us.

25:16Evan LePatner: What an honor.

25:18Kim Ng: That's it for us at the beach for Fortune Daily. I'm Ellie Austin. We'll be bringing you more from the NPW summit tomorrow. Of course remember to let us know what you thought of today's episode in the comments. We'll see you next time.