FP Summit: Her Power 2022

Danish-born actor, producer and writer, Connie Nielsen’s achievements in the arts range across leads in films such as the Academy Award winning Gladiator, the critically acclaimed Brothers, One Hour Photo, and Demon Lover. Connie Nielsen also appeared as Hippolyta in DC Comics and Warner Brothers’ Wonder Woman, WWll and Justice League. Ms. Nielsen produced and starred in Sundance/Channel Four’s current smash hit series, Close To Me. She also stars in, and produced, “The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen”, a critically acclaimed biopic based on the life of Danish Writer, Karen Blixen, which premiered in Cannes Series April 2022, and is scheduled for US & UK release Q1 2023, for Viaplay and Zentropa, based on an original idea by Connie Nielsen and Karoline Leth. She is the recipient of Best Actress Awards from The San Sebastian Film Festival, The Danish “Bodil” Awards, and The Empire Awards.   Ms. Nielsen co-founded and is the President and CEO of Human Needs Project (HNP) providing sustainable Infrastructure Services for informal settlements since 2010. In 2014 HNP opened the Kibera Town Center (KTC) serving residents with dignified services and access to jobs and education. A social enterprise, the Kibera Town Center has transformed tens of thousands of lives through more 2 million transactions since opening. Human Needs Project is the recipient of the 2015 Aspen Big Idea Award and in 2017 Connie Nielsen was awarded the Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award. She was the keynote speaker at major conferences including PTTOW! 2017, The CSR Awards 2015, the Gates Foundation Sanitation Summit 2013, Opportunity International 2012. Ms. Nielsen also founded Road to Freedom Scholarships in 2011, which continues to educate children living in informal settlements.  

Serving the First Congressional District of Nevada, Congresswoman Dina Titus has built a strong record of achievement as both an educator and a public servant. As a professor, Dr. Titus taught American and Nevada government classes from 1979 through June 2011 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she has professor emeritus status. A noted non-fiction writer, she is internationally known for her expertise in the history and policies related to nuclear power, weaponry, and waste as well as for her knowledge of the popular lore of "Atomic Culture."   In 1988, Dina was elected to represent the people of District Seven in the Nevada State Senate, serving as the Democratic Minority Leader from 1993 to 2008. During her service in the Legislature, Dina was a champion for quality education and renewable energy development, and a strong advocate on behalf of Nevada’s children, seniors, and persons with disabilities.   Dina has received numerous awards from various state and local organizations, but one of her proudest moments came in 2006 with the dedication of the Dina Titus Estates, an innovative affordable housing complex for disabled Nevadans, named in recognition of Dina's tireless advocacy.   Currently in her sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, Dina is the dean of Nevada’s Congressional delegation. She is a proud member of the House Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Foreign Affairs, and Homeland Security. In 2018, Dina was elected to become the Chair of a key Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, where she works to help Nevada’s communities better respond to natural disasters, address the devastating impacts of climate change, and fight for infrastructure projects that will benefit the most vulnerable.   After helping the Las Vegas community recover from the deadliest shooting in modern American history, Dina has emerged as one of the leading voices in Congress for substantive action to reduce gun violence. She is a strong advocate for the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform. An expert on matters of nuclear energy and waste, Dina leads the effort in Congress to oppose the revitalization of Yucca Mountain.   Dina grew up in the small town of Tifton, Georgia, with her parents, Joe and Betty Titus, and her younger sister, Dr. Rho Hudson, who is a professor of special education and founding faculty member of Nevada State College. Dina is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, holds a Master's degree from the University of Georgia, and earned her Doctorate at Florida State University. Dina has been married to Professor Thomas C. Wright for over 35 years. Tom, a Latin American historian, received the prestigious UNLV Distinguished Professor award in 2008 and is the author of a number of award-winning books, most notably on political exile and human rights. John Wright Hall on campus is named after his father, pioneer professor at UNLV.

Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar proudly represents Florida’s 27th Congressional District, passionately serving the people of South Florida. She currently serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as well as the House Committee on Small Business. Congresswoman Salazar is committed to acting tirelessly in defense of individual rights and liberties, spearheading economic development & job training efforts, and promoting environmental resiliency in her community. She is well-known for her advocacy for Human Rights and democracy around the world, especially for the people of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, as well as for her unabashed support of our global & regional partners such as Israel, Colombia, and Taiwan. Congresswoman Salazar is a five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist— she has spent her career holding the corrupt and powerful accountable. Congresswoman Salazar has gone toe-to-toe with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, and most notably Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, being the only US Spanish-language journalist to ever interview the tyrant one-on-one. Starting at the age of 22, she has worked for every major US Spanish-language broadcasting network: Telemundo, Univision, AmericaTeve, MegaTV, and CNN en Español. Salazar was born in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, the daughter of Cuban exiles. She studied at the Deerborne School of Coral Gables and graduated from Miami Dade College. Salazar holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Miami and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Congresswoman Salazar currently resides in Coral Gables with her two daughters, Nicoletta and Martina.

Catherine Russell serves as UNICEF’s 8th Executive Director, overseeing the organization’s work for children in over 190 countries and territories. Ms. Russell brings to the role decades of experience in public service, with a focus on empowering underserved communities around the world and developing high-impact policies and programmes to support women and girls, including in humanitarian crises. She has extensive experience building and managing diverse workforces, as well as mobilizing resources and political support for a broad range of initiatives. From 2020 to 2022, Ms. Russell served under President Joe Biden as Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. She previously served from 2013 to 2017 as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State, where she integrated women’s issues across all elements of U.S. foreign policy, represented the United States in more than 45 countries, and worked in partnership with other governments, multilateral organizations, and civil society. She was the principal architect of the groundbreaking “U.S. Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls.” Previously, Ms. Russell served as Deputy Assistant to the President in the White House administration of President Barack Obama, Senior Advisor on International Women’s Issues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, and Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Before re-entering government service in 2020, she taught at the Harvard Kennedy School as an Institute of Politics Fellow. She also served as the board co-chair of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, and as a board member of Women for Women International, the Sesame Street Advisory Board, the KIVA Advisory Council, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Trust Women initiative. Ms. Russell was appointed Executive Director by the UN Secretary General on February 1, 2022.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, magna cum laude, from Boston College and a Juris Doctor degree from the George Washington University Law School.  

Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, a 30-year diplomat, is the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Department of State. Through a series of senior positions that included Ambassador to the Republic of Malta, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commander of U.S. cyber forces, expanding our counterterrorism partners and programs as Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, and Coordinating the largest evacuation of American citizens from a war zone since WWII, her professional life has played out almost daily in international media.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Oman. She began her formal work in teaching and leadership development as Chairwoman for Middle East Area Studies at the prestigious Foreign Service Institute where U.S. diplomats are trained. Earlier in her career, she served in Baghdad, Jakarta, and Cairo before taking on the position of Special Assistant to the Secretary of State. Her Middle East assignments include election monitoring in the Gaza Strip and an extraordinary assignment where she actively supported gender equality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the first woman to lead a diplomatic mission there. In addition to the State Department, she has held senior positions at the Defense Department and at the National Security Council. Prior to that, she was a fellow on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the then Ranking Member, Senator Joseph Biden. Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley is the recipient of the Maltese Order of Merit, Department of State Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, including “For acts of courage during an attack on the U.S. Consulate General, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 6, 2004, by al-Qa’ida terrorists.”
Over the years, Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley has been a keynote speaker for a variety of organizations including IESAbroad, The Cleveland City Club, TrueBlue Inclusion, Harvard University, The University of Denver, The University of Malta, and Johns Hopkins University. She has been an in-demand panelist and moderator at international think tanks on issues ranging from U.S. Mid-East Policy, how diversity and inclusion improve U.S. foreign policy making, cyber security challenges, and counterterrorism. She is a strong proponent of excellence through inclusion across organizations and strives to break down barriers to the full participation of women and minorities. She was Ambassador-in-Residence at Oberlin College for 2020 and served as the Co-Chair of the Diversity in National Security working group for the Biden-Harris campaign.
Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley, a Cleveland native, has degrees from The George Washington University and The Johns Hopkins University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was a co-Founder of The Leadership Council for Women in National Security—LCWINS and has been an active Board member on several organizations committed to excellence in educating and leadership development including the Forum for Education Abroad, College Now Greater Cleveland, and the International Career Advancement Association. She also served on the boards of the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art and the Middle East Policy Council. She sings with the Washington Performing Arts Society and has been published in the New York Times Opinion and The Foreign Service Journal. She is the co-author of two papers published in the New York Review of Science Fiction on “Diplomacy in Star Trek” and “The Representation of Disability in Star Trek” and wrote the Forward for “The Young Black Leaders Guide to a Successful Career in International Affairs.” In 2019, she was voted into the American Academy of Diplomacy.

On February 9, 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed Reta Jo Lewis as EXIM’s President and Chair of the Board of Directors. Chair Lewis was sworn in by Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris on February 16, 2022. Ms. Lewis is a senior executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in international affairs, legal, public policy, business and regulatory affairs, and subnational diplomacy.   Ms. Lewis was most recently a Senior Fellow and Director of Congressional Affairs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. At GMF, Ms. Lewis led and oversaw initiatives, programs, and bipartisan exchanges for members of the U.S. Congress and their European counterparts, focusing on leadership development and subnational diplomacy efforts. Prior to her time at GMF, she served as the first-ever Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs under Secretary Hillary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State during the Obama-Biden Administration. As Special Representative, Lewis was the chief diplomat in charge of the international efforts to build and support strategic relationships between the federal government, state and local leaders, and their foreign counterparts. In 2013, she was awarded the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award.   Ms. Lewis was the first Black woman to serve as Vice President and Counselor to the President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She led the Chamber’s initiatives focused on fostering strategic alliances between small businesses, especially women- and minority-owned businesses, entrepreneurs, and executives. She is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Member of the Board of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security. Ms. Lewis received a J.D. from Emory University School of Law, an M.S.A.J. from American University, and a B.A. from the University of Georgia. She is a native of Statesboro, Georgia.

Deputy Administrator Coleman is responsible for USAID’s policy and programming, overseeing the Agency’s Regional and Pillar Bureaus. As Deputy Administrator, she guides USAID’s crisis response, including on the National Security Council, and supports efforts to address the root causes of conflict. She also is responsible for overseeing Agency efforts to promote food security and strengthen education, health, democracy, and economic growth.   Ambassador Isobel Coleman is a foreign policy and global development expert with more than 25 years of experience working in government, the private sector, and non-profits. Previously, she was the Chief Operating Officer of GiveDirectly and from 2014-2017, she was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Management, Reform and Special Political Affairs. Dr. Coleman spent more than a decade as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she directed CFR’s Women and Foreign Policy program. She started her career with McKinsey & Co. A graduate of Princeton University, she earned MPhil and DPhil degrees in International Relations from Oxford University, which she attended on a Marshall Scholarship.

Dr. Mayesha Alam is vice president of research at FP Analytics where she oversees the research team and leads research development for clients and partners. She previously helped establish and served as deputy director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, and has also worked with the United Nations, World Bank, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and various nongovernmental organizations. Dr. Alam is the author of two books, Women and Transitional Justice and, with Robert Egnell, Women and Gender Perspectives in the Military, as well as reports on conflict, climate change, health, and gender. Her commentary has appeared in the Washington Post, CNN, NPR, Newsweek, and elsewhere. A nonresident senior fellow of the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research, Dr. Alam has taught at Georgetown University and New York University, and holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.

Mariana Atencio is an award-winning journalist and author, who worked as an anchor for Univision and national correspondent for NBC. She won a Peabody Award and an Investigative Reporters and Editor’s (IRE) award for her work uncovering illegal weapons sold across the border in Mexico; as well as a Gracie Award for directing, writing, and reporting “Pressionados”, a documentary about press freedom in Latin America.    Originally from Venezuela, Mariana was a part of the student movement for democracy in her home country and came to the United States on a scholarship to study journalism at Columbia University.   Her work on the Latino community, migrant and women’s rights earned her 3 Emmy nominations, a Hillman Prize and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Presidential Award. She is featured on the award-winning HBO series “Habla Now”; she is a spokesperson for the American Latino Museum in Washington, D.C. and a 2020 fellow at the Aspen Institute.   On the originals and podcasts front, Mariana is currently in production on “Lost in Panama”, a true crime investigation into the Kremers/Froon case in Panama. The podcast was released October 31st, 2022. 

