List of Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders 2018 Cohort

Sade Abraham, Program Director/ Fellow, Harvard University, Trinidad and Tobago 

Patricia Ahanda, Founder – CEO, LYDEXPERIENCE, France

Ana Barufi, Research and Innovation Manager, Bradesco Bank, Brazil

Ana Paula Barreto, Intern - Gender, Human Rights and Advocacy, United Nations Human Rights Office of the Higher Commissioner, Brazil

Laura Basagni, Program Coordinator, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, Italy

Mohamed Amine Belarbi, Co-founder & CEO, VUL9 Security Solutions, Morocco

Ali Belhaj Zahi, CEO and Co-Founder, EVOCRAFT, Tunisia

Andrew Bishop, Deputy Head of Research & Director, Global Macro, Eurasia Group, United States

Ayoub Bouafia, OCP Group SADV, Morocco

Anders Brudevoll, Advisor, The Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans), Norway

Jordan Campbell, Actor, Teaching Artist, Political Activist, Harvard University, United States

Isabela Carvalho, Product Lead and Project Manager, Ashoka, Brazil

Aleksandra Chmielewska, Project Manager, European Institute of the Mediterranean, Poland

Julian Colombo, Chief of Staff to Congressman Daniel Scioli, Argentine Chamber of Deputies, Argentina

Jerome Cowans, Jamaica House Fellow / Project Manager, Office of the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Jamaica

Mahaut De Fougières, Chargée d'études, Institut Montaigne, France

Ruben Barnabas Djogbenou, Statistician-Economist, Assistant of the Special Adviser and Chief Economist of the Prime Minister of Senegal and Researcher at The African Futures Institute, Sengal

Oluwatosin Durotoye, Director, GreenHouse Lab, Nigeria

Mohamed El Dahshan, Managing Director, OXCON Frontier Markets and Fragile States Consulting, Egypt

Asmae El Hajji, Social activist and Phd researcher, TIZI - Tariq Ibnou Ziyad Initiative, Morocco

Ghita El Kasri, Chief Operating Officer, UNITEDCOIN, Morocco

Chidera Ezekwesili, ASSOCIATE ECONOMIST, AFRICA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY INITIATIVE, Nigeria

Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi, PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morocco

Joseph Hammond, Fellow, Center for Peace and Media Initatives, United States    

Nchimunya Hamukoma, SENIOR RESEARCHER, THE BRENTHURST FOUNDATION, South Africa

Maria Lourdes Landivar, National Senator, Honorable Senate of Bolivia, Bolivia

Nadia Makara, Social Infrastructure - Water Supply, GIZ Endev, United States

Santiago Martinez Jaramillo, Founder & Executive Director, CÓMO LO CAMBIARÍAS, Colombia

Davi Miller, Partnerships Manager, Facebook, United States

Silindile Nanzile Mlilo, Project Manager, African Centre for Migration & Society, University of Witwatersrand

Olisaeloka (P.J.) Okocha, Managing partner/Co-founder, PS NUTRACEUTICALS INTERNATIONAL LTD, Nigeria

Jacob Ouma, Managing Director, Admedia Communications Limited, Kenya

Aaron Joshua Pinto, International Trade and Investment Associate, Consulate General of Canada in New York, Canada

Zuzana Podracká, Project Coordinator, Globsec    Slovak Republic

Thomas Richter, Senior Advisor & Chief of Staff Brussels Office, IDA Group, Germany

Hamza Rkha Chaham, CEO, SOWIT, Morocco

Carolina Zuheill Candelario Rosales, CEO & Founder, GUIMEDIC A.C, Mexico

Jo Ann Sackey, Senior Policy Analyst, Africa Center for Energy Policy, Ghana

Ibraheem Sanusi, Citizen’s Engagemnet Lead, African Union Commission, Nigeria

Daniela Varela, International and Institutional Affairs Consultant, Chief of Cabinet of Ministers of the Argentine Republic, Argentina

Scarlett Varga, Deputy Head of Development, Bruegel, Romania

Kevin Vuong, Executive Lead, International & Lecturer, University of Toronto, Canada

Nele Wissmann, Project Manager, Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, Germany

