NY Mentoring Fair
Thanks to our 2019 Mentors!
Halima Adams, Church World Service (CWS)
Ms. Adams is a refugee protection and resettlement expert with over 15 years of multi-sector humanitarian affairs and development experience in the US and abroad, focused on program monitoring and evaluation, gender equality, refugee protection and resettlement, public diplomacy, program development, and management. As monitoring and evaluation coordinator at Church World Service, she oversees monitoring and evaluation development and implementation for over 30 US-based organizations providing refugee resettlement and integration support. She also supports domestic and overseas innovation initiatives focused on refugee livelihoods and newcomer integration. She received a MA in Refugee Studies and Forced Migration from the University of East London and a BS from Florida A&M University.

Alon Ben-Meir, New York University
Dr. Ben-Meir is a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute and a professor and Senior Fellow at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. He is an expert on Middle East politics and affairs, specializing in international negotiations and conflict resolution. In the past two decades, he has been directly involved in various negotiations between Israel and its neighboring countries and Turkey. Dr. Ben-Meir also regularly briefs at the State Department for the International Visitors Program. He has authored seven books related to the Middle East and writes a weekly article published in publications including the Huffington Post, Jerusalem Post, Middle East Times, Times of Israel, and the Harvard Review. He has been featured on networks such as ABC, Al Jazeera (English and Arabic), Al Arabiya, al Hurrah, CNN, Russia Today and NBC. Dr. Ben-Meir holds a master’s degree in philosophy and a doctorate in international relations from Oxford.

Floresha Berisha, United Nations
Ms. Berisha is a Human Resources Officer in the Staffing Diversity and Outreach Section in the Office of Human Resources in the United Nations Secretariat. Her responsibilities include providing policy advice on staffing matters, and conducting outreach to attract the most qualified talents, taking into account a broad geographic representation, gender, diversity and inclusion. Earlier Ms. Berisha served as Administrative Officer in the Logistics Support Division in the Department of Field Support of the United Nations, where she supported with recruitment for logistic and supply chain related functions in UN headquarters and field missions. She also served as Human Resources Officer in UN Missions in Sudan and East Timor. Before joining the UN, Ms. Berisha served with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. She holds a MBA from IEDC-Bled School of Management, Slovenia, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Tirana, Albania.

Aissata Camara, NYC Mayor's Office for International Affairs
Ms. Camara is Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Strategic Partnerships in the Mayor's Office for International Affairs. In this capacity she helps to identify opportunities for engagement between City agencies and the international community, including the UN, and develop and guide substantive partnerships. Previously, Ms. Camara served as the Strategic Relationships Manager and Program Director for NYC Junior Ambassadors. Before joining the Mayor's Office, she co-founded There Is No Limit Foundation and worked as the organization's Vice President of Programs and Partnerships, developing and managing programs that empowered poor and ultra-poor people through entrepreneurship, education, water, sanitation, hygiene, and the eradication of gender-based violence. She also worked at The Rockefeller Foundation and Grameen America. She holds a BA from Baruch College CUNY and a MPA from NYU Wagner. She is originally from the Guinea and grew up in Queens, New York.

Connie Chen, Chen Planning Consultants, Inc.
Ms. Chen is the Founder & CEO of Chen Planning Consultants, Inc. She is a pioneer in the field of holistic, multidisciplinary approach in global corporate finance for Fortune 500 Corporations, State-Owned Enterprises, and International Institutional Investors. A serial entrepreneur, her diverse portfolio includes Founder of Asian Art Connections LLC, Senior Strategic Advisor for China Merchants Securities, and Chair of Harvard Club’s Family Business Special Interest Group. She was also the first Asian Women President of the International Association of Financial Planning in NY (now FPA), as well as a member of the Economic Club of New York and the International Women’s Forum. Due to her fluency in English, Mandarin, Shanghai-nese, and Cantonese, as well as her professional expertise and cultural heritage, Ms. Chen envisions herself as a bridge between East & West. She began her career as a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch.

