Tutu Agyare, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Nubuke Investments
Mr. Tutu Agyare Founded Nubuke Investments in 2007 and serves as its Managing Partner. Mr. Agyare had a 21-year career at UBS Investment Bank most recently as the Head of European Emerging Markets and Director. He has been a Non-Executive Director at Tullow Oil plc since August 25, 2010.
Afrah Abdulaziz Al-Zouba, First Deputy Secretary General, National Dialogue Conference, Yemen
Dr. Afrah Al-Zouba is the First Deputy Secretary General of the National Dialogue and Constitutional Drafting Secretariat in Yemen. A long-time advocate for women’s empowerment and conflict resolution, she worked closely on the 2012 Yemeni presidential election and has assisted efforts connected with Yemen’s National Reconciliation Government. She has a Master’s degree in community health and Masters in business administration, both from the Univeristy of San’a.
Madeleine K. Albright Chair, The Albright Stonebridge Group and U.S. Secretary of State, 1997-2001
Madeleine K. Albright is Chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group and Chair of Albright Capital Management, an affiliated investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. In 1997, Dr. Albright was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. As Secretary of State, Dr. Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated for democracy and human rights, and promoted American trade, business, labor, and environmental standards abroad. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. In 2012, Dr. Albright received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Obama. See highlights from Madeleine Albright at Frontiers in Development here.
Philip Alston Professor, NYU
Philip Alston is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law. He is a member of the Commission of Inquiry established by the UN Security Council to investigate gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the Central African Republic. He was previously Chair of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for eight years and UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions for six years
Kofi A. Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations
Kofi A. Annan was the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, served from 1997 to 2006, and was the first to emerge from the ranks of United Nations staff. One of Mr. Annan's main priorities as Secretary-General was a comprehensive program of reform aimed at revitalizing the United Nations and making the international system more effective. He was a constant advocate for human rights, the rule of law, the Millennium Development Goals and Africa, and sought to bring the Organization closer to the global public by forging ties with civil society, the private sector and other partners.
Lee Badgett, Director, Center for Public Policy and Administration, University of Massachusetts Amherst
M. V. Lee Badgett is a professor of economics and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also a Williams Distinguished Scholar at UCLA’s Williams Institute. Her research focuses on discrimination against LGBT people in employment and family policy. She has consulted with the World Bank, the OECD, USAID, and other international agencies on issues related to the economic cost of exclusion of LGBT people.
Manish Bapna, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, World Resources Institute
Manish Bapna is the executive vice president and managing director of the World Resources Institute (WRI), a think tank working at the intersection of the environment and development. He oversees WRI’s thematic programs and global network of offices, and served as WRI’s acting president from 2011-2012. Previously, Manish was the executive director of the nonprofit Bank Information Center, a senior economist at the World Bank and a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Manish serves on the board of directors of Oxfam America, the Open Government Partnership and Hampshire College. Manish received graduate degrees from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School and an undergraduate degree from MIT.
Kit Batten, Global Climate Change Coordinator, USAID
Kit Batten was appointed as the USAID Global Climate Change Coordinator in January 2011. In this capacity, Batten coordinates all climate change activities across all bureaus in the Agency. Prior to her appointment at USAID, Batten was senior science and policy fellow and program director at the Heinz Center’s Institute for Science Communication and Policy Development. In this role, she taught scientists from academia, government and NGOs how to communicate about the results of their research with policy makers and the media.
Betty Bigombe, Senior Director for Fragility, Conflict and Violence, World Bank
Betty Bigombe, a Ugandan national is the new Senior Director for the Fragility, Conflict and Violence Group at the World Bank. Prior to joining the Bank she was the State Minister for Water Resources in the Ugandan cabinet. She was also an elected Member of Parliament.
Nancy Birdsall, President, Center for Global Development
Nancy Birdsall is the Center for Global Development's founding president. From 1993 to 1998, she was executive vice president of the Inter-American Development Bank. Before that she worked 14 years in research, policy, and management positions at the World Bank, including as director of the Policy Research Department. Prior to launching the Center, she served for three years as Senior Associate and Director of the Economic Reform Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where her work focused on globalization, inequality and the reform of the international financial institutions. Birdsall received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Tony Blair, Founder and Patron, African Governance Initiative and U.K. Prime Minister, 1997-2007
Tony Blair served as Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from May 1997 to June 2007. He was also the leader of Britain’s Labour Party (1994 to 2007) and the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield, England (1983 to 2007). Tony Blair continues to be active in public life. He has many interests, not least his current role in the Middle East, which takes up the largest proportion of his time. Since leaving Downing Street, Tony Blair has served as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East. He represents the United States of America, United Nations, Russia and the European Union, working with the Palestinians to prepare for statehood as part of the international community’s effort to secure peace. See highlights from Tony Blair at Frontiers in Development here.