Hallelujah Lulie Wondimu, Program Director, Amani Africa Media and Research Services, Ethiopia

Touria Benlafqih, Founder & CEO, EMPeople

Working with non-profit organizations as a volunteer, a professional and a consultant, and with over 5 years focus on youth employability to solve one of the biggest issues of Africa: unemployment. In 2015, she created SIDE, Social Impact, and Development Employment, a social business focused on youth employment, through volunteering programs for soft skills building, incubating early stage young social entrepreneurs to reach a scaling level, and providing HR services to companies who are looking for employable profiles. In 2016, she launched EMPEOPLE, that stands for Empower People, a sales incubator created by a group of business experts and consultants who mentored over 100 small business owners over 3 years in Morocco, this business and skills incubator focuses on capacity building of entrepreneurs and young business owners, scaling of those businesses to create sustainable jobs for unemployed youth. EMPEOPLE mentored 6 companies and cooperatives and helped create 20 new jobs for youth, 7 of them are for youth at risk, who were not in education, training or employment. In Healthcare, she started another social business, Al Maghreb Qudurat, a company that provides training and counseling for care givers and professionals who work with kids with autism in Morocco. The company is working on creating a library for therapy tools and educational materials to provide to low-income families who are supporting huge expenses because of autism. Touria worked on women empowerment, education, youth engagement in public affairs, rural development, oasis preservation, to finally focus her energy on youth empowerment.

 

Jessica Berlin, Founder, CoStruct

An international policy expert turned entrepreneur, Jessica's passion for advancing sustainable business and tech solutions stems from her prior work in security, foreign policy, and development aid. She has lived and worked in Afghanistan, China, Germany, Myanmar, Rwanda, the UK, and the US. Her crosscutting experience gives her unique insight into the challenges and opportunities of building international partnerships to address interconnected global challenges. In addition to founding CoStruct, Jessica is co-founder of MakerNet, an international consortium fostering networked local manufacture and digital design; BerLink, a business consortium linking the Berlin tech ecosystem to emerging innovation ecosystems in other countries; and Die Brückenbauer, a nonprofit initiative scaling economic and cultural inclusion programs to underprivileged communities in Germany.

 

Bruno Boccara, Founder, Socio-Analytic Dialogue

Bruno Boccara is the founder of Socio-Analytic Dialogue, a systems dynamics and psychosocial approach to public policy and dialogue. A graduate of Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, he holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT. He is also a graduate from the NYU School of Medicine Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Boccara was a Lead Economist at the World Bank and Director of Sovereign Ratings at Standard & Poor’s. He is the author of Bolivia: Revirtiendo Trauma and of Socio-Analytic Dialogue: Incorporating Psychosocial Dynamics into Public Policies.

 

Emil Chireno, Director, Center of Global Studies at the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo

Emil Chireno was elected by the General Assembly of the World Federation of United Nations Associations as member of the Executive Committee in 2015 to serve for 3 years. He has visited and worked in 12 countries with various international organizations including the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization, and the Organization of American States. Chireno has been actively involved in the global consultations of the UN Post 2015 Agenda; he was an active participant in the Open Working Group of Sustainable Development Goals of the Economic and Social Council bringing the perspective the Dominican Society to the UN through a national consultation.

 

Karim El Aynaoui, Managing Director, Policy Center for the New South & Dean, Faculty of Economics and Social Science, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University

Karim El Aynaoui is Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. He is also Managing Director of Policy Center for the New South, formerly known as OCP Policy Center, a think tank based in Rabat and serves as advisor to the CEO and Chairman of OCP Group, a global leader in the phosphate sector. From 2005 to 2012, he worked at Bank Al-Maghrib, the Central Bank of Morocco. He was the Director of Economics and International Relations, where he provided strategic leadership in defining and supporting monetary policy analysis and strategy. He was also in charge of the Statistical and International Relations Divisions of the Central Bank, led the research division and was a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. Before joining Bank Al-Maghrib, Karim El Aynaoui worked for eight years at the World Bank, both in its Middle Eastern and North Africa, and Africa regions as an economist. He has published papers, books, and articles in scientific journals on macroeconomic issues in developing countries. Recently, he co-authored a book outlining a growth strategy for Morocco and was the guest editor of a special issue on food price volatility in Oxford Economic Papers. Karim El Aynaoui is a board member of the OCP Foundation, a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and a member of the COP22 Scientific Committee. He also participates in the Malabo-Montpellier Panel. Karim El Aynaoui holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Bordeaux, where he taught for three years courses in statistics and economics.

