DC Mentoring Fair - 2020
Thank you to this year's DC Mentors!

Hilary Anderson, Organizations of American States/Inter-American Commission of Women
Since finishing her studies in political science at McGill University in Montreal, Ms. Anderson has worked with the Pan American Health Organization’s Gender and Health Unit and with the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW, now part of UN Women). In 2009, she joined the staff of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) at the Organization of American States (OAS), where she works as a Senior Specialist on key women’s rights and gender equality issues in the region. From this position she has led the development of knowledge and capacity-building tools to support closing the gap between the international legal framework on women’s rights and national-level laws and policies.

Ann Bailey, Morgan Stanley
Ms. Bailey is Executive Director of Government Relations at Morgan Stanley, where she is responsible for US-based international government relations and represents the company before US and foreign governments and manages relationships with international business and financial services organizations. Previously she served as Vice President, Strategic Partnerships at Global Communities, where she led corporate and foundation development, and as Vice President of Global Government Relations for MetLife. At the US Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Bailey served as Director of Global Policy, Executive Director of the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, and Director of Trade Policy for the Western Hemisphere. She is an Ambassador for USA Triathlon and competed at the Multisport World Championships in 2017 and 2019 on Team USA. A former CFR term member, Ms. Bailey holds a MA from GWU and a BA from Hood College. She speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

Heleen Bakker, Embassy of the Netherlands
Ms. Bakker is a career diplomat. She joined the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998, and has been posted in Nairobi, Kenya; at the Africa Department at the Ministry’s Headquarters in The Hague; in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; and to the Netherlands Mission to the UN in New York. She has also served as speechwriter to the Dutch Foreign Minister and worked on EU enlargement, the EU’s neighborhood, trade policy and development cooperation in the EU External Policy Division at the Foreign Ministry. Ms. Bakker moved to Washington as Head of the Political Department at the Netherlands Embassy in 2015, and assumed the position of Deputy Chief of Mission in 2017. She is married to fellow-diplomat Lex Gerts and has three children.

Nancy Boswell, AU Washington College of Law
Ms. Boswell directs US and International Anti-Corruption Law Program at American University Washington College of Law, provides anticorruption training for students and practitioners and offers an online course for non-lawyers. Previously, she was President and CEO of Transparency International USA, providing leadership from its founding in 1994 until 2011. She is a member of the OECD Secretary General’s High Level Advisory Group on Integrity and Anti-Corruption and mentors State Department IJET Fellows. She is an academic member of the Anti-Corruption Academic Initiative of UN's Office on Drugs and Crime; served on USAID's Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid Democracy, Human Rights and Governance and on the board of the Ethics Resource Center and the Collaboration on Government Secrecy; and is an active member of the ABA and IBA's anti-corruption committees. She practiced international and trade law at Steptoe & Johnson and managed international financial matters at Citibank.

Jonathan Broder, Newsweek
Since 2019, Mr. Broder has been a contributing editor at Newsweek. He was a foreign correspondent, based in Beirut, Jerusalem and Beijing for the Chicago Tribune. In his 20 years overseas, Broder covered major stories in over 50 countries, including the 1973 Middle East war, 1974 Cyprus war, Lebanese civil war, 1979 Iranian revolution, 1980 Turkish military coup, Soviet downing of Flight 007, Gulf War, and Iraq war. In Washington, Mr. Broder served as the senior editor for defense and foreign policy at Congressional Quarterly for 12 years before joining Newsweek as a senior national security correspondent, a position he held until become a contributing editor. His writing also has appeared in New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and the World Policy Journal. Mr. Broder has appeared as a foreign affairs commentator on NPR, BBC, VOA, al Arabiya, and Al Hurra.

Amy Chase, The Crescendo Group LLC
Ms. Amy Chase is first-generation Chinese-American born in New York, NY, where she started a career in marketing and sales before switching her focus to human rights and international development. She has spent a decade managing and implementing USG-funded projects in conflict, post-conflict, and transitional countries. She has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kosovo, and Rwanda through organizations such as Democracy International, Kosova Women's Network, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Abt Associates, IFES, and QED Group. In 2018, Ms. Chase launched The Crescendo Group, which supports economic empowerment for women, refugees, survivors of armed conflicts and gender-based violence, and other marginalized groups. Crescendo works with local partners in Kosovo, Albania, Italy, and the DC/MD/VA area. Amy has a BBA in Marketing Management from Baruch College and an MA in International Affairs from The New School. Ms. Chase is fluent in French and Cantonese.