Ceylan Cizmeli, United Nations
Dr. Cizmeli is an Associate Human Resources Officer in the Staffing Diversity and Outreach Section of the Office of Human Resources in the United Nations Secretariat. She is mainly responsible for developing and implementing the Organization's Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Framework and conducting outreach in support of the Organization's Gender Parity Strategy. Earlier she served as a Programme Manager in the Assessments Section. Prior to joining the UN, Dr. Cizmeli worked as a Scientific Programs Expert for Turkish National Science Foundation, designed and managed large international consortium projects with budgets of 3-5 million Euros, and served as a faculty member at SUNY Stony Brook, NYU, and SUNY Oswego. Dr. Cizmeli was a Fulbright Scholar, has a PhD in Social and Health Psychology from Stony Brook University, and a certificate in Financial Success for Non-Profits from Cornell.

Mitchell Cohn, Department of State, Retired
Mr. Cohn joined the Department of State in 1985. His first three overseas assignments were consular officer in Mexico City, London and Istanbul. He returned to Washington to take up duties in offices relating to Haiti, environmental diplomacy and recruitment. His last two overseas assignments were as public diplomacy officer in Jakarta, Indonesia and Rabat, Morocco. Mr. Cohn also administered the Foreign Service Oral Assessment to applicants at the State Department's New York office handling the International Visitor Leadership Program. He holds a BA in English Literature from Haverford College.

Emily Commer, Cultural Vistas
Ms. Commer has worked in nonprofit international exchange programming for 13 years, and she currently serves as Cultural Vistas’ Senior Events Officer. In this position, she oversees the organization's global events portfolio. Her expertise is in convening diverse global audiences around topics of global importance through international dialogue and exchange. Previously she also worked as an events producer at the US Embassy in Berlin. Ms. Commer holds a BS in Global Business Management from California State University and an MA in International Business from the Open University. She was a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow in Germany and is fluent in German.

Ruth Cowan, Ralph Bunche Institute
During her career as a political scientist and human rights activist, Dr. Cowan has been engaged in efforts in Bolivia, Peru, Nicaragua, Argentina, Mexico, El Salvador, Cuba, Afghanistan and South Africa, as well as in the US. Tribal Justice (2017), a documentary she helped produce, has won numerous awards. The film features two women Chief Justices serving the Yurok and Quechan tribes as they create justice systems which incorporate tribal values. Her previous film, Courting Justice, featured women judges in post-apartheid South Africa. She is the founding president of Pro Mujer--an organization integrating micro-lending with business training, health education and primary health care to thousands of women in five Latin American countries. She has served on the board of directors of a number of development organizations including the Global Partnership for Afghanistan and the American Jewish World Service.

Hawa Diallo, UN Department of Global Communications
Ms. Diallo, Chief of Unit, Civil Society, Advocacy and Special Events Section, UN Department of Global Communications, has extensive United Nations experience in public information outreach and fostering civil society partnerships, with a particular emphasis on youth and women's organizations. She began her United Nations career in 1987 in the Department of Public Information and has served in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Cambodia and Somalia. She has also worked for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) in Nairobi, as an Associate Human Settlements Officer and as a Partners and Youth Officer.

Nele Feldmann, Institute of International Education
Ms. Feldmann is the Head of Institute of International Education's Student Emergency Initiatives. In this role she manages the Platform for Education in Emergencies Response (PEER), the Syria Consortium for Higher Education in Crisis, and the Emergency Student Fund. Prior to her current position, she served as a Program Manager at the IIE Center for International Partnerships. Ms. Feldmann holds a BA in Political Science and a MA in Translation for Arabic and French from the University of Bonn, Germany. She completed the prestigious Arabic program at the French Orient Institute in Damascus and spent extensive time studying and working in Syria, Egypt, and France.

Jenifer Fenton, Demos
Ms. Fenton is associate director of communications at Demos, a public policy organization that works on economic and social justice issues, campaigns and voting rights. Previously, she worked for UNHCR as a senior press adviser covering information, reporting, advocacy and inter-agency UN coordination. She also worked for OCHA, the UN Coordination Office, in the occupied Palestinian territory. For 16 years, Ms. Fenton worked in the television news industry in the US, the UK and the Middle East. She has held a variety of senior positions for CNN and Al Jazeera, most recently as an executive producer. Her writings and work have appeared in the Financial Times, and other leading publications. She has won several major national awards including a Gracie and two Peabody Awards.