Yasmina El Kadiri, Management Professor, Economia HEM Research Center

Yasmina El Kadiri is a Management Professor and a Researcher at Economia HEM Research Center in Rabat, Morocco where she specializes in leadership studies. She graduated from ESCP Europe (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris) in 2003 and worked for 15 years in management positions in multinational corporations and Moroccan companies. She is now dedicating herself to teaching whilst preparing a Ph.D. thesis on leadership at Panthéon-Assas University in Paris, France.

 

Obiageli Ezekwesili, Director, African Economic Policy Initiative (AEDPI)

Obiageli Ezekwesili is a chartered accountant, former Nigerian Minister of Education, and former Vice President for the World Bank. Dr. Ezekwesili served as Vice-President for the World Bank's program in Africa and was responsible for a portfolio of about $40 Billion and the delivery of projects, economic and sectoral work in 47 Sub-Saharan countries. She was until recently the Senior Economic Advisor to Open Society, aimed at building vibrant and tolerant societies with democratically accountable governments. She currently runs the Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative (AEDPI), which provides policy expertise and advisory support to African Heads of Government and their cabinets. In 2006 she had been decorated with the Nigerian national award of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), holds the Robert F. Kennedy Award of Excellence in Public Service of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the Tuft University EPIIC Jean Meyer Awards and other numerous local and international awards.

Youssef Kobo, Founder, A Seat at The Table

Youssef Kobo is a Strategic Innovation Consultant. CD&V politician. Former advisor to the Brussels Secretary of Digitalization. A Belgian author, publicist and public speaker. Who predominantly writes about International Relations, MENA, Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Member of the Think Thank Vrijdaggroep and member of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers. A social entrepreneur and founder of several non-profit programs around the world.

 

Richard Lui, News Anchor, MSNBC and NBC News

Richard Lui is an American journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News. Lui anchors Early Today on NBC and is a dayside anchor for MSNBC at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. He was formerly at CNN Worldwide. At CNN Worldwide he became the first Asian American male to anchor a daily, national cable news show when he solo anchored the 10 a.m. hour on CNN Headline News (2007 to 2010). Mediaite ranked Lui among the top 100 in news buzz on its "Power Grid Influence Index of TV Anchors and Hosts". Mr. Lui is also a columnist, contributing to publications including USA Today, Politico, The Seattle Times, Detroit Free Press, and San Francisco Chronicle. His public speaking spans six continents and some 200 events in the last several years

 

Ade Mabogunje, Senior Research Scientist, School of Engineering, Stanford University

Ade Mabogunje is a Senior Research Scientist in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. Prior to this, he was the associate director of the Stanford Center for Design Research (CDR). He was also the lead of the Real-time Venture Design Lab program (ReVeL) in the school of Humanities and Sciences. Ade regularly conducts empirical studies of the design process with a view to developing performance metrics for use by teams of engineering-design thinkers. He works in collaboration with partners in the investment community as a participant-observer in the practice of building and accelerating the development of innovation ecosystems. He has worked on projects to create innovation ecosystems in environments in Ahmedabad, India and Abeokuta, Nigeria. He has publications in the areas of design theory and methodology, knowledge management, emotions in engineering, design protocol analysis, and engineering-design education.

 

Enuma Okoro, Columnist, The Guardian Nigeria

Enuma Okoro is a Nigerian-American award-winning author and speaker. Born in the USA but raised in four countries on three continents, her interests intersect spirituality, transnational identity and cultural anthropology, women's studies, race relations, and the visual and literary arts. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School where she served as Director for the Center for Theological Writing. Okoro's spiritual memoir, Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert's Search for Spiritual Community (Fresh Air Books, 2010) was a winning finalist in the 2010 USA Best Books Award and received the 2011 National Indie Excellent Book Awards Winning Finalist in "Spirituality and African-American Non-Fiction."