Ngozi Chianakwalam, Former Nigerian Investments and Securities Tribunal
Dr. Chianakwalam served as the Honourable Chairman/Chief Judge of the Investments and Securities Tribunal, Nigeria. Prior to that, she was state counsel in Imo State Ministry of Justice, rising to Assistant Director of Civil Litigation. In Abia State, she served as Deputy Director and Director of prosecutions, Solicitor General, and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice. She also served as the Registry Director and Acting Registrar General at the Corporate Affairs Commission, which is charged with registering and regulating the operations of Nigerian-based companies. Dr. Chianakwalam holds a LLB from the University of Ife (Nigeria), an MBA from the Federal University of Technology (Nigeria), and a PhD in Criminal Law from Rockville University (California). She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (Nigeria), the Nigerian Bar Association, and the International Bar Association.

Donna Constantinople, KMA Communications
Ms. Constantinople is a founding partner of KMA Communications, a management consultancy providing counsel to over 100 national and international corporations, industry associations, and non-profit organizations. The firm's work includes strategic staffing/executive recruitment, executive counsel/training, senior management/corporate governance, internal/external communications, special events, media, and public relations. She holds degrees in political science/economics from Northwestern University and has served on the boards of the WFPG, Democratic Party's Women's Leadership Forum, Women's Campaign Fund, and National Trust for Historic Preservation/Decatur House.

Maggie Cooper, Senate Armed Services Committee
Ms. McNamara Cooper is a Professional Staff Member for the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) where her portfolio includes budget and policy issues related to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia, US Africa Command, counterterrorism, information operations, peacekeeping, and overseas humanitarian, disaster, and civic aid. Prior to joining the SASC staff in August 2010, Ms. McNamara Cooper worked as a Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff in the Office of Senator Carl Levin. She received a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in national security studies from the Naval War College.

Dora Crespin, Embassy of El Salvador
Ms. Crespin joined the Embassy of El Salvador as Minister Counselor in July. A career communications professional, her focus is on improving messaging to and communication with the nearly 3.5 million El Salvadorians living in the United States. Before moving to Washington, DC in 2019, she was a professor of communications at Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas, and headed the communications and institutional image department at the San Salvador’s Mayor’s Office. She has also worked in advertising, TV/radio, as a freelancer, and has experience in digital communications and social media. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Communications from Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas.

Will Davis, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
As the head of OECD's Washington Center, Mr. Davis leads the OECD's efforts to deepen understanding of, and appreciation for the work of the organization in areas such as market-based economic growth, anti-corruption efforts, and development cooperation. In a prior role with the OECD, Mr. Davis served as the deputy director of public affairs at the organization's headquarters in Paris. Previously, Mr. Davis served as director of the United Nation's Information Center in DC and then the director of the UNDP's Washington Office. Mr. Davis has also held several roles at the State Department and on the National Security Council staff, as well as at NGOs such as the US Global Leadership Coalition and the ONE Campaign. He holds degrees from Duke University, lectured for a number of years at GW's Elliott School, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Veronique Dockendorf, Embassy of Luxembourg
Ms. Dockendorf has been the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Luxembourg in Washington, DC since the summer of 2016. She previously served as the Deputy Political Director in the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs from 2013 to 2016 and as a First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the United Nations in New York from 2008 to 2012. She joined the Luxembourg diplomatic service in 2003 after studies of history, international relations and political science in Strasbourg and Paris, France. She is married and has three daughters

Amanda Entrikin, Habitat for Humanity International
Ms. Entrikin is the Director of Global Affairs and Advocacy at Habitat for Humanity International, a global non-profit focused on creating decent housing for all. Based in Washington, DC, she works to influence global development priorities of the U.S. government, the EU, and other regional bodies and multilateral organizations to reflect HFHI’s priorities centered on equitable access to housing. Previously, she worked in advocacy and government relations for Doctors Without Borders in New York, engaging with the United Nations Security Council and US government agencies on urgent humanitarian priorities. Ms. Entrikin has over ten years of international experience, having worked in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. She graduated from The New School in New York City with a Master’s in International Affairs.