Paolo Galli, United Nations Development Programme
Mr. Galli, Senior Regional Advisor in UNDP's Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS, has nearly 30 years of experience working in the UN system. Previous positions have included: director of the Office of the Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development HM Queen Maxima of the Netherlands; deputy director of UNDP's Washington Liaison Office; principal officer and acting director of the Office of the Deputy Secretary-General/ Office of the Secretary-General handling development, peace-building, political and other related matters; senior policy advisor in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; cluster chief for the Western Balkans in UNDP's Bureau for Europe and the CIS; UNDP's assistant resident- representative for programs in Kabul, Afghanistan; and country-officer for West Africa, UN Capital Development Fund. Prior to joining the UN, Mr. Galli worked in the financial sector in London.

Thomas Gallo, Department of State, Retired
Mr. Gallo is a retired Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State. In 29 years at the Department, he had assignments in Washington, Manila, Rome, and Moscow. He most recently worked at the US Mission to the UN. His career focused in the field of management and has worked in human resources, logistics, budgets, information management and leadership. In one Washington, DC assignment, he trained new FSOs in living and working as US diplomats and directed their initial two overseas postings. In other assignments he managed the travel, lodging and transportations for visits of the President and Secretary of State, ran overseas housing programs for federal employees, and oversaw the staffing, maintenance and furnishings of Ambassadorial residences. He also served as the State Department's liaison to all of the foreign Consul's General in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

Marta Garcia Argenal, United Nations
Ms. Garcia Argenal is a Procurement Specialist and Team Leader for the Healthcare Procurement Team within the Operation Sustainment and Healthcare Section of the Department of Operational Support for of the UN Secretariat. In the last year, she has focused on the procurement processes in support of Peacekeeping Missions. She has also led a team to ensure the contractual success of the requirements to operationalize medical support for UNMISAH (Yemen). Previously, she led a UNDP team supporting HQ operations and was the head of UNDP Nicaragua's Procurement Team. Before joining UNDP, Ms. Garcia Argenal worked in the World Bank in Nicaragua and Washington, DC as a procurement analyst for the Central American Portfolio. She started her career in finance and modernization of the public sector in the Ministry of Finance in Nicaragua and has a Master’s Degree in the Public Administration.

Kathryn Good, United Nations
Ms. Good facilitates civil society participation in high-level UN conferences and events, ensuring a transparent and inclusive process for engagement. Prior to this role, she served as Chief of Unit for Group Programmes and Public Inquiries, overseeing the UN Speakers Bureau and numerous events, which draw thousands of students and civil society representatives to the United Nations each year. Prior to joining the UN in 2010, Ms. Good was Director of International Programs at Brown University for ten years. She has held academic appointments at Middlebury Monterey's Institute for International Studies, Boston University, the School of Leadership-Afghanistan, the King Faisal School in Riyadh, and in Hungary with Georgetown University's Center for Immigration Policy and Refugee Assistance. Ms. Good holds Master's Degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Boston University and earned her BA from the University of Richmond.

Melissa Graves, Cultural Vistas
Ms. Graves is the Program Director for the Alfa Fellowship Program at Cultural Vistas, an international exchange organization headquartered in New York City. She also worked in the Internships Abroad department, administering programs to Argentina, Germany, and Spain for undergraduate students, and was involved in implementing an exchange for immigration practitioners from New York City and Hamburg, Germany. Previously, Ms. Graves worked at nonprofits in New York and Los Angeles focused on youth advancement and health. She has also taught at the University of Management "TISBI" in Kazan, Russia. Ms. Graves holds an MA from Johns Hopkins SAIS, a BA in German/European studies from UCLA and was a fellow on the German Bundestag Internship Program.

Lisa Guetzkow, Bank of China
Ms. Guetzkow is currently an Assistant Vice President for Sanctions Compliance at Bank of China, implementing OCC and Department of Justice standards in their trade finance and correspondent banking groups. She previously worked in export controls, commodities markets, and security while at PwC, the Department of the Treasury, and the World Bank. She has worked in Beijing, Tel Aviv, and Guatemala City across her career, which began in international development. A first generation college student and Coloradan, Ms. Guetzkow has been involved with YPFP, Rotary Clubs, and the NYC Harvard Club as a mentor and discussion group leader. She holds a MS in Project Management from American University in Washington, DC.