As Global Director for Gender, Hana Brixi leads a global effort to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. She sets the overall direction for the World Bank Group’s Gender knowledge agenda, drives Bank-wide efforts for results in closing gender gaps, and fosters partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders toward innovations at scale.   In her career, Ms. Brixi has contributed to advances in human development, public finance, and governance. As Manager of the Human Capital Project, she led a global effort to protect and invest in people with an emphasis on girls and women empowerment. Prior to this, she held managerial and leadership positions in the Social Protection & Jobs and Governance Global Practices and in the Middle East & North Africa, East Asia & Pacific, and Europe & Central Asia regions. Based in China during 2001-10, she also served as World Health Organization’s Manager and UNICEF Chief in China.    Ms. Brixi has published articles in professional journals and written several books on economic development, including Trust, Voice and Incentives on service delivery and Government at Risk on fiscal management. She holds graduate degrees in physics and economic policy from Masaryk University and Princeton University, respectively.   As Global Director for Gender, Hana Brixi leads a global effort to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. She sets the overall direction for the World Bank Group’s Gender knowledge agenda, drives Bank-wide efforts for results in closing gender gaps, and fosters partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders toward innovations at scale.   In her career, Ms. Brixi has contributed to advances in human development, public finance, and governance. As Manager of the Human Capital Project, she led a global effort to protect and invest in people with an emphasis on girls and women empowerment. Prior to this, she held managerial and leadership positions in the Social Protection & Jobs and Governance Global Practices and in the Middle East & North Africa, East Asia & Pacific, and Europe & Central Asia regions. Based in China during 2001-10, she also served as World Health Organization’s Manager and UNICEF Chief in China.    Ms. Brixi has published articles in professional journals and written several books on economic development, including Trust, Voice and Incentives on service delivery and Government at Risk on fiscal management. She holds graduate degrees in physics and economic policy from Masaryk University and Princeton University, respectively.

Allison Carlson is the managing director of FP Analytics, Foreign Policy’s independent research and advisory division, and FP Events. She oversees FPA’s cross-cutting research at the intersection of policy, technology, and global markets as well as Foreign Policy’s global dialogues and convenings. Prior to these roles, Carlson led FP Analytics’ energy and technology team for more than a decade, evaluating evolving climate and emissions policies and identifying opportunities for advanced technology deployment internationally. Before joining FP, she led the Latin America program for a boutique consulting firm assisting European companies on investing in emerging markets’ energy and financial sectors. Carlson has presented her work at a variety of international conferences and before the U.S. Senate. She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where she received a master’s degree in international relations and international economics.

Peggy Clark started her tenure as CEO and President for the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in October, 2021. Throughout her three-decades-long career, Peggy worked tirelessly to tackle and address unequal gender norms, such as women’s economic security, health, and well-being. She is a champion for racial equity and diversity, and her unique skill set and executive expertise, along with her respect for evidence-based solutions, will be crucial in ICRW’s next chapter as a global research organization. Prior to ICRW, Peggy served as the Executive Director for the Aspen Global Innovators Group, which under her leadership brought innovative and practical partnerships to the table to address some of the most important development challenges including, the fight for economic gender equality and greater access to healthcare for women and marginalized communities around the world. While at Aspen, Clark was recognized for promoting breakthrough strategies to combat challenges in global development and secured more than $80 million in multi-year funding for global health and women’s programs and over $150 million in support of the Aspen Global Innovators Group. Peggy’s career has included positions at The Ford Foundation and Save The Children, where she developed and implemented programs in 45 countries and across six geographic regions. She was also the founder of Realizing Rights with former President of Ireland Mary Robinson to promote rights-based solutions to major global challenges and was instrumental in passage of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the Ethical Recruitment of Health Workers. She has also led major research projects, including a study of the role of mid-level health care providers in reducing maternal mortality in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania and a multi-year study of women welfare levers and microenterprise in the U.S. She was honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Microenterprise for her research efforts. Peggy currently sits on four boards across the United States and Africa, including Last Mile Health (Massachusetts), Calvert Impact Capital (Washington, DC), Ashesi University (Ghana), and the African Leaders Malaria Alliance US Board.

Marcela Escobari serves as the Assistant Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. For over two decades, the Hon. Marcela Escobari led organizations that help regions chart a path towards prosperity. She served in the Obama-Biden Administration as Assistant Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. During her time there, Escobari reinforced U.S. support for Peace Colombia, established a long-term development plan for Haiti, and prepared a proactive strategy to confront the humanitarian and political crisis in Venezuela. In response to Congress’ doubling of funding to Central America, she led changes in strategy, organization and execution to combat root causes of poverty and migration in the region. Prior to serving in government, Escobari was Executive Director at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. During her tenure, the Center launched projects in 17 countries across five continents focused on unlocking constraints to economic growth. Most recently, as a senior fellow at Brookings, she created the Workforce of the Future initiative and applied international economic development models to map the industrial path of American cities and identify policies to help workers prosper in the face of evolving labor markets. She worked with US local leaders, companies and policy makers, including in Idaho and Texas, to strengthen paths to the middle class. Her career has spanned the private sector, government and academia, with a common thread of producing growth that is inclusive and sustainable. She began her career as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and worked across the globe on export competitiveness projects as a strategy consultant. The World Economic Forum named her a Young Global Leader in 2013. She co-authored the book “In the River They Swim: Essays from around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty,” holds a B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Claudia Escobar is a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Due to threats and intimidation, the Guatemalan lawyer and former magistrate of the Court of Appeals relocated to the United States, where she works as the executive director of Be Just, an organization that promotes the rule of law by strengthening the institutions of the justice sector, supports anti-corruption initiatives, and respect for human rights.   Escobar received the Democracy Award in 2017 for her commitment to fighting impunity and corruption. In 2019, she was honored by the Harvard Women’s Law Association and Harvard Law in the exhibition “Women Inspiring Change” organized on the school’s 6th Annual International Women’s Day celebration.   Escobar is among a select group of academics in the Centennial Fellows Program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. In 2015-16, while a fellow at Harvard University, she became the first Central American to be awarded a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Her fellowship responsibilities at both institutions included lecturing, mentoring, and research. Likewise, she was selected by the National Endowment for Democracy to join the Reagan-Fascell Fellows Program (2016-17), where she promoted the importance of judicial independence as a tool to fight corruption.   In Guatemala, after her appointment as a Judicial Branch judge in 2007, Escobar served as Judge of the First Instance. Later she was designated as a magistrate in the Court of Appeals. When running for a second term, the head of the Guatemalan Congress conditioned her election upon an exchange for a judgment that would favor the political party and the vice president in government. For this reason, she resigned her position and denounced interference against judicial independence on the part of the legislative and executive powers. Consequently, the congressman received a 13-year prison sentence for bribery and influence peddling.   With other judges, Escobar founded the organization Judiciary Institute in 2009, and she also established the Association for the Promotion of Democratic Institutionality and Comprehensive Development for Central America (Asociación FIDDI)—two organizations dedicated to promoting the rule of law in Latin America. She regularly contributes time and efforts to various civil society organizations in the defense of human rights and the promotion of the rule of law. In 2019, Escobar was elected as commissioner for the International Experts Commission against Corruption in Ecuador by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Government of Ecuador.   Escobar is an active member of the Anti-Corruption Advocacy Network (ACAN) in Washington, D.C., and the Academia Against Corruption in the Americas in Mexico. She lives in McLean, Virginia, with her husband and four of her six children.   She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Louisiana State University. She obtained her law degree at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala, and her PhD and master’s degrees in pluralistic law at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy, covering the State Department. Before he joined FP in 2016, he managed the NATO portfolio at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, for three years. He’s a graduate of American University, where he studied international relations and European affairs.