Jessica Ernst, USAID
Ms. Ernst is an expert in international public-private partnerships, with significant experience in Africa and Southeast Asia, and a published author on careers in international development. As the Principal Africa Analyst for Overseas Contingency Operations at the USAID Office of Inspector General, Ms. Ernst works with colleagues in the State Department and DoD to jointly capture, analyze, and report on OCOs, including briefings and quarterly reports to Congress. With the Initiative for Global Development, a nonprofit that engages a global network of corporate leaders to reduce poverty through business growth and investment in Africa, Ms. Ernst managed a Rockefeller Foundation project that engaged more than 80 companies across Africa to assess how the private sector can mitigate agricultural loss. The actionable insights informed a $130 million initiative. Additionally, Ms. Ernst has independently published a book on careers in international development.

Andrea Ewart, DevelopTradeLaw, LLC
Ms. Ewart is the Founder & CEO of DevelopTradeLaw, LLC, which provides business-oriented and practical legal and policy solutions on doing business internationally. She primarily works to expand the trade capacity-building support services of developing countries to facilitate their integration into the international trading system. Prior to founding DevelopTradeLaw in 2003, she was an International Trade Regulation & Legislation Associate at Holland & Knight LLP. During her almost 20 years of work as an international trade attorney, Ms. Ewart has represented clients before and interfaced with both the US and foreign governments. She has advised on regulations related to US customs, the FDA, trademarks, and international transactions. Prior to receiving her JD from the University of Miami, she worked at AED as the Coordinator for USAID-funded NIS Exchanges & Training Project focused on 12 countries formerly part of the USSR.

Allison Fedirka, Geopolitical Futures
As Director of Analysis, Ms. Fedirka leads the operations and oversees the intellectual content of analysis for Geopolitical Futures, a political risk consultancy. She also writes analyses, trains new analysts, and helps guide the forecasting process. As a founding member of Geopolitical Futures, she contributed to the company's launch, development and business strategy. Previously, Ms. Fedirka worked for Stratfor as a Latin America specialist and subsequently as the Latin America regional director. Ms. Fedirka has a Bachelor’s in Spanish and International Studies from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master’s in International Relations and Affairs from the University of Belgrano, Argentina. She lived in South America, primarily Argentina and Brazil, for more than seven years, and fully proficient in Spanish and Portuguese.

Verinda Fike, US Trade and Development Agency
Ms. Fike is the regional director for South & Southeast Asia for the US Trade and Development Agency, where she is responsible for strategy, infrastructure project preparation, and innovative public-private partnerships. She also leads USTDA’s Global Transportation Sector Team. Ms. Fike has traveled and worked in over 50 countries and has managed projects in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, and previously served as USTDA's country manager for Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and for East Asia. Prior to joining USTDA in 2010, she consulted private sector and USAID overseas missions on creating effective public-private partnerships in developing and emerging economies. She also spent three years in China managing patient relations and marketing for women's health clinics in cooperation with Johns Hopkins. Ms. Fike holds a MSFS and a MPP from Georgetown , as well as a BA from the University of Colorado.

Kat Fotovat, Department of State
Ms. Fotovat, a Senior Advisor and Director of the Global Programming Team in the Secretary of State's Office of Global Women's Issues, has over 20 years of experience advocating and promoting gender and human rights issues. Previously, Fotovat was the Senior Advisor and Director for the Global Programs Team in the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. She also served in the US Embassy in Moldova, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, and USAID. Before joining the government, Fotovat's experience includes transitional justice and peacebuilding work such as drafting post-conflict constitutions in Iraq and Kosovo, and international aid negotiations in Sri Lanka, and extensive work on global gender issues based on CEDAW and refugee women's economic empowerment through UNHCR. Fotovat was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Moldova and holds a JD and a MA from American University.

Kathy Gest, Gest Consulting
Ms. Gest became an independent public affairs strategist, trainer and consultant in 2015 after a career as a journalist, Capitol Hill staff member, public affairs consultant and spokesperson for an NGO specializing in democracy building. She has a particular interest in international assignments. She served eight years as director of public affairs for the National Democratic Institute (NDI); 11 years at Powell Tate|Weber Shandwick, where she co-chaired the international practice; 10 years as press secretary to US Senator William Cohen of Maine; and 16 years as a journalist. She has participated in 23 election observation missions in 12 countries and has conducted training sessions for parliamentarians, political spokespeople, press secretaries and journalists from more than 30 countries. She is also chairman of the National Press Foundation.