Chris Blattman, Associate Professor of Political Science & International Affairs, Columbia University
Chris Blattman is Associate Professor of Political Science & International Affairs at Columbia University. He studies poverty and violence in the developing world. Dr. Blattman was previously faculty at Yale University, and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s in Public Administration and International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Shashi Buluswar, University of California, Berkeley
Shashi Buluswar is the co-founder and Executive Director of LBNL Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies (LIGTT). Before founding LIGTT, Shashi was a Partner at Dalberg Global Development Advisors. In recent years, Shashi has worked with the UN's Peacekeeping Department to restructure global operations, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to launch large-scale agricultural development programs in Africa and Asia, with the US government on post-conflict development in Afghanistan, with several multinational corporations to improve their social responsibility agendas, and dozens of NGOs fighting for human rights, health, education, and economic empowerment.Shashi also teaches International Development at UC Berkeley, and is currently writing a textbook on the topic. He holds a Ph.D. in Robotics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and an MBA from the Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International
Winnie Byanyima, a grassroots activist, human rights advocate, senior international public servant, and world recognized expert on women’s rights, is currently Executive Director of Oxfam International. Born in Uganda, Ms. Byanyima earned engineering degrees in the United Kingdom and began her career as an engineer for Uganda Airlines. She was appointed to the diplomatic service in 1989, where she represented Uganda in France and at UNESCO in Paris. She returned to Uganda in 1994 and for the next ten years she served as a member of parliament, created an all-woman parliamentary caucus, and was founding leader of the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), a national NGO in Uganda to champion women’s equal participation in decision-making. See highlights from Winnie Byanyima at Frontiers in Development here.
Rosa Cañete, Director, Oxfam/Dominican Republic
Rosa Cañete is a Spanish economist who has worked for 14 years in the Dominican Republic. She began her work with community-based organizations working on the impact of tax policies and national budgets on the most disadvantaged population. She actively participated in national discussions on tax reforms of 2004, 2005 and 2012. She was deputy coordinator of the Human Development Office of the UNDP in DR working on several national reports of human development, especially on: power, democracy, local development, public policies, social protection. She is the author of several books, university professor and now heads the Oxfam office in DR and coordinates the Latin-American Inequality Campaign.
Laurence Chandy, Fellow, Brookings Institution
Laurence Chandy is a fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. His research focuses on global poverty, fragile states and aid effectiveness. He has written extensively on the prospects for eradicating extreme poverty and is co-editor of the forthcoming volume, The Last Mile in Ending Extreme Poverty (Brookings Press). He formerly served as a speechwriter for President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, and as a consultant and advisor to governments in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Ann Mei Chang, Chief Innovation Officer, Mercy Corps
Ann Mei Chang is the Chief Innovation Officer at Mercy Corps, where she builds highly scalable social ventures and leverages mobile/internet to improve the lives of the poor. Previously, she served as the Senior Advisor for Women and Technology at the U.S. Department of State. Ann Mei has more than 20 years of engineering and leadership experience in Silicon Valley. Most recently, she served as a Senior Engineering Director at Google for 8 years, where she led worldwide engineering for Google's mobile applications and services, and subsequently product development for Emerging Markets.
Sarah Cliffe, Special Adviser and Assistant Secretary-General of Civilian Capacities, United Nations
Sarah Cliffe is Special Adviser and Assistant Secretary-General of Civilian Capacities to the United Nations. Prior to that, she has been Special Representative and Director for the 2011 World Development Report on Conflict, Security and Development. For 20 years, Ms. Cliffe has worked in countries emerging from conflict and political transition. At the World Bank, her work has covered post-conflict reconstruction, community-driven development and civil service reform. She was Chief of Mission for the Bank’s program in Timor-Leste from 1999 to 2002; led the Bank’s Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries Group from 2002-2007; and was Director of Strategy and Operations for the East Asia and Pacific Region from 2007-2009. She holds degrees in History and Economic Development from Cambridge and Columbia Universities.
Helder da Costa, Senior Advisor, National Directorate for Aid Effectiveness, Timor Leste
Dr. Helder da Costa is currently a senior advisor to the Government of Timor-Leste’s National Directorate for Aid Effectiveness within the Ministry of Finance. In April, Dr. Da Costa and his team at the Ministry of Finance organized the Dili International Dialogue on Peace building and State building. Dr. Da Costa earned his PhD in Trade Policy at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. He has over 15 years of management experience and 12 years of work in the academic and development fields. Dr. Da Costa’s professional career includes 6 years of senior posts with both the Asia New Zealand Foundation and Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) based in Wellington, New Zealand as a Tertiary Education Manager and the Asia Programme Manager overseeing 5 countries in Asia.
Agnes Dasewicz, Director of the Private Capital Group for Africa, USAID
SAgnes Dasewicz serves as Director of the Private Capital Group for Africa within the Africa Bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Having worked in development finance institutions for over 15 years, Ms. Dasewicz has an extensive financial pedigree and knowledge of private equity investments in emerging markets. She is the founder of, and was the Chief Operating Officer of the Grassroots Business Fund, an impact investing fund targeting Base of the Pyramid (BoP) entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). She was also a Program Manager at the International Finance Corporation and worked at their Small Enterprise Assistance Fund (SEAF). Ms. Dasewicz holds an MBA from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.
Susan Davis, President & CEO, BRAC USA
Susan Davis is the founding President and CEO of BRAC USA, an organization created to advance the global mission of BRAC, the world’s largest nonprofit. BRAC has been creating opportunities at scale, over the last four decades, for those living in poverty using tools that include microfinance, education, healthcare, legal rights and women’s empowerment. BRAC’s work touches the lives of an estimated 135 million people in 12 countries across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Susan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on several boards, including the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships. She was educated at Georgetown, Harvard, and Oxford Universities.