Jennifer Klein is Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Gender Policy Council, which she has led since President Biden first established the Gender Policy Council in March 2021. Klein has worked on domestic and global gender policy throughout her career and has advised the President on issues including reproductive rights, gender-based violence, and women’s economic security. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Klein served as a Deputy and Senior Advisor in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State. During the Clinton-Gore Administration, she worked at the White House in a dual appointment as First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s senior domestic policy advisor and a Special Assistant to the President on the Domestic Policy Council.

Amy Mackinnon is an award-winning national security and intelligence reporter at Foreign Policy. She has reported from across Eastern Europe and was previously based in Moscow and in Tbilisi, Georgia, as senior editor for the crisis reporting site Coda Story. Mackinnon is a recipient of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia award for her reporting on homophobic vigilantes in Russia. She speaks Russian and has a master’s degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and a dual master’s in Russian, Central, and East European studies from the University of Glasgow and Corvinus University of Budapest.

Ms. Claudia Mahler (Austria) assumed her role as Independent Expert in May 2020. She is a senior researcher in the field of economic, social and cultural rights for the German Institute for Human Rights since 2010. She was also a visiting professor at the Alice Salomon Hochschule in 2020-2021.   From 2001 to 2009, Ms. Mahler conducted research at the Human Rights Centre of the University of Potsdam where her main fields were in human rights education, minority rights and the law of asylum. In 2000, she was appointed as Vice President of the Human Rights Commission for Tyrol and Vorarlberg.   She has also worked as a lecturer in the field of human rights law and as a consultant to OHCHR in Geneva. From 1997-2001, she held the position of an assistant at the Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck, Austria in the field of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedures. Ms. Mahler received her doctoral degree in 2000.

Diana Marrero is the senior vice president of strategic development at Foreign Policy. She works with a wide variety of public and private sector partners to produce high-profile events, analytics projects, podcasts and other major global initiatives. Before joining FP, she developed strategic initiatives at the Hill and the Washington Post. A media industry veteran, she began her career as a journalist at the Miami Herald and went on to cover politics, the criminal justice system, and current affairs for a number of American news outlets. Marrero holds a master’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University. She is fluent in English and Spanish

Reena hosts the Foreign Policy podcast The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women. She is also a television journalist who has worked as a White House correspondent, foreign reporter, and news anchor for ABC, CBS, and Fox News. Reena has reported around the world from India to Israel, Libya to Lebanon. She was the anchor, most recently, of the CBS evening news on Saturday nights. Reena is the founder of Good Trouble Productions, a media company focused on creating content with purpose.

Lynne O'Donnell is an author, award-winning journalist, foreign correspondent and war reporter. She is a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine and regularly appears on radio and television worldwide. She has worked as a correspondent and bureau chief in China — for Reuters and The Australian; and in Afghanistan where she was bureau chief for the French news agency AFP and The Associated Press between 2009 and 2017. She is currently based in London. Lynne has an MA in War Studies from King's College London, where she is visiting research fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. She is a fellow of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Jackline Oyugi is a manager at Human Needs Project’s Kibera Town Centre, which provides basic services and empowerment services to people living in the slums of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. Jackline is responsible for overseeing and managing ICT programs at Kibera Town Centre. People in her community face a serious lack of skills training and formal employment. Through the Human Needs Project courses, she has taught more than 3,000 students the practical skills they need for success in the marketplace, with more than 60% of her students placed in career track IT jobs. These young people are now helping bring their families out of poverty. Jackline aspires to bring financial and computer literacy to many more women and youth in her  community and to empower them through her work.  She hopes to address the  roots of low economic development through short, cheap education modules that support the already strong culture of entrepreneurship in her informal settlement.

Ai-jen Poo is a next-generation labor leader, award-winning organizer, author, and a leading voice in the women’s movement. She is the President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Director of Caring Across Generations, Co-Founder of SuperMajority and Trustee of the Ford Foundation. Ai-jen is a nationally recognized expert on elder and family care, the future of work, gender equality,  immigration, narrative change, and grassroots organizing. She is the author of the celebrated book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. Together with Alicia Garza, Ai-jen co-hosts the podcast, Sunstorm.   She has been recognized among Fortune’s 50 World’s Greatest Leaders and Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and she has been the recipient of countless awards, including a 2014 MacArthur “Genius” Award.  Ai-jen has been a featured speaker at TEDWomen, Aspen Ideas Festival, Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Skoll World Forum, and the Obama Foundation Inaugural Summit. She has made TV appearances on Nightline, MSNBC, and Morning Joe, and her writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Maire Claire, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and CNN.com among others. Ai-jen has been an influential voice in the #MeToo movement and attended the 2018 Golden Globe Awards with Meryl Streep as part of the launch of #TimesUp.   In 12 short years, with the help of more than 70 local affiliate organizations and chapters and over 200,000 members, the National Domestic Workers Alliance has passed Domestic Worker Bills of Rights in 10 states, the cities of Seattle and Philadelphia, and brought over 2 million home care workers under minimum wage protections. In 2011, Ai-jen launched Caring Across Generations to unite American families in a campaign to achieve bold solutions to the nation’s crumbling care infrastructure. The campaign has catalyzed groundbreaking policy change in states including the nation’s first family caregiver benefit in Hawai’i, and the first long-term care social insurance fund in Washington State.