Dena Gudaitis, USAID
Ms. Gudaitis is a seasoned communications strategist with over 15 years of experience at multiple news outlets and several non-profit, government and international development organizations. Currently, she supports the strategic engagement efforts as a member of the outreach team at USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), the civilian rapid response arm of the US government which responds to complex, political crises. Previously, she helped manage and contribute to the knowledge management and communications activities for USAID's largest global health procurement contract, the USAID Global Health Supply Chain - Procurement and Supply Management Project. Ms. Gudaitis began her international development career as a public information officer at the UN World Food Program in their New York Liaison Office, after which, she taught journalism at the United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya. She has also held roles at WAMU 88.5FM, NPR, ABC News, and C-SPAN. www.denagudaitis.com

Frances Hardin, Hardin Media International
Ms. Hardin, an international communications consultant, develops strategies and leads communications teams in emerging economies and fragile states. She also coaches political and business leaders for on-air presentations. She has worked on numerous USAID projects in Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe which have focused on business climate change, agricultural land reform, mobile money and education initiatives. She has also developed and executed journalism training workshops in Africa and Central Asia. Previously, Ms. Hardin, served as senior press officer for Africa for the International Monetary Fund and vice president for international business development for Widmeyer Communications. She began her career as a broadcast journalist and served as CNN’s White House Correspondent for six years. She holds Master’s degrees from Cornell (History) and Columbia (Journalism) Universities, as well as a BA (Political Science) from the University of California at Berkeley.

Sarah Jackson-Han, United Nations
Ms. Jackson-Han rejoined the United Nations Development Programme in Washington in 2016 as Senior Adviser for Communications, Partnerships, and Policy, where she provides analysis and guidance to UNDP headquarters and regional/thematic teams on events, policies, and trends with implications for UNDP’s partnership with the US and other donors. She has more than 20 years' experience in print, broadcast, online, and social media; strategic communications; partnerships; risk and reputation management; and speech- and op-ed-writing. A native Washingtonian, she served most recently as Senior Communications Officer in the Gender Cross-Cutting Solution Area at the World Bank Group from 2013-2016, after working with UNDP from 2010-2013. Her regional expertise is in Asia and she holds honors degrees from Dartmouth College and Cambridge University (UK).

Heera Kamboj, Department of State
Ms. Kamboj is currently the Team Lead for the US Strategy for Central America at the Department of State, where she focuses on the drivers of migration from the region. In August 2020, Ms. Kamboj will be a visiting professor at Georgetown University as a Rusk Fellow. She joined the Foreign Service in 2007 and has served in Mexico, Afghanistan, India, and most recently in the UAE where she focused on Iranian culture and education. Ms. Kamboj can speak Punjabi, Spanish, Dari, and Farsi.

Anne Knight, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Ms. Knight is the Director of Human Capital in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (OSD Policy). Within OSD Policy, she has served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary, Colombia Country Director, and co-chair of the Action Officer Council, among other positions. Ms. Knight also worked in strategic communication at US Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany. She began her career as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the State Department. From 1999 to 2002, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Burkina Faso. Ms. Knight is the recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service, among other awards. She holds an MA from Johns Hopkins SAIS.

Stanley Kober
Dr. Kober was a research fellow in foreign policy studies at the CATO Institute. His areas of expertise include the relationship between democracy and peace, with a focus on control over the war power. He has lectured frequently for the US Information Agency and his work has appeared in Foreign Policy, International Affairs (London), The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Kober previously worked on Soviet and defense issues at SRI International, the Center for Naval Analyses, and the Hudson Institute. He is a graduate of Georgetown and received his PhD from Tufts University.

Aggie Kuperman, Department of State, Retired
Since retiring from the Foreign Service, Ms. Kuperman was assistant dean at the University of Denver and also worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Allied Technology group. She currently leads her own consulting firm, AMK Consulting, LLC. After joining the USIA in 1977, Ms. Kuperman's first diplomatic assignment was Iran, followed by Pakistan, Tunisia, Romania, Germany, and Bosnia (where she served as spokesperson). She also had short-term assignments working on the peace process in Macedonia, and as a public affairs officer in Ireland and Afghanistan. Before joining the Foreign Service, she was a librarian and taught US military personnel for the UMD in Greece, Italy, Germany, and Turkey. She is fluent in Hungarian, Romanian, German, French and Hebrew.

Alexandra Lamarche, Refugees International
Ms. Lamarche is the senior advocate for West and Central Africa at Refugees International. She has led research missions on displacement crises in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Nigeria, among others. Prior to joining Refugees International in 2017, Alexandra held various positions in the Canadian government and worked on issues of conflict, reconciliation, and migration in the Central African Republic, Chad, Lebanon, Mauritania, Côte d'Ivoire, and Uganda. She holds a Masters in Conflict, Security, and Development from the University of Sussex in the UK and Bachelor of Social Sciences in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from the University of Ottawa, Canada.