Suzanne Harvey, Developmental Programs Ltd.
Ms. Harvey, director of Developmental Programs Ltd., is an experienced consultant specializing in the design and implementation of a wide range of economic development, marketing and investment projects. She focuses primarily on public private partnerships, women's empowerment, and international economic development projects. Ms. Harvey has extensive experience collaborating with and liaising between the civil sector, national and international NGOs, international development bodies including US government agencies, The World Bank and the UN. She served as VP of the Board of Directors of US Committee for UN Women Metro Chapter, is Executive Director of the NGO Peacemaker Corps Peace in the Streets Global Film Festival for youth 18 and under, and works as a special consultant to the UN NGO Commission on the Status of Women. Prior to her work in international development, Ms. Harveys career was in classical ballet, theater and film.

Danielle Hites, Global Justice Center
Ms. Hites is a Staff Attorney at the Global Justice Center, where she supports the legal program through research, writing, and advocacy. Prior to joining GJC, Ms. Hites was a Consultant at the Alliance for Rule of Law Promotion and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ARPA). At ARPA she conducted legal research and drafted policy reports on women's access to justice in the Middle East and North Africa, the intersection of arbitrary or excessive pre-trial detention and torture, and the disparity between domestic legislation and international standards on gender-based violence. She has also previously worked with the International Justice Resource Center, Lawyers for Human Rights, and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Danielle received her JD with a concentration in international law from Boston University and holds a BA in Psychology from Suffolk University.

Su Young Jung, Womankind
Ms. Jung, Associate Director of Community Programs provides an oversight to the direct client services at Womankind serving survivors of gender-based violence across the life span in Womankind's three community offices. Ms. Jung joined Womankind as a counselor advocate working closely with all survivors in 2012 and has been advocating for survivors in different capacities at Womankind. Ms. Jung has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Minor in Child Development, a Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling from City College of New York, and a Master of Public Administration from SIPA at Columbia University.

Mehmet Kilic, The Journalists and Writers Foundation
Mr. Kilic is the President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), a US-based international civil society organization that advances peace, human rights, and sustainable development. In this position, he organizes programs on global issues by engaging diplomats accredited to the United Nations with the private sector, the media, academics, representatives of civil society organizations, and youth at local, national, and global levels. He has also served as JWF's representative to the United Nations since 2012. Until 2016, Mr. Kilic worked as the Director of the Center for Global Affairs at the Peace Islands Institute. He earned his master's degree in Education from Mercy College and is currently working on his PhD in Global and Comparative Education at Walden University. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.

Amber Kiwan, United Nations Foundation
Ms. Kiwan is a Communications Officer with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, housed at the United Nations Foundation. Previously, she worked with the United Nations Development Programme on aid effectiveness and development cooperation. Prior to UNDP, she was a researcher and program coordinator at Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, where she focused on US foreign policy and critical global security issues. Previously, she conducted fieldwork on freedom of expression and violence against journalists in Kosovo and designed economic development programs for communities in Ethiopia. She has also worked with ABC News and NPR News. Ms. Kiwan holds an MA in international affairs, a BS in journalism, and spent a semester studying international relations in South Africa.

Brian Laguardia, Church World Service
Mr. Laguardia has more than 12 years of experience with international organizations and the US military in Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. He has particular expertise in international non-governmental organization (INGO) country management, team management, access, security analysis and crisis management, and program development and implementation. Mr. Laguardia is currently on sabbatical following a year plus deployment as the Country Director for Relief International’s Afghanistan Program. Prior to this, he worked as the Director of Security and Access for Mercy Corps’ North Syria and Turkey program, the Associate Director for Security at Church World Service's Immigration and Refugee Programs, and the Afghanistan country director for the International NGO Safety Organization (INSO). He holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Chicago and a MS in International Affairs from NYU.

Tammy Langan, Institute of International Education
Ms. Langan is the world area manager for the East Asia Pacific region of the Foreign Fulbright Student Program at the Institute of International Education. She joined IIE in February 2001 as a program officer with the University Placement Services division. Ms. Langan joined the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program in March 2002, managing placement, monitoring and grants administration activities for the US and Canada portion of the program. She was with IFP until December 2010, at which time she joined Fulbright. Ms. Langan has an avid interest in East Asian affairs, receiving her bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies from the George Washington University. Ms. Langan holds a master's degree in International Communication from American University.