Jennifer Pope provides technical assistance to country programs providing life-saving products, clinical services and behavior change communications that encourage the world’s most vulnerable populations to lead healthier lives. Prior to her current role, Jen served as PSI’s Country Representative in Côte d’Ivoire where she increased the health impact by over 1,000% and funding by 50% in one year. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as Deputy Country Representative and family planning technical advisor, she managed 100 staff across 10 provinces and oversaw a social franchise network of over 450 private sector healthcare providers. Jen has over 15 years of experience working with non-profits, corporations and government agencies on family planning, HIV and AIDS, malaria, child survival, institutional strengthening, staff capacity building, social marketing and franchising. Before joining PSI, Jen worked for a variety of organizations including the Peace Corps as a health volunteer in Mali. Jen earned her Master in International Economics and Development from Johns Hopkins University and a Master in Business Administration from University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business. She speaks English, French, Bambara, Spanish and Lingala.

Ratna Sahay is Senior Advisor on Gender in the Office of the Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She is responsible for mainstreaming gender in the Fund's core activities-surveillance, programs, and capacity development. Until April 2021, she was a Deputy Director in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, where she led several policy papers and projects in the areas of monetary policy, exchange rate policy, capital account, financial development, financial inclusion, and gender. She has worked in several regional departments in the IMF and has previously served as Advisor to Stanley Fischer (First Deputy Managing Director) and Michael Mussa and Kenneth Rogoff (both Economic Counselors at the IMF). She has published widely in leading journals. She has taught at Delhi University, Columbia University, and New York University and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from New York University, New York.

Anna Slother is a strategic and inclusive leader with 23 years of cross-cutting experience in operations, program management, business development, human resource management, and institutional strengthening. As Executive Vice President, she oversees a diverse portfolio of $475 million in USAID-funded programs and serves on Chemonics’ Board of Directors. She has extensive experience leading crisis response teams, having supported efforts related to Ukraine, Afghanistan, and the global COVID-19 response; spearheading change management efforts, such as overseeing the five-year initiative to consolidate Chemonics’ corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C.; promoting work culture engagement by serving as the executive sponsor of ChemONYX, an employee resource group dedicated to cultivating Black leaders at Chemonics and within the international development sector; and structuring talent management programs to promote greater equity and inclusion. Previously, Anna led business operations for Chemonics’ Global Health and Supply Chain Office, providing support services in business conduct, communications, compliance, continual improvement, human resources, and security to the $9.5 billion USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management project. She has also led Chemonics’ Supply Chain Solutions Division, Human Resources Division, and Central and Eastern Europe Region as senior vice president. Anna has a bachelor’s degree in political science and Asian studies as well as a certificate in teaching English as a second language from Beloit College.

Roberta Solis joined the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – UNODC in 2016 as the Judicial Integrity Team Leader and was responsible for the launch of UNODC’s Global Judicial Integrity Network (www.unodc.org/ji), a platform “of judges and for judges” to strengthen judicial integrity and prevent corruption within the judicial system. The Network focused on emerging issues of judicial integrity, including the use of social media by judges and gender-related judicial integrity issues. In 2021, she joined the secretariat of the joint UNODC and World Bank Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR Initiative), an initiative that supports international efforts to recover proceeds of corruption and end safe havens for corrupt funds.   Ms. Solis holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a post-graduate degree in International Relations from the University of Brasilia, Brazil.    Before joining UNODC, Ms. Solis was a career Federal Attorney in Brazil since 2005 and worked for eight years in Brazil’s Anti-Corruption Agency, where she held the position of Chief International Affairs Advisor. During this time, Ms. Solis was involved in various national and international activities, and participated in the establishment of different international initiatives, such as the negotiations of the Implementation Review Mechanism of the United Nations Convention against Corruption – UNCAC, and the creation of the Open Government Partnership – OGP and of the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency - GIFT. From 2012 to 2016, Ms. Solis was the Chair of the Criteria and Standards Sub-Committee of the Open Government Partnership.

Andrew Sollinger is the publisher and CEO of Foreign Policy, which he joined in 2018. Previously, he was executive vice president at Business Insider, executive director of Capital New York (now Politico NY) and managing director of the Financial Times Americas. Sollinger was part of the executive team that built Money-Media, a digital news startup focused on the fund management industry, and sold it to the FT. A former reporter and editor for Institutional Investor magazine's newsletter division, Andrew has lived in London, Hong Kong and New York. He is a graduate of Clark University, where he was executive editor of The Scarlet.

As AARP’s chief public policy officer, Debra Whitman, leads policy development, analysis and research, as well as global thought leadership supporting and advancing the interests of individuals age 50-plus and their families. She oversees AARP’s Public Policy Institute, AARP Research, Office of Policy Development and Integration, Thought Leadership, and AARP International.   Dr. Whitman is an authority on aging issues with extensive experience in national policymaking, domestic and international research, and the political process. An economist, she is a strategic thinker whose career has been dedicated to solving problems affecting economic and health security, and other issues related to population aging.   As staff director for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, she worked across the aisle to increase retirement security, lower the cost of health care, protect vulnerable seniors, safeguard consumers, make the pharmaceutical industry more transparent, and improve our nation’s long term care system.   Before that, Dr. Whitman worked for the Congressional Research Service as a specialist in the economics of aging. She provided members of Congress and their staff with research and advice, and authored analytical reports on the economic impacts of current policies affecting older Americans, as well as the distributional and intergenerational effects of legislative proposals.     From 2001 to 2003, she served as a Brookings LEGIS Fellow to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Earlier in her career, she conducted research on savings and retirement for the Social Security Administration, helping to establish the Retirement Research Consortium and serving as the founding editor of the Perspectives section of the Social Security Bulletin.     Dr. Whitman has been quoted by or appeared in numerous media outlets including The New York Times, Bloomberg, USA Today, NBC Nightly News, CBS News, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and Politico, among others. She serves on several boards, including the National Advisory Council on Aging for the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the National Coalition on Health Care, and the Pension Rights Center.   Dr. Whitman holds master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in economics, math and Italian from Gonzaga University.