Dana Linnet, Guidehouse LLP
Ms. Linnet has over 25 years of experience in policy, diplomacy, and business. Before joining Guidehouse LLP Executive Leadership Team, Ms. Linnet spent four years in senior management at Lockheed Martin Aerospace and Defense. She served as a Career Foreign Service Officer in the Bureaus for European Affairs, Near East Affairs, and East Asia Pacific Affairs. She also worked under the Director General in the Bureau for Human Resources’ Entry Level Division where she helped staff 900 diplomatic positions to war zone and unaccompanied posts as well as all entry level jobs in Near East and South Central Asia. She earned four Meritorious Honor Awards, three Superior Honor Awards, and a Benjamin Franklin Award at State. She earned her BA from the University of California and MA in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen.

Nancy Lubin, JNA Associates, Inc.
Ms. Lubin is President, JNA Associates, Inc., a research and consulting firm on the former USSR, especially Central Asia. She has consulted for over 80 foundations, international donors, financial institutions, government agencies/contractors, the media, corporations and non-profits. For 25 years, she has led salary negotiation and career seminars through organizations including JNA and AAUW, as well as one-on-one CV and career advising. Her international consulting focuses on navigating corruption in projects and joint ventures; consulting on TV and film productions (ABC News, PBS); and advising corporations, donors, & legal counsel in the US, Europe and Japan. Previously, Ms. Lubin was a Carnegie Mellon University professor and a congressional staffer. She has published books, articles and op-eds in publications including the NY Times and GEO (cover story). She holds a PhD, Oxford; BA, Harvard; and is a CFR member and a trustee of the Eurasia Foundation.

Daniella Mak, Department of State
Ms. Mak leads a team responsible for monitoring and evaluating large-scale security assistance programs in the Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of State. Prior to that, she was a political-military analyst at CNA Corporation, where she worked on analytical projects for the Department of Defense and intelligence community. Ms. Mak has also done work with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the non-profit organization Africare. Ms. Mak speaks French, Portuguese, Turkish, and Mandarin. She is a former Fulbright Fellow and holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA from the Lisbon University Institute.

Kristen McAvoy, Vital Voices Global Partnership
As the Program Manager for the Leadership and Global Activation department at Vital Voices Global Partnership, Mrs. McAvoy is responsible for Vital Voices’ signature young women and girls’ leadership training programs, called the Rising Voices Initiatives. In this role, she executes all programmatic events and trainings, manages the grant administration process for all grantees while providing individual support, maintains the networks of hundreds of fellows, and oversees the external communications for all Rising Voices initiatives with the goal of equipping all participants with the tools they need to become the next generation of leaders. Prior to joining Vital Voices, Mrs. McAvoy was the Events and Volunteers Manager at Lung Cancer Alliance, where she led and executed LCA’s portfolio of fundraising and awareness events across the United States. She received her BA in Journalism & Mass Communications and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Suzanne McGuire, Department of Defense
Ms. McGuire is the F-35 liaison to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment where she is the lead negotiator for the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) international cooperative agreements. Previously, she served as the Deputy Division Chief in the Central, South and Southeast Asia Division in the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a policy advisor to General Paul Selva, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ms. McGuire has held previous positions with the US Southern Command, US Senator Mark Pryor's office, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, National Nuclear Security Administration/Department of Energy, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Prior to her federal service, she worked as a contractor with the Air Force and the World Bank. She received her BA from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI and her Master of International Studies from the University of Sydney in Australia.

Liana Mirea, Department of State
Ms. Mirea is an International Realty Specialist at the Department of State, where she leads multi-cultural, cross-functional teams in securing high-profile, complex real estate transactions with foreign governments, and private businesses, including negotiating multi-million-dollar leasing contracts. She manages teams in acquisition, selection, and construction of high-end residential and commercial properties. Ms. Mirea collaborates with legal, engineering, and HR teams to implement process improvements, policies, and technological applications that increase efficiencies and manage costs. Prior to joining the State Department in 2010, she worked in the private sector and led a commercial real estate firm in Chicago. She holds a Master Degree in Chemical Engineering from University Politehnica of Bucharest.