Trudy Loo, United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia
Ms. Loo serves as the senior manager for development for United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, a Christian organization that works in partnership with higher education institutions in Asia to further justice, ethnic and religious tolerance, gender equity, care for the environment, and civil society. In this position, she supports the United Boards development efforts in raising financial and in-kind resources. She is responsible for planning and implementing strategic development activities to achieve annual revenue goals. Ms. Loo oversees donor relations and the stewardship of an international donor base and the management of an endowment giving program to support institutions in the United Board network. She holds a BA in History and an MA in Asia-Pacific Policy Studies from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She has lived and worked in the US, Canada and Hong Kong.

Wendy MacClinchy, UNHCR
Ms. MacClinchy is a Senior Policy Advisor with the UNHCR in New York covering refugee and related issues at UN Headquarters and within UN governing bodies. Wendy was a lead author of the OECD 2016 States of Fragility Report: Understanding Violence and the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan. She served as the Head of the Resident Coordinator's Office in Lebanon, coordinating the UN's response to the impacts of the Syria conflict and refugee crisis there. She served as a Senior Advisor to the Governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as several UN Under-Secretary Generals and has led UN peacebuilding, humanitarian, development and stabilization programs in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. She is currently Alumnus of the Year for the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, PA. She recently returned to New York following postings in Japan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lebanon.

Julia Maciel, Permanent Mission of Paraguay to the UN
Ms. Maciel is the first woman to be elected as Vice Chair of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions-ACABQ, an expert Committee elected by the General Assembly. She is also a Paraguayan diplomat who served as Counsellor at Paraguay’s Permanent Mission to the UN from 2011-2017 until her election in 2017. She served as the delegate of Paraguay to the Fifth Committee, and was also responsible for a range of issues, including gender and youth. Previously, she served as Technical Advisor to the Vice President of Paraguay, Minister of Planning for Economic and Social Development, Advisor in International Cooperation, and General Director of International Relations Office at the Ministry of Education. She has also completed projects for numerous agencies and IO’s including the World Bank, IADB, UNDP, USIA, and EU. She was a Fulbright Scholar and studied at Oxford and Columbia University.

Youssef Mahmoud, International Peace Institute
Dr. Mahmoud is a Senior Adviser at the International Peace Institute supporting the Africa, Middle East, and peace operations programs. Before retiring from the United Nations in 2011, he was the Secretary-General's Special Representative and Head of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad. From 2007 to 2009 he served as Executive Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Burundi. Prior to that, his positions included UN Resident Coordinator in Guyana, Director in the UN Department of Political Affairs, and Head of the Office of the Undersecretary-Secretary-General for Political Affairs. He recently served as member of the UN Secretary-General High Level Panel on Peace Operations and of the High Level Advisory Group for the Global Study on UNSCR 1325. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Africa Leadership Center at King’s College, London.

Maria Gloria Montiel, Permanent Mission of Paraguay to the UN


Harriet Mouchly-Weiss, Strategy XXI Partners
Ms. Mouchly-Weiss, managing partner of Strategy XXI, has over 30 years of experience in communications. Throughout her career she has advocated communications programs that incorporate a component of social responsibility. Previously, she served as vice chairman and senior partner of Kreab Gavin Anderson Worldwide, where she led their Corporate Responsibility and Accountability Practice. She specializes in bringing together the corporate world, government, international organizations, and activists on issues such as obesity, marketing to children, vaccine distribution, micronutrients and healthy lifestyles. In the corporate world, some of her principal clients have included Nestle, MasterCard, Walmart, PepsiCo, McDonalds and Danone. She is an active member of the boards of L-1 Identity Solutions Inc., Friends of the United Nations, UJA-Federation of NY, The Acumen Fund, and the Count-me-In micro-lending Group. She is an advisor to the International Crisis Group and the UN Office for Partnerships.

Katie Novy, Cultural Vistas
Ms. Novy is a Senior Program Officer at Cultural Vistas, where she oversees the IAESTE program--a global initiative with 80+ member countries that works to create internship opportunities around the world for students in technical fields. Ms. Novy first joined Cultural Vistas in 2014 on the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX) program, where she managed the outbound side of the program, supported the CBYX Alumni Association, and administered STEM LAUNCH, a short-term study tour to Germany for STEM students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Prior to joining Cultural Vistas, Ms. Novy lived in Germany for nearly five years, working in business development and event management. She holds a bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of Miami, and grew up in Delray Beach, Florida.