Brady Deaton, Chair, Board for International Food and Agriculture Development
Dr. Brady J. Deaton currently serves as the Chairman for the BIFAD. Previously, he served as Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Missouri from 2004 until 2013. Dr. Deaton spent 12 years at Virginia Tech, the last four as associate director of the Office for International Development. Dr. Deaton holds leadership roles in many university, community and national organizations. He served as chair of the Academic Affairs Council of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) and also participates in numerous advisory roles. Dr. Deaton holds a B.S. in Agricultural Economics, an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Commerce from the University of Kentucky, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Makhtar Diop, Vice President for the Africa Region, World Bank
Makhtar Diop is the World Bank's Vice President for the Africa Region. He has been in the position since May 6, 2012. Before taking up this position, he was the World Bank Country Director for Brazil between January 2009 and April 2012, and previously held the positions of Director of Strategy and Operations of the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, and Sector Director for Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure in the same region.
Michael Elliott, President and CEO, ONE Campaign
Michael Elliott is the President and Chief Executive Officer of ONE. Prior to joining ONE in 2011, Elliott had a long and distinguished career in the media. He served as editor of both TIME International and Newsweek International, and as Political Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of The Economist. He is the author of four books, including The Day Before Yesterday, an acclaimed history of the post-1945 United States. Prior to his career in journalism, he was a member of the Central Policy Review Staff in Britain’s Cabinet Office, and before that, spent eight years teaching in universities in the US and UK. Elliott sits on a number of official advisory committees and boards, including those of InterAction, the International Center for Journalists, and Beyond Sport.
Elliot Engel, United States Congressman
Congressman Engel is the Ranking Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He also serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee including the Subcommittee on Health, and the Subcommittee on Energy and Power. He is the founder and Co-Chair of the House Oil and National Security Caucus, which is seeking clean, energy efficient alternatives to America's over-reliance on oil. He is also a member of the Democratic Task Force on Health and serves on Commission on Human Rights.
Michael Faye, Chairman, GiveDirectly
Michael completed a Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard University, specializing in Development and Finance. He has worked with one of India's largest banks in designing consumer finance products and has extensive experience conducting field research in India. Prior to returning to school, Michael worked as a Research Analyst for the United Nations Millennium Project (UNMP), a group headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, tasked with preparing a plan for low-income countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He currently works as a management consultant.
Tony Gambino, Interim CEO, Women for Women International
Tony Gambino serves as the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Women for Women International and a member of the Board of Directors. An internationally recognized expert on the Great Lakes Region of Africa with over 25 years of leadership experience, he previously served as Special Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs at the Department of State and as the Public Policy Director at InterAction. For seven years, he worked with USAID, reopening their Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and subsequently serving as the Mission Director, receiving USAID’s Superior Honor Award.
Larry Garber, Senior Advisor, Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning USAID
Larry Garber is Senior Advisor to the Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning, USAID. He was been a senior policymaker at USAID for many years and served as Director of USAID's West Bank and Gaza Mission from 1999-2004. Before rejoining USAID in November 2009, Mr. Garber served as the Chief Executive Officer of the New Israel Fund, Mr. Garber previously worked with the National Democratic Institute, the International Human Rights Law Group, and Steptoe and Johnson law firm. He also has served as a consultant on election-related matters for the Organization of American States, United Nations, and Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is currently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. He took up his post in November 2012. Prior to this he served as Minister of Health from October 2005 to November 2012. Dr. Tedros also served in a number of expert and leadership positions within the Ministry of Health at both federal and regional levels, including the positions of Minister of State and as Head of the Tigray Regional Health Bureau. First joining the Ministry in 1986, Dr. Tedros has dedicated his entire career to public service and scientific research, focusing on health concerns. See highlights from Dr. Tedros at Frontiers in Development here.
Sam Goldman, Chief Customer Officer and Founder, d.light
Sam co-founded d.light in 2007 and served as the company’s founding CEO. During his tenure as CEO, he raised over $11 million in funding, started the India sales and marketing division, and oversaw multiple launches of products, including the award-winning S250 and S10. Sam has been selected as an Ashoka Fellow and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader; he was also recognized by Forbes as one of the world’s top 30 social entrepreneurs. Prior to d.light, he founded and managed multiple ventures in Africa, including improved agriculture and construction businesses, a for-profit NGO cultivating the miracle tree Moringa oleifera, and the distribution of low-cost latrines, cook stoves and rain water catchment cisterns. After graduating with degrees in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria, Canada, he earned an MBA from Stanford.
Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director-General, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Charlotte Petri Gornitzka has been Director-General of Sida since 2011. DG Gornitzka works on behalf of the Swedish Government to contribute to making it possible for poor people to improve their living conditions. Prior to joining Sida, Ms Petri Gornitzka was Secretary-General of the International Save the Children Alliance and before that from 2003-2008 the Secretary-General and CEO of Save the Children Sweden. She has also had a successful career as the Under-Secretary-General of the Swedish Red Cross as well as its Director of Communications. See highlights from Charlotte Petri Gornitzka at Frontiers in Development here.
Justine Greening, UK Secretary of State for International Development
Justine Greening was appointed Secretary of State for International Development on 4 September 2012. She is the Conservative MP for Putney, Roehampton, and Southfields. Justine was Economic Secretary to the Treasury from May 2010 to October 2011, and Secretary of State for Transport from October 2011 to September 2012. See highlights from Justine Greening at Frontiers in Development here.
Nora Groce, Chair and Director of the Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre, University College London
Professor Nora Ellen Groce is the Chair and Director of the Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre at University College London. She is a medical anthropologist, working in global health and international development, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations and persons with disabilities. Professor Groce has served on the faculties of Harvard and Yale before joining University College London in 2008. She has published widely and serves as an advisor for a number of UN agencies, governments, non-governmental organisations and disabled peoples organisations.