Sarah Costa is the executive director of the Women’s Refugee Commission, a leading global organization advocating for the rights and protection of women, children, and youth displaced by conflict and crisis. Under Sarah’s leadership, the organization has experienced significant growth, with the budget more than doubling, and has expanded its ability to ensure refugees’ right to sexual and reproductive health care, to safety from gender-based violence, and to economic and social empowerment.   Sarah has more than 25 years’ experience in the fields of women’s rights, reproductive health, gender, and youth development, as well as global philanthropy. Throughout her career, she has worked in partnership with those closest to the issues, from government officials to local women’s organizations.   Before joining WRC in 2010, Sarah served as regional director of the Global Fund for Women, a grant-making organization that supports women’s rights organizations working on economic security, health, education, and leadership. Previously, she was a program officer for the Ford Foundation in Brazil and New York, developing and managing international and national programs on gender, sexuality, reproductive health, women’s rights, HIV/AIDS, and health policy.   During her tenure as professor of women’s health at the National School of Public Health, Brazil, Sarah was active in the national women’s movement, serving as a member of the Advisory Committee to the National Council on Women’s Rights. She also served on the boards of several women’s organizations. She is a member of World Learning’s Global Advisory Council.   Sarah holds a master’s degree in medical demography from London University and a PhD in social medicine from Oxford University.

Shamini Dhana is Founder and CEO of Dhana Inc., a Certified B Corp, founded in 2008, headquartered in California. A pioneer of circular fashion, an innovative leader in using technology to solve fashion’s climate and social challenges, Shamini is known for her leadership in advocating for the marginalized and underrepresented garment worker, a purpose driven leader and climate advocate with over fourteen years in global sourcing, supply chain management and sustainable  fashion.  A former investment banker, turned entrepreneur, Shamini Dhana witnessed firsthand the exploitation of children, workers and the environment while doing business in India over twenty years ago, which was the pivotal moment in her life vision “Uniting Humanity Through Fashion”.  In 2022, Shamini Dhana launched D/Sphere, a zero-waste design tool for mass customization for the fashion industry.  With D/Sphere technology, fashion brands empower their customers with digital tools to design their next garment utilizing deadstock, finished materials and second life clothing thereby diverting the 70% of the $3 trillion fashion industry that would end up in the landfill. D/Sphere is democratizing the creation of fashion by collaborating with all stakeholders towards hyper-personalization with circular fashion principles. In 1999, Shamini Dhana joined Silicon Valley Bank, and as senior vice president, Shamini Dhana managed the bank’s India operations, private equity and investor relationships and grew cross-border technology clients in seven years. Credited for the landmark Silicon Valley VC mission to India in 2002, Shamini Dhana successfully paved the way to foreign VC investment today in India including the setup of new funds, collaboration, and teams to support the growing emerging technologies arising in India.    Prior to banking and finance, Shamini Dhana worked with multinational companies in the Asian Pacific Region bringing foreign direct investment into the State of California, the seventh largest economy in the world in 1990s and was on the lead team for the governor’s business trade and investment mission to seven countries in Asia.  With over 20 years of experience in international strategy, global operations, venture capital, business development, and executive leadership in Corporate America, Shamini Dhana has served on numerous non-profit boards, including the UNA which organized the first ever climate and sustainability conference in California post the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.  Shamini Dhana has won numerous awards including Best for The World 2016-2022, the CO Leadership Award in Sustainable Business and launched the first social campaign WearOurValues in 2016 which propelled a new way of thinking about the power of connecting people and planet through the piece of clothing we wear every day.  Shamini Dhana launched the WearOurValues.com report at the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) Copenhagen Fashion Summit in 2019 which has been cited for the need of “Brand-Customer Value Alignment” and greater brand transparency. Dhana Inc. was also a case study in the GFA final report 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment.  Shamini Dhana is an avid golfer, hiker and cyclist having completed ten international events to raise funds on behalf of the environment, awareness of climate change, sustainability and currently serves as board member of Climate Ride, Ethical Fashion Forum  and an associate producer of The True Cost documentary- a response to the 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse (Rana Plaza collapse) where over 1300 people were killed and is considered the worst garment factory disaster ever recorded. Today, Shamini Dhana continues to mentor, write, stand up and speak out on behalf of garment workers, worker’s rights, youth and our children, sustainable fashion, circularity, women empowerment, climate change, fashion technology and the new frontier of digital fashion. Shamini Dhana finds deep presence and peace in Nature and is blessed to live in Marin, California with her husband, son, daughter, and dog.