Christine Paiva, Cultural Vistas
Ms. Paiva has worked in many facets of international education and exchange over the past decade, from coordinating study abroad programs for New York University's Buenos Aires site in Argentina, to currently leading client engagement efforts for Train USA at Cultural Vistas, a non-profit organization whose mission is to enrich minds, advance global skills, build careers, and connect lives through international exchange. Ms. Paiva's work includes facilitating internship and training programs for international visitors in the US through the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program, which is a Department of State public diplomacy initiative. Ms. Paiva has spent extensive time living in Geneva, New York, and Buenos Aires, and is passionate about empowering aspiring leaders in international exchange. She holds a Master’s in Translation from Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires and a BA from Union College in Modern Languages and Literatures.

Felipe Queipo, United Nations
Mr. Queipo is a Communications Officer with the Civil Society Unit at the United Nations Department of Global Communications. He began his United Nations career at the NGO Relations & Advocacy Section of the Department of Public Information in 2008, and is currently the focal point for communication, outreach and engagement with civil society, as well as Faith-Based Organizations in the Department. A strong advocate of new communications tools and social media platforms and their role in developing effective strategies, he believes in developing policies to increase the efficacy of outreach efforts for civil society organizations. Before graduating from Brigham Young University where he majored in Political Science, Mr. Queipo studied Theology and Biology in Spain, emphasizing his training on Political and Social Theology.

Swadesh Rana, World Policy Institute
Dr. Rana was chief of the Conventional Arms Branch at the UN, the first woman to hold that position. She has also served as a senior political analyst in the Executive Office of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, chosen as the senior political aide to the chief of civil administration for UNPROFOR in Yugoslavia and directed the first UN project on small arms and intra-state conflicts. She was the executive secretary of the intergovernmental group of experts for the UNs first report to the GA on Small Arms, and deputy leader of the Exploratory Mission to Albania. Since retiring from the UN, she has consulted for the governments of Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, and Kenya, and is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute. Her recent work has covered: ISIS, war avoidance and civil society, implementation of the SDGs, climate change, global catastrophic risks, and Indo-US defence collaboration.

Sharon Riggle, United Nations
Ms. Riggle is the Chief of Office & Chief of the Advocacy and Outreach Section for the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, which she works on creating and launching a new Global Coalition for Reintegration of Child Soldiers, global communications campaign, and lessons learned/best practices. Prior to joining CAAC, she was Director of the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, based in Nepal and covering 43 countries. She also served as a senior officer at both the World Food Programme, and UN peacekeeping in Sudan; Director of the Centre for European Security and Disarmament in Brussels; and lead the Strategic Development Unit for the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro. An adjunct professor at Hunter, she holds a BA from Michigan State, MA from the University of Kent, and is a PhD candidate in post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation at the University of York.

Avery Rodriguez, Cultural Vistas
Ms. Rodriguez is an advocate of cultural exchange and international education. She currently serves as Program Manager at Cultural Vistas, a non-profit organization designated by the Department of State to support the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program through internships and training programs. She recently joined Cultural Vistas but previously worked on the same J-1 Program with the Summer Work Travel program. In this role, she served as coordinator for cultural events, liaison for international hiring fairs and has traveled to over 30 countries doing so. Prior to this, she taught English in Madrid, Spain and served as a Cultural Ambassador through the Spanish Ministry of Education. She holds a bachelor's degree from Pace University in International Business Management. She is fluent in Spanish and also speaks Portuguese. In her free time, she enjoys teaching English to newcomers of the U.S.

Ignacio Saiz, Center for Economic and Social Rights
Mr. Saiz is Executive Director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), an international NGO based in New York that works to advance human rights in socio-economic and development policy. Prior to joining CESR in 2006, he was director of policy at the international secretariat of Amnesty International, where his responsibilities included overseeing the development of Amnesty's research, campaigning and advocacy on emerging themes including economic, social and cultural rights. As Deputy Director of the Amnesty International's Americas Program, Mr. Saiz oversaw the organization's research and advocacy in Mexico, Central America, Venezuela and the Caribbean. He has also worked as a freelance human rights consultant for several other organizations in areas relating to sexuality and human rights, the prevention of torture, and post-conflict accountability. Mr. Saiz holds an LLM in international human rights law with distinction from the University of Essex, UK.