Caren Grown, Senior Director for the Gender Group, World Bank
Caren Grown is Senior Director of the Gender Group at the World Bank. For the past seven years, she was Economist-In-Residence at American University and co-director of the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics. From 2011-2013, she was on leave from American University serving as Senior Gender Advisor in the Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning at USAID and Acting Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. Formerly, she was Senior Scholar and Co-Director of the Gender Equality and Economy Program at The Levy Economics Institute at Bard College and Director of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Governance team at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). She is External Research Director of the UNU-WIDER program on aid effectiveness and gender equality, and a co-Principal Investigator of the Gender Asset Gap Project, based in India, Ghana, and Ecuador.
Stephen J. Hadley, Chairman, United States Institute of Peace and U.S. National Security Adviser, 2005-2009
Stephen Hadley, chairman of the United States Institute of Peace, completed four years as the assistant to the president for National Security Affairs in 2009. In that capacity he was the principal White House foreign policy adviser to then President George W. Bush, directed the National Security Council staff, and ran the interagency national security policy development and execution process. Prior to that, Mr. Hadley served as the assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser. Mr. Hadley also previously served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. See highlights from Stephen Hadley at Frontiers in Development here.
Maureen Harrington, Head, International Development Group, Standard Bank of South Africa
Maureen Harrington is director and head of the International Development Group at Standard Bank of South Africa. She is responsible for broadening Standard Bank's solutions for international organizations and other partners involved in African development. Prior to joining Standard, Harrington served in a number of leadership roles with the Millennium Challenge Corp. including vice president for policy and international relations and managing director for Africa operations. She also worked with the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Before joining the U.S. government, Harrington worked as an emerging markets economic development consultant and led the Massachusetts Trade Office. Harrington also held a variety of positions over eight years with the International Republican Institute. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School.
Andrew Herscowitz, Coordinator, Power Africa and Trade Africa
Andrew M. Herscowitz is the coordinator for President Obama’s Power Africa and Trade Africa initiatives. Prior to this appointment, he served as USAID's mission director in Ecuador from 2011 to 2013, and as deputy mission director in Peru from 2009 to 2011. In 2008, Herscowitz served as USAID’s supervisory regional legal adviser for Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. From 2002 to 2007, he was regional legal adviser for the Caribbean, providing services to Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti and Jamaica. Mr. Hersowitz is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Dana Hyde, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Corporation
Dana J. Hyde, a former State Department and White House official, brings to MCC more than 20 years of experience in law and public policy, with expertise in economic growth and resource management in the United States and around the globe. As Associate Director at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Ms. Hyde led a team that managed more than $150 billion in budgetary resources across six cabinet agencies. Ms. Hyde came to OMB from the State Department, where she led the establishment of the Office of Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources and went on to serve as Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary Jack Lew. She also previously worked at the Justice Department, serving as special assistant to two deputy attorneys general. Ms. Hyde is a graduate of Georgetown Law School.
John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State
Secretary Kerry joined the State Department after 28 years in the United States Senate, the last four as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary Kerry chaired the Asia and Middle East subcommittees where he authored and passed major legislation on international drug trafficking, international money laundering, humanitarian aid, and climate change. He helped negotiate the UN’s genocide tribunal to prosecute war crimes in Cambodia. He also held senior positions on the Finance, Commerce, and Small Business committees and served as a member of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, where he worked across party lines to try and reduce the country’s debt and strengthen our economy. Secretary Kerry was the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States in 2004. See highlights from Secretary Kerry at Frontiers in Development here.
Zia Khan, Vice President for Initiatives and Strategy, The Rockefeller Foundation
As Vice President for Initiatives and Strategy, Zia Khan oversees the Foundation’s approach for achieving impact and realizing the organization’s mission and goals. He leads the program team in New York, Bangkok, and Nairobi and their work in searching for new opportunities, developing strategies, and executing initiatives. He also provides direction for the Foundation’s commitment to supporting new innovations and capacities in the sector. Prior to joining the Foundation, Dr. Khan was a management consultant who advised senior leaders in different sectors on strategy and organizational performance. His previous experience includes being a partner at Booz & Company and a principal at Katzenbach Partners where he founded and led the San Francisco office. Dr. Khan holds a B.S. from Cornell and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford.
Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Homi Kharas is a senior fellow and deputy director for the Global Economy and Development program. Formerly a chief economist in the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank, Kharas currently studies policies and trends influencing developing countries, including aid to poor countries, the emergence of a middle class, the food crisis and global governance and the G20. He has served most recently as the lead author and executive secretary of the secretariat supporting the High Level Panel, co-chaired by President Sirleaf, President Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Cameron, advising the U.N. Secretary General on the post-2015 development agenda.
H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania
His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete is the President of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Fourth President of Tanzania, he was elected in 2005 and won a second term in 2010. During his tenure, President Kikwete has demonstrated tremendous leadership on sustainable development and governance, and has become one of the Continent’s most visible advocates. Prior to his election, His Excellency was the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for ten years. During his presidency he has also served as Chairperson of the African Union (2008-2009) and Chairman of the the Southern African Development Community Troika on Peace, Defence and Security (2012-2013). He is a graduate of the University of Dar es Salaam. See highlights from H.E. Jakaya Kikwete at Frontiers in Development here.