 

Lex Paulson, Attorney, Professor, Sciences Po Paris

Attorney, professor, writer and consultant in international governance, most recently for UNICEF, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Corporation for International Private Enterprise. Trained in political theory at Yale, Cambridge, and the Sorbonne, he served as legislative counsel in the 111th U.S. Congress, organized on four U.S. presidential campaigns, and has additionally worked as a volunteer attorney for Lawyers for Children America. His work as a facilitator and trainer in the international arena include work with NGOs and governments in India, Egypt, Uganda, Burundi, Niger, Ghana, Congo-Brazzaville, Benin, Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire, on issues related to democratic engagement and accountable government.

 

Bouchra Rahmouni, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South

Bouchra RAHMOUNI is a full-time Professor at Hassan I University of Morocco. Professor RAHMOUNI is an international affiliated Professor at New York University (Risk of Finance Engineering department) – USA, she is also visiting professor at Holy Spirit University – Lebanon. Bouchra is a distinguished Professor of Geopolitics at Grenoble School of Management – France. She is also adjunct professor at International trade and Law Institute of Pusan National University – South Korea.
Professor RAHMOUNI contributed in a book titled “Afrique: Terre des nouvelles convoitises“ edited by Ellipse in September 2011. She also took part in a book on women entrepreneurship: “Femme et entrepreneur: c’est possible!” which is published by Pearson in November 2012. Other book titled: «Géopolitique de la Méditerranée " published in April 2013 by Presses Universitaires de France (PUF) / another book titled "Geopolitique de la condition féminine " in Major Collection of Presses Universitaire de France, December 2013/"Le basculement économique et géopolitique du monde, le poids et la diversité des pays émergents “ published by l'Harmattan- France,  November 2013. She manages a book which is devoted to geopolitical, economic, and social Moroccan evolution : "Le Maroc stratégique: Ruptures et permanence d’un Royaume en mouvement", November 2013, DESCARTES Editions – FranceProfessor RAHMOUNI manages another book which is devoted to a geopolitical and geo-economics analysis of Africa and titled “Afrique ; Nouvelle frontière de la croissance, Comprendre, Investir et Entreprendre” edited by Tchnip and Ophrys France, September 2015. Bouchra gave lectures in world forums and special topics within prestigious institutions in France, Hong Kong, United States, South Korea, Lebanon and Switzerland.

 

Lilia Rizk, Program Officer, Policy Center for the New South

Lilia Rizk has worked at the Policy Center for the New South, formerly known as OCP Policy Center, for four years and is currently a Program Officer, where she manages international partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa, France, the UK the United States, and contributes to designing and planning international relations programs and events. She also works on designing programs that focus on intergenerational dialogue in policymaking, such as the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program.  Prior to her OCP Policy Center experience, she interned at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations as an event coordinator. She obtained a dual degree in Political Science and International Development from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and a Master’s degree at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane in International Relations and Diplomacy.

 

Mostafa Terrab, Chairman & CEO

Mostafa Terrab is Chairman and CEO of OCP Group. He has been a counselor in the Royal Cabinet and Secretary General of the MENA Economic Summit. In 1998, he was appointed Director General of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency. He then joined the World Bank as a Regulatory Specialist for Information and International Communications and chaired the World Bank's Information for Development program. He holds a Master's and PhD in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a graduate of ENPC, Paris

 

Youssef Tobi, Research Officer, Policy Center for the New South

Tobi Youssef has joined the Policy Center for the New South, formerly known as OCP Policy Center, in 2017. He is currently working on Politics and Governance in the Maghreb Region; his areas of expertise are geopolitics, political risk and nation building. Youssef Tobi obtained a Master Degree at Sciences Po Lyon where he wrote two thesis on “ the role of Moroccan Bank in Africa, a non-state actor in service of the Diplomacy”  and the “ Chasm between the mediatic and associative representation of refugees : a case study”. He recently published a Policy Paper on Libya’s electoral process. Prior to working with OCP Policy Center, Tobi Youssef participated in a Social Entrepreneurship Project in Beirut, Lebanon and conducted an internship in a NGO based in Marseille where he assisted refugees and helped raise funds.