Patricia Salgado-Hernandez, Salesian Missions
Ms. Salgado is an international development associate at Salesian Missions, where she focuses on fundraising, managing US government and foundation-funded projects in Nicaragua, Tanzania, Honduras, and Egypt. Previously, she served as Salesian Missions' gifts in-kind associate where she managed logistics of shipping humanitarian aid to overseas missions in 20+ countries and oversaw monitoring and evaluation of programs. She has also held several positions in healthcare administration including as a research assistant for Greater New York Hospital Association, a development associate at Growth and Development Services, global health advocate for the Fund for Global Health, and as an outreach specialist for the St. Vincent Multi-Organ Transplant Center in Los Angeles. She holds a BS in Toxicology from St. John's University and a MPH from George Washington University.

Rachel Segal, BNY Mellon
Ms. Segal is a Sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Specialist. Currently she works at BNY Mellon to help embed and advance ESG capabilities across all of the bank's business lines. Previously, Ms. Segal worked as a sustainability management consultant at PwC for 4 years where she advised clients on sustainability strategy development, non-financial reporting, climate resiliency and using sustainability to drive internal organization transformation. She holds an undergraduate degree from Cambridge University in the UK and a Master's from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.

Chelsea Seid, Marlow
Ms. Seid is the COO and Co-Founder at Marlow, a professional development platform with coaching and activities to help emerging leaders and managers reach their career goals. She leads coaching, building scalable coaching processes and impactful curriculum, and coaches a range of professionals from emerging leaders to executives. With a passion for building engaged teams and unlocking potential, Ms. Seid has spent her career managing internal operations and HR in a variety of industries. Her experience includes working as the operations manager to the COO at the Brookings Institution where she was the co-lead in the Women's Mentoring Network and founded the Institution's first mentoring program. Ms. Seid was as also an early hire at two startups, Patreon and Clara (acquired by SoFi), where she built the operations and HR teams amongst 2x team growth, fundraising, and acquisitions. She has an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Linda Senat, Consultant
Now retired, Ms. Senat has had an unusual and interesting career. With a US law degree she began practicing as a US attorney in London, England. Specializing in international tax and working with blue chip companies and consultancies led her to working in Russia and Kazakstan as the Soviet Union was disintegrating. She helped these countries, and later Vietnam, transition from command to market economies. She then became a Business Development Manager for Deloitte and Touche in NY working with companies expanding internationally. She later joined the American Jewish Committee as Director of International Relations. She worked with top NY-based diplomats to further AJC's mission of strengthening pluralism around the world as the best defense against anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. She values economic development in emerging economies as a vehicle for expanded educational and democratic opportunities particularly for girls and women.

William Sheridan, National Foreign Trade Council
Mr. Sheridan is Vice President-International Human Resource Services at the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), a private sector advocate for rules-based international commerce. Mr. Sheridan is responsible for a broad range of international human resource activities at the NFTC included working committees, conferences, seminars and topical surveys. He also represents the NFTC on the Council of Human Resource Professionals Associations. Prior to joining the NFTC in 1994, he held management positions in the energy and financial services sectors and was an expatriate in Bahrain with the Caltex Petroleum Corporation. Mr. Sheridan served in the US Navy as a communications and personnel officer at the Naval Air Station in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. He holds an BA from the City College of New York and an MBA from the City University of New York.

Robb Skinner, UN Office for Partnerships
Mr. Skinner is Executive Director at UN Office for Partnerships. Previously he served as Director of United Nations Information Centre in Washington, DC. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Skinner held the position of Executive Director at the United Nations Foundation New York Office, responsible for operations and relations. Before joining the Foundation in 2006, Mr. Skinner held several positions in the Department of State, including as Deputy Spokesperson at the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York, and as Public Affairs Officer for the United States Embassy in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Skinner holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BA in Business and Administration from Oakland University.

Sarah Steeley, Peace Corps
Ms. Steeley currently works as the NYU Campus Recruiter for Peace Corps. After graduating from the University of Alabama in 2015 with a degree in African Studies and Community Development, she joined the Peace Corps and was invited to serve in Lesotho, a country within South Africa. Ms. Steeley completed two years of service in Lesotho as a sexual health and mathematics educator while also taking part in community organizing. While serving, she helped her community write grants for a library building and an HIV education camp for students. She was then offered a Coverdell Fellowship to study at NYU's Silver School of Social Work and is planning to finish her Master's degree in May 2020.