Carla Koppell, Chief Strategy Officer, USAID
Carla Koppell is the USAID Chief Strategy Officer. In that role, she is creating, communicating and executing strategic initiatives across the Agency, focused particularly on improving Bureau strategic planning and management for results. Prior to serving as CSO, Koppell served as USAID’s first Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and a Senior Advisor to the USAID Administrator. Under her leadership, USAID developed a new Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy as well as specific Agency-wide strategies and plans for advancing the US National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security and the US Strategy for Preventing and Combatting Gender-based Violence Globally. Previously, Koppell directed The Institute for Inclusive Security and the Washington, DC office of Hunt Alternatives Fund.
John Agyekum Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana 2001-2009
President of the Republic of Ghana, 2001-2009. He chaired on two occasions the Economic Community of West African States (2003 and 2007) and the African Union (2007-8). Named in 2011 the joint winner of the World Food Prize with former Brazilian President Lula da Silva. Currently serves as UN Special Envoy and co-chairs the Global Panel on Climate Change and Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition. Also, he was Global Ambassador against Hunger for the UN World Food Program; chairman of the Sanitation and Water for All Partnership, Global Envoy for the Neglected Tropical Diseases Alliance; and Lead Advocate for the Partnership for Child Development. See highlights from John Agyekum Kufuor at Frontiers in Development here.
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF
Christine Lagarde is Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She was appointed in July 2011. A national of France, she was previously French Finance Minister from June 2007, and had also served as France’s Minister for Foreign Trade for two years. Ms. Lagarde also has had an extensive and noteworthy career as an antitrust and labor lawyer, serving as a partner with the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie, where the partnership elected her as chairman in October 1999. She held the top post at the firm until June 2005 when she was named to her initial ministerial post in France. Ms. Lagarde has degrees from Institute of Political Studies (IEP) and from the Law School of Paris X University, where she also lectured prior to joining Baker & McKenzie in 1981.
Brian Levy, Senior Adjunct Professor of International Development, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Brian Levy joined the SAIS faculty in 2012, following a 23-year career at the World Bank. Between 2007 and 2010 he was head of the secretariat responsible for the design and implementation of the World Bank Group's governance and anti-corruption strategy. He worked in the Bank's Africa Vice Presidency from 1991 to 2003, where his role included leadership of a major effort to transform and scale-up the organization’s engagement on governance reform. He has worked in over a dozen countries, spanning four continents. He has published numerous books and articles on the institutional underpinnings of regulation, on capacity development in Africa, on industrial policy, and on the political economy of development strategy. He received his Ph.D in economics from Harvard University in 1983.
Nancy Lindborg, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, USAID
Nancy Lindborg is the USAID Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) and leads the efforts of more than 500 team members in nine offices focused on crisis prevention, response, recovery and transition. Prior to joining USAID, she was president of Mercy Corps, where she spent 14 years helping grow the organization into a globally respected organization known for innovative programs in the most challenging environments. Ms. Lindborg has held a number of leadership and board positions including serving as co-president of the Board of Directors for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition; and chair of the Sphere Management Committee. She is a member of Council on Foreign Relations. She holds a B.A and M.A. in English Literature from Stanford University and an M.A. in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Mahboub Maalim, Executive Secretary, Intergovernmental Authority on Development
Mr. Mahboub Maalim is Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. He is the first Kenyan to hold the position. He is the immediate former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water and Irrigation and has also previously served as the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Special Programmes in the Office of the President. He has been awarded the Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear for his distinguished and dedicated service.
Imam Mohamed Magid, President, Islamic Society of North America
Imam Mohamed Hagmagid is a Sudanese-born American who came to the United States in 1987. He attained his religious education in various Islamic disciplines as a Resident Scholar at Al-Medina Institute. Currently serving as the Executive Director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), Imam Magid helped establish exemplary religious services for Muslim communities across the nation to emulate. He has much experience serving the nation-wide Muslim community as ISNA's East Zone representative and as ISNA Vice President prior to his election in September 2010 as ISNA President. Imam Magid has a long history of commitment to public service through organizations, such as The Peaceful Families Project, Annual Twinning of Mosques and Synagogues, Fairfax Faith Communities in Action, Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington Assembly and the Buxton Interfaith Initiative.
Strive Masiyiwa, Chairman and Founder, Econet Wireless
Strive Masiyiwa is the founder and chairman of Econet Wireless, a global telecommunications group with operations and investments in over 15 countries. His interests also include renewable energy, financial services and hospitality. Masiyiwa sits on several international boards, including the Rockefeller Foundation, Council on Foreign Relation’s Global Advisory Board and the Africa Progress Panel. He chairs the Alliance for a Green Revolution and co-chairs the AU/WEF partnership, GROW Africa. As a philanthropist, his contributions to education, health and development have been widely recognized. Masiyiwa and his wife finance the Higher Life Foundation, which provides scholarships to over 42,000 African orphans. See highlights from Strive Masiyiwa at Frontiers in Development here.
Susan Markham, Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, USAID
Susan Markham is the USAID Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. In that role, she is working to improve the lives of citizens around the world by advancing equality between females and males, and empowering women and girls to participate fully in and benefit from the development of their societies. Prior to joining USAID she served as Director of Women’s Political Participation at the National Democratic Institute and previously directed EMILY’s List Campaign Corp program and later the Political Opportunity Program. She served as Director of Senate Services at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Susan has a B.A. in political science and international studies from the Ohio State University. She received her master's degree in public policy and women's studies from George Washington University.