Tené Dolphin has served in both local and national positions with a primary focus on policies and programs that create opportunities for all. Currently, Tené serves as the Executive Director for the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), providing leadership and advocacy around issues that impact America’s women business owners.  Before joining NWBC, Tené served as the Strategy and Operations Lead for Wells Fargo’s Small Business Growth Philanthropy division. While at Wells Fargo, Tené developed partnerships that provided direct support for women entrepreneurs through the “Connect to More” platform. Prior to Wells Fargo, Tené served as the first Director for the Office of Business Diversity and Opportunity for the City of Birmingham, AL. In that role, she established the Mayor’s Inaugural Small Business Council, developed the City’s inclusive procurement program, launched a disparity study, served on the supplier diversity council for the 2022 World Games, and created essential local and national partnerships connecting resources to the City’s small business community. Before spending time in Alabama, Tené spent most of her career in Washington, D.C. In 2017, she was appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser to support critical local business initiatives. As the Senior Deputy Director for the Department of Small and Local Business Development, Tené provided oversight for the City’s Certified Business Enterprise program, the Aspire program and the Made in DC program. In 2008 she was appointed to Senior Executive Service by President Barack Obama for the U.S. Department of Commerce. She first served as the Director of the Office of the Executive Secretariat and then as the Chief of Staff for the Economic Development Administration (EDA). While at EDA, Tené elevated the work of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and coordinated White House, departmental and agency strategic initiatives. Prior to her federal service, Tené led a massive volunteer corps for then-candidate Adrian Fenty. Upon the success of the campaign, Mayor Adrian Fenty appointed Tené to serve as his Chief of Staff and the interim director for the Department of Employment Services. In 2004, Tené served as the Director of Special Projects for the presidential campaign. Tené took on a number of efforts including but not limited to establishing the base of operations in Boston during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Tené began her career of service as a teacher in the Prince George’s County Public Schools system. Among a classroom full of third graders, she helped her students see education as a means to provide economic opportunity. Tené is a proud graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., with a degree in Psychology. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and has always remained an active humanitarian, volunteering for several local and national organizations. Her highest honor is being mom to her amazing, extraordinary son.

H.E. Floreta Faber is the Ambassador of the Republic of Albania to the United States. She has presented her credentials to President Barack Obama in 2015.   H.E. Floreta Faber has been working as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Albania since its opening in 2000 until 2015. In this capacity Ambassador Faber has been working closely with the representatives of the Albanian and American government, international organizations and the EU, alike business organizations in United States, Europe and beyond.  She has been instrumental to the organization itself and to the development of functions like the advocacy capacity of business community in Albania. The working experience led her in becoming well-known and an expert in several fields, such as: public and government relations; facilitating roundtables and negotiations; managing organizations towards success; advocacy to the highest levels of government, international organizations and diplomatic circles; playing a great role in bringing the American and other international experiences to the Albanian environment.   From 1995 until the year 2000, Ambassador Faber worked with Deloitte & Touche, Tirana, Albania, including a secondment program with Deloitte & Touche, Prague, Czech Republic.  She served in opening the Deloitte & Touche office in Tirana and moved to several position levels as the office was growing, carrying out the business development and participating and managing many different projects.   Ambassador Faber started her working experience in Shkoder, in 1990, working for three years in three different organizations: a local Chamber of Commerce, a Regional Business Agency and a public import-export company which gave her since than a strong background working with various Albanian government and emerging business environments.   H.E. Floreta Faber is a graduate of Tirana University, Faculty of Economics, in the Sphere of Circulation in 1990. From 1993 to 1995 she has been studying the two-year Master of Science Program for International Marketing & Strategy at the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo, Norway, including a period of studying as exchange student at the Washington State University, in Washington State in the USA. Her Masters Diploma in Marketing and Operational Management is awarded by MB University, in Albania. She has been following several executive programs and trainings, such as at Harvard University and International Visitor Leadership Program of the Department of States, focusing on programs of leadership, international relations and diplomacy, management, negotiations, accountability in governance, state protocols, and business development.

Elisabeth (Liz) Feleke has over 20 years of experience in international development management, public private partnerships, and policy reform in Africa. She previously served as Resident Country Director and Deputy Country Director for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact in Ghana, and as Deputy Country Director for the MCC project in Namibia, these two MCC projects each exceeded $300 million. In addition, Ms. Feleke worked as the Regional Program Manager for West Africa for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Dakar, Senegal, spearheaded programs with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and U.S bilateral missions in the region on security and economic issues. She earned a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She speaks French, Amharic, and Spanish.  

Caren Grown is Senior Fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution.  From 2014-2021, she served as Global Director for Gender at the World Bank Group and then as Senior Technical Advisor in the Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment Global Practice until 2022.  Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Grown was Economist-In-Residence and Co-Director of the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics at American University in Washington, D.C.  Over the course of her career, Dr. Grown held several senior positions, including as Senior Gender Advisor at USAID, where she led the development of the Agency’s Gender Equality policy and Director of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Governance Team at the International Center for Research on Women. Dr. Grown’ s publications include Taxation and Gender Equity (Routledge 2010), The Feminist Economics of Trade (Routledge 2007), Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women (Earthscan Press 2005) and Development, Crises and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's Perspectives (Monthly Review Press 1987). Her articles have appeared in World Development, The Journal of International Development, Development Policy Review, Health Policy and Planning, and The Lancet. She holds a PhD and MA in Economics from the New School for Social Research and a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Shanthi Kalathil is an advisor, consultant and speaker on national security, democratic resilience, and strategic competition in the information age. Under President Biden, Kalathil served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights at the National Security Council, where she oversaw the organization of the inaugural Summit for Democracy and the development of the first U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption, among other initiatives.  Before joining the Biden Administration, Kalathil was the senior director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy. Previously, she held positions at the US Agency for International Development and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and consulted for the World Bank and other international affairs organizations. Kalathil has authored and edited numerous policy and scholarly publications, including Diplomacy, Development and Security in the Information Age (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University, 2013) and (with Taylor C. Boas) Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2003). She was formerly a Hong Kong-based reporter for the Asian Wall Street Journal.

Connie LaRossa has worked a variety of different national security roles for more than two decades.  She led legislative engagements for the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Defense (DoD), and the Intelligence Community, and for private sector clients.  She currently serves as the Senior Policy Manager on the Google Government Affairs & Public Policy team where she is  responsible for national security policy.  In her current capacity, she works across the Google enterprise to ensure that there is a robust relationship between Google and the U.S. Government's national security agencies. Prior to joining Google she was a principal at Cornerstone Government Affairs and at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), where she represented national security clients to capitol hill and the executive branch.  Before joining the private sector, Connie  served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for House Affairs at DHS, Legislative Director at DHS, and Legislative and Public Affairs Officer at DoD. Connie managed rapid response teams and messaging during national security emergencies and continues to maintain strong relationships with committee members and staffers across the aisle on Capitol Hill.

Lilit Kamo Makunts is an Armenian philologist and politician who currently serves as the Armenian ambassador to the United States. Before this, she served as the leader of the ruling My Step Alliance faction in the seventh National Assembly of Armenia and as Minister of Culture in the first cabinet of Nikol Pashinyan.