Marc David Miller, Trade Bistro Advisory
Mr. Miller has extensive experience in market development and related issues, concentrating on Russia, Europe, Central Asia, and other emerging market and frontier economies. He is the founder and former executive director of the Kyrgyz-North America Trade Council, a US-based organization dedicated to promoting trade and investment between Kyrgyzstan and the US/Canada. He also founded Discovering Russia and Discovering Eurasia to promote cross-border trade, business, and travel, and is launching Trade Bistro Advisory, a consulting firm similarly dedicated to trade and investment issues. Mr. Miller speaks regularly on cross-border investment issues. He has conducted several Kyrgyz Opportunities Forums in New York and Washington, which were attended by officials including Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva, as well as US and Canadian government officials, business people and investors, as well as organized trade missions and related events.

Menaka Nayyar, Department of State
Ms. Nayyar joined the Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in 2006 as a public diplomacy-coned officer. Her diplomatic postings have included Italy, Estonia, Pakistan, Thailand, The Gambia, and Washington, DC. From 2018 to 2019, she examined volunteerism and civic engagement in the United States as a Una Chapman Cox Sabbatical Fellow. Nayyar has studied French, Italian, Spanish, Thai, and Urdu to varying levels of proficiency, and is currently studying Russian in preparation for her upcoming assignment as a press officer in Moscow, Russia. She holds a BA in Sociology, Cultural Studies, European Studies and an MA in Media Ecology from NYU, and a MSc in Human Rights from LSE.

Julie Niemczura de Carvalho, Medical Care Development International
Ms. Niemczura is an international public health and development professional with 15 years' experience in the US, Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. As Senior Program Manager with Medical Care Development International (MCDI), her portfolio consists of multi-year malaria, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, and health systems strengthening projects in 13 countries. Previously, she was responsible for a privately-funded malaria control program and malaria vaccine trial on Bioko Island. She has also managed regional President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) projects, including the USAID Amazon Malaria Initiative and PMI Impact Malaria. She is heavily involved in operational research to improve the effectiveness and accelerate the impact of international development assistance in the area of health. Ms. Niemczura has BA in political economy and international development from Tulane University, and an MPH from the University of Virginia and speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Haitian Creole.

Yejide Olutosin, George Washington University School of Business
Ms. Olutosin was a 2019 Venture Fellow with Dare to Innovate, an Africa-based business incubator, where she developed strategies to increase the profitability of West African startups. Previously, she managed U.S. government-funded projects focused on bolstering national energy access levels in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Earlier, at the United States Energy Association, she worked on a project aimed at increasing the number of qualified women in the energy sector in utility companies in Macedonia, Kenya, Jordan, and Nigeria. Ms. Olutosin began her international development career in 2013 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea-Conakry, where she taught Math and served as the Regional Malaria Coordinator. She is a member of the Women’s Council on Energy & Environment and is currently working on her MBA as a Forté Fellow at GWU.

Yesim Oruc, United Nations Development Program
Ms. Oruc is Deputy Director of United Nations Development Programme's Washington Representation Office, where she covers UNDP's relations with the US Government. She has more than 20 years of experience in programs and partnerships in UNDP country offices, including Turkey, Romania, and Albania. As UNDP Country Director in Albania and Resident Representative in Romania, she has led UNDP's work to reform local governments, municipalities, security sector institutions, and electoral processes. In those posts, she served as gender focal point leading UNDP's efforts to implement the gender marker and gender seal, two UNDP wide initiatives aimed at tracking budgets and commitments to gender equality in UNDP program and management activities.

Oxana Paduraru, Moldova Embassy to the US
Ms. Paduraru is First Secretary and a Congressional liaison officer at the Embassy Moldova. A career diplomat, she joined the Moldovan Foreign Service in 2012. Initially, she wrked as an attaché within the General Directorate for European Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. In August 2014, Ms. Paduraru was posted as Second Secretary within the Moldova Mission to the EU, in Brussels. In 2017, while working within the Directorate for European Integration, in parallel, she was studying at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, GMAP Program, Tufts University which she graduated in 2018. Ms. Paduraru has also been part of the monitoring and coordination process of the implementation of the EU-Moldova Mobility Partnership and EU-Moldova Visa Liberalisation Dialogue.

Simone Peloquin, impl. project
Ms. Peloquin is a program officer at impl. project, a NGO specializing in data collection and targeted programing in non-permissive environments. During her time at impl. project, she has deployed to Benghazi, Libya, Azerbaijan and Chicago on behalf of public and private sector clients. Ms. Peloquin has also worked at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), supporting United States government democracy programming in Nigeria. At NDI, she worked on electoral strengthening and launched an election observation mission for Nigeria's 2015 presidential elections. Prior to her time at NDI, Simone interned on Capitol Hill for US Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and US Senator Christopher Coons (D-DE). Ms. Peloquin holds a MA in Politics from New York University, and a dual BA in Political Science and Journalism from the University of St. Thomas.