Tjada McKenna, Deputy Coordinator for Development, U.S. Feed the Future Initiative
Tjada D'Oyen McKenna is the Deputy Coordinator for Development for Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, as well as the Acting Assistant to the Administrator in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Bureau for Food Security. Ms. McKenna joined USAID in 2010. She previously held senior positions at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Monsanto, McKinsey & Company, American Express and GE. Tjada earned a BA from Harvard College in Government and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She is a past member of the National Board of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Graça Machel, Founder, Foundation for Community Development, Mozambique; Founder, Graça Machel Trust
Mrs. Graça Machel, is a renowned international advocate for women and children’s rights and has been a social and political activist over many decades. She currently serves in various capacities in several organizations, among them the Elders, the Africa Progress Panel, and the UN Millennium Development Goals Advocates Panel. She is also an Eminent Person of the GAVI Alliance and the UN Foundation, Chair of the Board of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes and Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. Through these positions and independently, she continues to support efforts aimed at realizing the rights of Africa’s children and women on a number of key fronts. See highlights from Graça Machel at Frontiers in Development here.
Branko Milanovic, Visiting Presidential Professor at City University of New York#
Branko Milanovic is a leading scholar on income inequality who joined The Graduate Center as Visiting Presidential Professor and Senior Scholar in the LIS Center. Before coming to the LIS Center, he was Lead Economist in the World Bank's research department. He is the author of The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality and numerous articles on the global income distribution.
Sharon Morris, Senior Advisor to the Acting President, U.S. Institute of Peace
Dr. Sharon L. Morris is senior advisor to the acting president at USIP. Previously she was a 2013-2014 Jennings Randolph senior fellow. Her research focuses on civilian assistance in fragile states and explores models that integrate peacebuilding and development. Prior to joining USIP, Dr. Morris was the director of Mercy Corps’ Youth & Conflict Management Office from 2008-2013. In 2007, she worked at the State Department as the senior advisor for Darfur to the president’s special envoy for Sudan. In 2006, she served as the director of the Provincial Reconstruction Team Program in USAID/Afghanistan. From 2002-2005, she was the senior advisor in the Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation at USAID where she headed the team responsible for providing support to conflict programs in USAID Missions. She is on the board of the Alliance for Peacebuilding and a member of Women in International Security. She holds a Ph.D. and Master’s from the University of Chicago.
Abigail Muleya, Mandela Washington Fellow
Abigail Muleya is a Mandela Washington Fellow, a program launched by President Obama, in conjunction with the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). A development practitioner specializing in the field of women empowerment, Ms. Muleya is a co-founder of Zubo Trust, a community based organization dedicated to helping rural women self empower. Her work is currently focused on women's economic empowerment in the Binga district of Matabeleland in northern Zimbabwe. She holds a Bachelor of Arts honors degree in African Languages and Culture.
Mary Njenga, Post-Doctoral Researcher, World Agroforestry Center
Dr. Mary Njenga is a post-doctoral fellow in bio-energy at World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Nairobi, Kenya. She earned a PhD in Management of Agroecosystems and Environment from the University of Nairobi, Kenya where she studied fuel briquette technologies and their implications on greenhouse gases and livelihoods in Kenya. Njenga used her Borlaug LEAP fellowship to evaluate fuel briquette technologies for environmental, social-economic and food security implications in Kenya. She worked with her U.S. mentor, Dr. John Kerr, Michigan State University on the economic cost-benefit analysis of the technology. Her CGIAR mentor Dr. Ramni Jamnadass, ICRAF, provided guidance on the bio-energy aspects of the project.
Stephen O'Connell, Chief Economist, USAID
Stephen O’Connell was appointed as the USAID’s Chief Economist in early 2014. In this role, he provides expert advice to Agency leadership and staff on economic growth. As such, he guides the Agency on economics-based decision making while advancing the profile of economic analysis and sustaining economic expertise within the Agency. He is responsible for keeping USAID’s economists on the cutting edge of ideas in development economics and supporting their use of analytical tools best suited to the Agency’s mission. Dr. O’Connell joined the USAID from the academic community, bringing extensive research and teaching experience in the political economy of Africa. Concurrent to his appointment, he sits on the faculty of Swarthmore College’s Department of Economics, where he has been since 1990, as the Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of Economics.
Ray Offenheiser, President, Oxfam America
Ray Offenheiser joined Oxfam America as its president in 1996. Under his leadership, Oxfam America has grown more than sevenfold, and repositioned itself in the US as an influential voice on international development and foreign policy. Prior to joining Oxfam, Ray represented the Ford Foundation in Bangladesh and the Andean and Southern Cone regions of South America. He has also directed programs for the Inter-American Foundation in both Brazil and Colombia and worked for Save the Children Federation in Mexico. Ray serves and has served on numerous boards and advisory bodies including the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Institute, the World Agricultural Forum, the Gates Foundation, Harvard Business School, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Cornell University, Interaction and the Kellogg Center at the University of Notre Dame. He was a co-founder and board member of the ONE Campaign, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network and the Food Policy Action Network and served as honorary President of Wetlands International.
Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Assistant Administrator for Global Health, USAID
Dr. Ariel Pablos-Méndez is the USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health. Prior to joining USAID in 2011, Dr. Pablos-Méndez was Managing Director at the Rockefeller Foundation. Dr. Pablos-Méndez Dr. Pablos-Méndez began his public health career at Columbia University working on the emergence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in New York City in 1991. Dr. Pablos-Méndez received his M.D. from the University of Guadalajara (Mexico) and his M.P.H from Columbia University (New York), where he was a Professor of Clinical Medicine and Public Health.
John Page, Senior Fellow, Brookings
John Page is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC and a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow of the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). From 1980 to 2008 Dr. Page was at the World Bank where his senior positions included: Director, Poverty Reduction, Director, Economic Policy, Chief Economist, Middle East and North Africa and Chief Economist, Africa. He received his Bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford and his Doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
Miguel Pestana, VP Sustainability and Strategic Advocacy, Unilever
Mr. Pestana first joined Unilever in November 2001 when he helped to establish Unilever’s EU External Affairs office in Brussels. He is actively involved in a range of business organisations including; the World Economic Forum, the Executive of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), UN Global Compact LEAD and the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBI). He has more than 25 years of communications experience having previously held several public affairs positions in the UK, US and Brussels. He worked as Research Assistant in both the UK Parliament and the US Congress. Miguel is Portuguese and lives in the UK with his wife and two daughters.
John Podesta, Counselor to the President of the United States
John Podesta is the president and chief executive officer of American Progress. Podesta served as chief of staff to President William J. Clinton from October 1998 until January 2001, where he was responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, congressional relations, and staff activities of the White House. He coordinated the work of cabinet agencies with a particular emphasis on the development of federal budget and tax policy, and served in the president's cabinet and as a principal on the National Security Council. See highlights from John Podesta at Frontiers in Development here.
Kenneth Quinn, President, The World Food Prize Foundation
Dr. Kenneth M. Quinn, former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, assumed the leadership of the World Food Prize Foundation on January 1, 2000, following his retirement from the State Department after a 32 year career in the Foreign Service. During his diplomatic career, Ken Quinn served: as a Rural Development advisor in the Mekong Delta; on the National Security Council staff at the White House; as Narcotics Counselor at the U.S. mission to the United Nations in Vienna; for four years as Chairman of the U.S. Inter-agency Task Force on POW/MIAs; and as Director of Iowa SHARES, the humanitarian campaign that sent Iowa doctors, nurses, medical supplies and food to starving Cambodian refugees.
Mary Robinson, President, Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice, Special Envoy of the Secretary General on Climate Change
Mary Robinson is President of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice. She served as President of Ireland from 1990-1997 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-2002. She is a member of the Elders and the Club of Madrid and the recipient of numerous honours and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Between March 2013 and August 2014 Mary served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa. In August 2014 she was appointed the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change. See highlights from Mary Robinson at Frontiers in Development here.
Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation
Judith Rodin is president of The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the world’s leading philanthropic organizations. She was previously president of the University of Pennsylvania, and provost of Yale University. Since joining the Foundation in 2005, Dr. Rodin has recalibrated its focus to meet the challenges of the 21st century and today the Foundation supports and shapes innovations to expand opportunity worldwide and build greater resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. Dr. Rodin serves as a member of the board for several leading corporations and non-profits including Citigroup, Laureate Education, Inc., Comcast, and the White House Council for Community Solutions. Dr. Rodin is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University. See highlights from Judith Rodin at Frontiers in Development here.
Khalifa Ababacar Sall, Mayor of Dakar, Senegal
Khalifa Ababacar Sall is the Mayor of Dakar, Senegal, since 2009 and the President of United Cities and Local Government-Africa (UCLGA) since 2012. Mr. Sall is the founder of the Pan-African Network for the prevention and resolution of conflict and the promotion of democracy. He has served as an expert consultant on conflict prevention and resolution for the World Bank and UN, and as an electoral expert for the AU. A long-time public servant, Mr. Sall has previously served three terms in the Senegal National Assembly and as Minister of Trade and Handicrafts and Minister in Charge of Relations with Parliament.
Tessie San Martin, President and CEO, Plan International USA
Tessie San Martin, President/CEO of Plan International USA, is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years’ experience helping to address gaps in education, economic growth, capacity-building, corporate governance, political reform and labor policy globally. Her work has taken her to Egypt, India, Mexico, Bosnia, and Indonesia. Dr. San Martin holds a Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard University, a Master’s in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a B.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Nate Schaffran, Senior VP for Lending, Root Capital
Mr. Schaffran oversees Root Capital's lending operations in Latin America and Africa. He previously served as Root Capital's Vice President for Africa from 2007-2012, launching our operations on the continent, opening regional offices, and building a $20M portfolio. Nate has previously worked in value chain sustainability at Cooperative Juan Francisco Paz Silva in Nicaragua, and at Fair Trade USA. He holds an MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and BAs in Economics and Political Science from Swarthmore College.
Robbie Schingler, President and COO, Planet Labs
Robbie Schingler is an entrepreneur living and working in San Francisco. Previously, he was the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C where he helped to incubate the office and the Space Technology program. Prior to this position, Mr. Schingler was NASA’s lead for Open Government at NASA. Robbie is one of the co-founders of the NASA CoLab project in 2006, the LAUNCH conference series and Random Hacks of Kindness in 2009, and is an active participant in creating public participation and open innovation at NASA.