Kathleen Mogelgaard is President and CEO of the Population Institute, where she directs the organization’s advocacy and public education activities. Kathleen is passionate about promoting deeper understanding of linkages among issues that are critical for sustainable development, including population dynamics, reproductive rights, gender, climate change, and food security. Prior to taking the leadership helm the Institute in 2021, Kathleen was Principal of KAM Consulting, where she worked with clients in Washington and globally in policy analysis, research, and advocacy. Her previous work includes roles with Population Action International, Oxfam American, National Audubon Society, and the Population Reference Bureau, where she provided research support and technical assistance for conservation and development projects in Africa and Asia. Kathleen has participated as an observer in negotiations on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, where she represented the World Resources Institute in advocating for effective adaptation planning that incorporates the expressed needs of marginalized and vulnerable communities. Kathleen was the lead researcher and writer of “Unfinished Business: The Pursuit of Rights and Choices for All,” the United Nations Population Fund’s 2019 State of World Population Report. She holds masters degrees in public policy and natural resources from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Nwankwor serves as a Lecturer and Director of SAIS Women Lead (SWL). Her primary areas of specialization are Comparative Politics with a focus on African politics, and Women and Gender Studies. Within women and gender studies, her research and teaching interests include women’s political participation with an emphasis on ministerial level politics in Africa, women’s health and health policy, feminist international relations, and the political economy of gender in Africa.
As Director of SAIS Women Lead, Dr. Nwankwor develops and teaches SWL’s practicum courses; facilitates collaboration with SAIS Women’s Alumni Network (SWAN), SWL’s Women Who Inspire Lecture Series, and Global Women in Leadership to co-sponsor programming; strengthens alumni mentoring activities affiliated with SWL; and advises students.  

Stephanie Mulhern Ogorzalek serves as the Director for Gender-Based Violence and Cross-Cutting Issues in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) at the U.S. Department of State. Her team leads the State Department’s work to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally, advance gender equality in multilateral fora, promote the health and rights of women and girls, and jointly address gender and climate challenges. A tireless champion for gender equality and human rights, Stephanie regularly advises the White House Gender Policy Council and senior U.S. Government leadership on gender and oversees the implementation of the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.  Stephanie previously worked in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, coordinating U.S. democracy and human rights policy in West and Central Africa and South America. Prior to joining the Department of State, she served as a Strategic Communications Analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense, advising on the use of messaging to prevent conflict and promote respect for human rights. Stephanie also worked as a Social Development Consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank’s Gender and Diversity Division in Bogota, Colombia, managing efforts to respond to gender-based violence, support survivors, and foster post-conflict opportunities for women. Stephanie holds a MA from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and BA from the University of Notre Dame. She is originally from Buffalo, New York.    

Maggie is Founder and Executive Managing Director of Unicorn Strategies (US), a firm building and supporting intentional innovation in national security institutions through public private partnerships. US’ work includes Operation Eagle, #NatSecGirlSquad and its accompanying secure teaching and learning platform Herd Mentality, Project VU – a functional human-centered AI program to strengthen and reform the security clearance process, and Kalishnikitty. Maggie also enjoyed a fruitful term as Entrepreneur-in-Residence/Senior Advisor to the Executive at Guidehouse National Security Sector. Prior to Unicorn Strategies, Maggie served in a variety of roles at American Security Project including leading the US-Cuba work, the Women in Security and Business Council for American Security programs, and a weekly podcast. Maggie is a Principal Participant at the Munich Security Conference, a Non-Resident Fellow at JointSpecial Operations University supporting the Applied Experimentation Lab and Department of Integrated Special Operations, and a former Aspen Security Forum Fellow. She teaches and speaks regularly on innovative institution building in national security, applied design thinking, and entrepreneurship at Naval Postgraduate School’s Institute for Security Governance, Georgetown Security Studies, and similar programs. Maggie is on the Board of Operation Eagle Foundation, serves as co-chair of Leadership Council of Women in National Security (LCWINS) Initiatives Committee, and participates in the Archipelago ofDesign (AOD). Maggie received her M.A at Georgetown School of Foreign Service’s Security Studies Program where she earned the Director’s Award and served as a Junior Centennial Fellow. She is an exceedingly proud graduate of Wesleyan University, and lives in Washington, D.C. where she maintains a vibrant career as an opera singer.

Susan Sloan is a communications strategist and author of A Seat at the Table: Women, Diplomacy, and Lessons for the World. She works in diplomacy engaging with diplomats, government officials, community organizers, and international leaders. She has met with more than 80 countries through diplomacy, advocacy, and experiential education. Susan focuses on gender and equity to advise leaders on policy and diplomatic affairs. Heads of state, Fortune 500 companies, universities, nonprofits, foreign ministries, and international institutions have hosted Susan to speak on gender parity, equity, and equality.  Her global communications career spans multiple sectors including for-profit corporations, NGOs, and government, where she designs and launches communication strategies to transform organizations. At the age of 30, she completed a life goal of visiting all seven continents. Susan holds a master's degree in Global Strategic Communications from Georgetown University and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Journalism with a major in Public Relations and a minor in Spanish from the University of Georgia. She resides in both Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia.

Tea Trumbic is the Manager of the Women, Business and the Law project in the World Bank’s Development Economics vice-presidency, where she leads a dynamic team to produce data and analysis on laws and regulations that impact women’s economic opportunities in 190 economies. She joined the World Bank in 2006, and has worked on production of indicators related to business taxation, credit information, agribusiness, trade and gender. Before joining the World Bank, Tea worked at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia and the International Monetary Fund. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University and a master’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics.

Regina Waugh serves as the International Foundation for Electoral Systems’ (IFES) senior global gender advisor. In that role she provides strategic vision and leadership for IFES’ gender portfolio in outreach and partnerships; technical advancement and innovation; technical assistance quality assurance; business development; and program design.     Ms. Waugh came to IFES from more than a decade working for the federal and local governments to promote human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Ms. Waugh began her career with the Federal government as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State and went on to serve as the Obama administration’s director for human rights and gender at the White House National Security Council and as the chief of staff in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State.      She also served as the inaugural executive director of the Los Angeles County Women and Girls Initiative. Ms. Waugh holds a BA, MPP, and JD, all from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a member of the California Bar.