Denny Taylor, Garn Press
Dr. Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Garn Press, is an author, academic and activist. Since 1977 she has been continuously engaged in research with families living in extreme poverty, and in regions of armed conflict and weather related catastrophes. The concept of "family literacy" originates in her doctoral research at TC, Columbia University. Today, there are family literacy initiatives in most UN Member States to build more just, peaceful and inclusive societies, by becoming a conduit for many local and regional initiatives to address poverty and hunger, public health emergencies, gender inequality, and strengthen partnerships to address the UN SDGs. Most recently she prepared a peer review of the 2018 UN High Level Political Forum. Her books include novels as well as research texts. In 2019, She received TC’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

Juhu Thukral, Human Rights Lawyer
Ms. Thukral is a human rights lawyer, social impact leader, and founder of numerous ventures focused on the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ people. She works in the global context, addressing the many dimensions of sexual health and rights, gender-based violence, and women’s leadership. Ms. Thukral has been a founder and on senior leadership teams for social impact enterprises with both domestic and global focus, including: Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center; The Opportunity Agenda; the Narrative Initiative; NY Anti-Trafficking Network; and the NYC Women’s Salon. She began her career at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas and with legal Fellowships at Equal Rights Advocates and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Kevin Tracey, Deloitte Global
Mr. Tracey is a manager in Deloitte's Global Center for Corporate Governance (the Global Center), which brings together the knowledge and experience of Deloitte practitioners in approximately 65 countries on corporate governance issues. He assists in managing Global Center efforts to promote dialogue on corporate governance matters among Deloitte practitioners, corporations and their boards of directors, investors, the accounting profession, academia, and government. He has experience in leading global thought leadership and research publications, particularly on the topic of boardroom diversity. Mr. Tracey also has experience working on board effectiveness assessments/evaluation projects for partnerships. Mr. Tracey serves as the corporate secretary for the Global Auditor Investor Dialogue (GAID), a network of representatives from leading global institutional investors and audit firms. He holds a degree in finance from DePaul University in Chicago, with minor degrees in Italian and Sales.

Samantha Vinograd, CNN, WFPG Board of Directors
Ms. Vinograd is a National Security Analyst at CNN and a Senior Advisor at the Biden Institute. Named a Woman of the Future by Newsweek in 2018, Ms. Vinograd began her career in Iraq as the Deputy Attaché for the Treasury Department and subsequently served on President Obama’s National Security Council in several roles including Director for Iraq, Director for International Economics, and Senior Advisor to the National Security Advisor. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2013, where her work focused on building public-private sector partnerships across a broad range of policy and business issues, and later led Global Public Policy at Stripe. Ms. Vinograd is deeply engaged in social impact work and serves as an advisor to the US Fund for UNICEF, and was named a David E. Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission and a Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council. She serves on the WFPG Board of Directors.

Alexa Ward, Women's Federation for World Peace, International
Ms. Ward has worked in civil society for over 35 years. She served as Executive Director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill in Hyde Park, New York. She has also worked for the Women’s Federation for World Peace, International (WFWPI) for over two decades in various capacities, including as President of WFWP USA, and currently as International Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, and Director of the Office for UN Relations in New York. Ms. Ward initiated the Schools of Africa Project, which raised nearly 1 million dollars for education in Africa. Her work has taken her to 35 countries, including North Korea. At the UN, she is active with CSW, the Working Group on Girls, Early Childhood Education and the Culture of Peace. She is interested in engaging youth in international leadership and the work of the UN. She is a graduate of Georgetown University.

Kimberly Worsham, Safe Water Network
Ms. Worsham is a WASH specialist who manages Safe Water Network's Monitoring and Evaluation efforts as the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager. She is also the founder of the startup business called FLUSH, which provides to education programs and consulting services on sanitation and hygiene. She has a background in international development, working in program management and performance analysis. She has consulted internationally in India, Cambodia, Australia, and Rwanda. She also co-managed a workforce development program within NYC government. She is a board member of a US-based water education organizations, NYC H2O, and has run classes on the history of toilets in Brooklyn and Phnom Penh. She received her MPA and BSc in business at NYU, and a Masters in Integrated Water Management from the University of Queensland as an International WaterCentre Scholar.