Rajiv Shah, Administrator, USAID
Dr. Rajiv Shah serves as the 16th Administrator of USAID and leads the efforts of more than 9,600 professionals in 80 missions around the world. Before becoming USAID's Administrator, Dr. Shah served as undersecretary for research, education and economics, and as chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Shah served for seven years with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including as director of agricultural development in the Global Development Program, and as director of strategic opportunities. Dr. Shah earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and his master's in health economics from the Wharton School of Business. He attended the London School of Economics and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. See highlights from Dr. Shah at Frontiers in Development here.
Smita Singh, Former Founding Director of the Global Development Program, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Smita Singh was the founding director of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Global Development Program. While she was director, the Program carried out extensive international grant-making and started several new initiatives, including the Think Tank Initiative, the Transparency and Accountability Initiative, and the partnership for Quality Education in Developing Countries. She also initiated the Foundation's efforts to reform development assistance policy. Ms. Singh sits on the governing boards of Oxfam America, National Resource Governance Institute, Twaweza, and the Center for Global Development. She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and serves on the President’s Global Development Council.
Andrew Sisson, Acting Executive Director, U.S. Global Development Lab, USAID
Andrew Sisson is acting executive director of USAID’s U.S. Global Development Lab in Washington, D.C. He previously served as Agency mission director in Pakistan and Indonesia as well as for the Central Asia and East Africa regions, he also served as deputy mission director in Kosovo. A Senior Foreign Service Officer, Mr. Sisson has more than 20 years of development experience. Mr. Sisson has a Bachelor’s Degree from Williams College, a Master’s Degree and a doctorate from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a Master’s Degree from the National Defense University.
Erik Solheim, Chair, OECD Development Assistance Committee
Erik Solheim was elected to chair the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in January 2013. He is now also serving as United Nations Environment Programme’s special envoy for environment, conflict and disaster. From 2007 to 2012 he held the combined portfolio of Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development; he also served as Minister of International Development from 2005 to 2007.
Vera Songwe, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings, and World Bank Country Director for Senegal, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and The Gambia
Vera Songwe is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the World Bank Country Director for Senegal, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and The Gambia. She has extensive experience working on East Asia and North Africa. Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Songwe was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Ms. Songwe holds a PhD. in Mathematical Economics. She is currently working on new financial structures to help resource rich countries improve the governance while accelerating economic growth.
Debbie Stabenow, United States Senator
Born in Gladwin and raised in Clare, Debbie Stabenow knows what matters to Michigan. Elected to the United States Senate in 2000, she is respected for her ability to build coalitions to get things done for Michigan and our nation. As Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and a member of the Senate Energy, Finance, and Budget Committees, she has a powerful and unique role to play in shaping our nation's manufacturing, healthcare, and agriculture policies, which are so critical to our future. Among her many accomplishments, she has cut taxes for small businesses and passed initiatives to revitalize our manufacturing sector. She also authored the retooling loan program for advanced manufacturers that is bringing jobs back to Michigan from Mexico.
Margaret C. Sullivan, USAID Chief of Staff
Margaret Sullivan serves as USAID's Acting Chief Operating Officer as well as Chief of Staff, having joined the Agency in 2011. Prior to joining the Obama administration, she served as director of political risk management at Farallon Capital Management in San Francisco, Calif.
J Alexander Thier, Assistant to the Administrator for Policy, Planning and Learning, USAID
Alex Thier is USAID’s Assistant to the Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Learning (PPL). The PPL Bureau is USAID’s center for policy development, strategic planning, learning and evaluation, and partner engagement. From June 2010- June 2013, Mr. Thier served as Assistant to the Administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan affairs, overseeing USAID’s two largest missions in the world. Before joining USAID, Mr. Thier served with the U.S. Institute of Peace as senior rule of law adviser and director for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2005- 2010. Thier previously served as director of the Project on Failed States at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. From 2002 to 2004, he was legal adviser to Afghanistan’s Constitutional and Judicial Reform Commissions in Kabu. Mr. Thier has a J.D. from Stanford Law School, a Master’s Degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Brown University.
Rabih Torbay, Senior Vice President for International Operations, International Medical Corps
Rabih Torbay is International Medical Corps’ Senior Vice President for International Operations and oversees its global programs in 31 countries globally. Torbay has supervised the expansion of International Medical Corps’ humanitarian and development programs in some of the world’s toughest working environments, including Sierra Leone, Iraq, Darfur, Liberia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Haiti, Libya and Syria. He serves as liaison with the U.S. government, including USAID, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Torbay is leading the Ebola response efforts for International Medical Corps. He currently lives in Washington, DC with his family.
Noam Unger, Senior Advisor, Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning, USAID
Noam Unger is the Director of the 2014 Frontiers in Development Forum and a senior advisor in USAID's Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning. He previously served as Global Citizen Year's Vice President for Partnerships and External Affairs, and as a Brookings Global Economy and Development Fellow, where he directed the Foreign Aid Reform Project, co-founded the Development Assistance and Governance Initiative, and managed the Brookings Blum Roundtable. He was also a founding member and principal of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network and has served at the State Department and USAID in roles focused on international conflict and humanitarian assistance.
Kandeh Yumkella, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and CEO, UN Sustainable Energy for All
Kandeh K. Yumkella is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and CEO of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative. In this role, Mr. Yumkella mobilizes action toward a sustainable energy future and accelerates the implementation of the Secretary-General’s initiative as well as engaging with the leadership of relevant stakeholders in government, businesses, academia and civil society at the highest level to advocate for and promote sustainable energy for all. A former Minister of Trade, Industry and State Enterprises in Sierra Leone, he holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois.
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