Christina Perrone, Embassy of Bahrain
Ms. Perrone began her career practicing law in New York City, before being appointed as an assistant chief of protocol at the State Department. She greeted heads of state, foreign ministers, and ambassadors on behalf of the President and planned presidential delegations and coordinated bilateral meetings for the President and Vice President at the White House and overseas. Ms. Perrone currently serves as a counselor to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States—a key US ally. She advises on all aspects of US protocol, mission strategy, communications and events. She is a graduate of Boston University and earned her Juris Doctorate at Western Michigan, Thomas Cooley School of Law. She is licensed to practice in New York and Illinois.

Kim Phan, International Law Institute
Ms. Phan has served as Executive Director of the International Law Institute since 2004. Founded in 1955, ILI is an international non-profit training organization that works to foster prosperity through the rule of law. ILI has trained more than 38,000 officials and practitioners from over 185 countries. She has managed projects in over 25 countries. Ms. Phan serves as a course advisor for the ILI courses on Leadership & Management in International Development, Women in Leadership, and Legislative Strategic Management. She also teaches a Leadership for Lawyers course at the University of California at Irvine Law School. Previously, she worked at the US Embassy in Manila, where she served as the US's Asia Environmental Partnership Liaison to the Asian Development Bank. Ms. Phan holds a BA from Allegheny College, a Masters from Northwestern University School of Law.

Sheldon Ray, Raymond James
Mr. Ray has over three decades of experience focusing on numerous aspects of China's emergence and assessing their impact on nearly all investment decisions. As a portfolio manager and Senior Vice President at Raymond James, he manages stocks and bonds for individual and non-profit clients and invests in the US, Hong Kong, Canada, UK, Europe and Australia. Mr. Ray's analysis focuses on risk management, corporate governance, global macroeconomics, and long-term geopolitical outlook, in addition to dividend yields, price-to-earnings ratios and other fundamentals. He conducts his own research and maintains regular contact with senior government officials, diplomats, economists, regulators and journalists. He holds a BS in finance from Louisiana State University and received his Certified Portfolio Manager designation from Columbia University.

Adrienne Ross, Communications Consultant
​Ms. Ross was sworn in as Deputy Assistant Secretary Strategic Communications at the State Department in 2018. Most recently, she served as the Senior Advisor for Communications in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs where she was responsible for overseeing messaging on the crisis in Venezuela. Ms. Ross worked closely to coordinate communications among the White House, NSC, State Department and the OAS on Latin American affairs and immigration. Before joining the State Department, Ms. Ross, a seasoned broadcast professional turned communications expert, worked extensively in news for outlets including FOX, CBS and NBC. In 2015, Ms. Ross established the communications program on behalf of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council in Spanish, English and Portuguese. She also provided strategic communications counsel to the Government of Afghanistan and served as a press secretary for Chairman Deborah Pryce. Ms. Ross speaks French and Spanish.

Nicole Rowsell, National Democratic Institute
Ms. Rowsell currently serves as Special Assistant to the President at the National Democratic Institute, where she coordinates strategic initiatives, including research related to the intersection of technology and democracy, anti-corruption and countering climate change. Ms. Rowsell previously served as Country Director in Tunisia and Lebanon, and Senior Advisor contributing to the Institute’s efforts throughout the Middle East and North Africa. She has designed and provided leadership on programs to enhance political parties’ responsiveness to citizens, strengthen citizen oversight of political processes, and create openings for women, young people and other minorities to influence decision-making. Before joining the Institute, Ms. Rowsell held senior positions with Partners for Democratic Change and World Learning, contributing to community organizing and advocacy efforts throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in conflict analysis and resolution.

Laura Schulz, USAID
Ms. Schulz is the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Economic Growth, Education and Environment Bureau (E3), where she oversees the Water, Professional Development and Management Services and Planning, Learning and Coordination offices. An international development professional with over 25 years of experience, she has extensive experience working both in government and for nongovernmental organizations. Ms. Schulz served for two years as Director of Global Engagement at the National Security Council, where she led interagency policy processes on civil society and freedom of association, religious leader engagement, and young leaders. She also managed the MENA portfolio at the Congressional Research Service, and spent nearly 15 years supporting civil society programs in the Middle East including with the Department of State, NED, and NDI, where she was based in the West Bank. She has degrees from Brown and Georgetown Universities and speaks Arabic and French.

Heather Selig, USDA Foreign Agriculture Service
Ms. Selig is a Senior Program Manager for the Borlaug Fellowship Asia and Latin America Portfolios in the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service, which provides technical leadership and consultation to agricultural research staff, and works to communicate scientific information to foreign counterparts. Previously, she was a Management and Program Analyst for USDA-APHIS, where she liaised with the Department of Defense to improve training of military customs inspectors, and traveled to Haiti to assist in rolling out a traveler outreach program. She served for 12 years in the US Navy where she served as a Civil Engineering Corps Officer and as a Space and Naval Warfare Command (SPAWAR) HQ 466 Assistant Operations Officer. She holds a BS from the US Naval Academy, a MS from Virginia Tech in Agricultural and Life Sciences, and a MA in Defense and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

Susan Slomback, FHI 360
Ms. Slomback has over 25 years of experience in the field of international development - focused on gender and women’s economic empowerment, micro-small-medium enterprise (MSME) development, workforce development; entrepreneurship; youth employment; livelihood support, and civil society strengthening in conflict and post-conflict environments. She has just completed an assignment in Afghanistan as Chief of Party for a USAID-funded project – The Goldozi Project (Goldozi means embroidery in Dari). Ms. Slomback conceptualized, designed, and launched Goldozi, a project aimed at creating or improving incomes for over 15,000 women in the embroidered products sector. Previously, she was Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Entrepreneurs Project in Pakistan, which focused on strengthening value chains through micro-enterprise development. Ms. Slomback has lived and worked in a number of diverse settings, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

Katherine Tan, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Ms. Tan is a program officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In this role, she informs Foundation leadership on development policy and finance strategy, manages a portfolio of policy research and advocacy grants to organizations like the Center for Global Development, and advises program teams on sector-specific financing strategies and platforms. Previously, she was a Senior Program Officer, Finance Investment Trade at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US government agency, where she designed and led private sector development programs for Niger, Benin, and Zambia. Ms. Tan also served as chief of staff to the CEO and Co-President at Bridgewater Associates, a global hedge fund. She received her MBA from the Wharton School and her BA from Harvard University in Economics.

Nancy Walker, Nancy's Wonderful Women
Dr. Walker is a political organizer with the J Walkers Action Group and a mentor with Nancy's Wonderful Women. She has served in government, taught at several universities (including GW), and consulted for the UN and NGOs. She served as DoD's Director of the Office of African Affairs and inaugural Director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Before DoD, she worked on German and NATO issues at USIA. In 2007, Dr. Walker moved to Turkey, where she was a Visiting Scholar at Ankara and Bilkent Universities. She was the founding Director at the Atlantic Council's Africa Center and was an election observer in the DRC. She holds an AB from Harvard and Radcliffe and a DPhil from Oxford. She speaks fluent German and French, and conversational Spanish and Turkish. She completed MIT's Seminar XXI, was a Bosch Fellow, and was awarded Senegal's Order of the Lion.

Lauren Watson, Palladium
Ms. Watson is an Associate at Palladium supporting their Conflict, Stabilization, and Transition practice—Palladium's newest practice area. Previously, she worked as an Information Officer at USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance and as a Proposal Coordinator at AECOM International Development supporting new business development for stabilization programs in areas experiencing security or political transitions. Earlier in her career, she was a research assistant at the US Institute of Peace, taught English in Thailand, and supported disaster responses in the US with the American Red Cross. Ms. Watson holds an MA in International Affairs from GWU’s Elliott School and a BA in both Visual Anthropology and German from Temple University.

Melinda Wuellner, The Pew Charitable Trust
Ms. Wuellner is a digital communications leader with 15 years of experience. She currently leads a team at The Pew Charitable Trusts behind a new communications initiative called Living Facts. Previously, she served as deputy director of the Council on Foreign Relations' Global Communications department. Before joining CFR in 2008, Ms. Wuellner worked for the State Department, Foreign Policy magazine, Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and WorldPublicOpinion.org. She holds a Master's degree in Global Politics from LSE, a Bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Certificate in Digital Marketing from NYU, and a Graduate Certificate in International Relations from the Universidad de Chile. In 2013, she was included in the Diplomatic Courier and Young Professionals in Foreign Policy list of the "Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders under 33" and is a former CFR Term Member.