Focus: Government/Politics
Marlene Malahoo Forte
Marlene Malahoo Forte is Attorney General for the government of Jamaica. An advocate for fundamental reform of Jamaica's justice system and for improved conditions of service for judges and legal officers, as a judge, she brought an exceptional level of efficiency to the courts in which she presided. As a prosecutor, she was a powerful voice for the victims of crime, with an enviable win rate of over 98% in both trial and appellate courts. Marlene was appointed to Jamaica's Parliament as a Government Senator on July 15, 2009 and simultaneously as State Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; positions she held until January 2012. She was reappointed to…
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Maria Corina Machado
MarĂa Corina Machado is National Coordinator of Vente Venezuela, the party of freedom and a liberal political organization born in 2013 and of which she is a founding member. She was the Member of the National Assembly of Venezuela elected with the highest number of votes of all the candidates for that electoral contest (2010-2015) and is one of the main opposition leaders in the country. Since 2017, she is a founding member, along with Antonio Ledezma and Diego Arria, and accompanied by an extensive National Council, of the SoyVenezuela platform, an alliance of large sectors of the country, with international projection, committed to the rescue of the Republic and…
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Julio Guzmán
Julio Guzman is a Peruvian politician, leader and founder of the Partido Morado (The Purple Party), a centrist-political national party. He ran for President in the 2016 Elections, climbing to second place with more than 20% of the voting intention, before he was excluded from the race because of “administrative issues” regarding the registration of his candidacy. Previously, Julio was a Partner at Deloitte Peru. He served as Vice Minister of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and as Secretary General at the Office of the Prime Minister. In that role, he was President of the Council of Vice Ministers, responsible for the coordination of multi-sectorial policies. Before joining…
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Vusi Gumede
Vusi Gumede is a professor at the University of South Africa and at the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute where he teaches courses on political economy and development. He was previously an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg and has lectured public policy at the School of Government at the University of Witwatersrand. Vusi has published two books on South Africa and edited several books focusing on Africa’s political economy of development, as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters, editorials, and blogs. He is Editor-in-Chief for Africanus (Journal of Development Studies) and of Africa Insight and is a member of various academic editorial boards and committees. Vusi…
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Mohamed ElFayoumy
Mohamed ElFayoumy is an Egyptian diplomat with extensive experience in the Middle East. He currently serves as Political Adviser for the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria. Mohamed served as his government’s representative to the Syrian Opposition and he was the Consul in the Egyptian Embassy in Syria where he was instrumental in evacuating thousands of Egyptian nationals from Syria during the conflict in 2011-13. He is also active in a number of civil society organizations working toward the political development of Egypt.
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Nicolas "Nico" Ducoté
Nicolas "Nico" DucotĂ© has dedicated the last 20 years to strengthening civil society and democratic institutions in Argentina. After participating in and leading several NGOs, he co-founded CIPPEC (the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth) in 2000 and turned it into Argentina’s premier independent public policy research organization and one of Latin America's top think tanks. His professional contributions have spearheaded national initiatives to improve access to education, healthcare, and justice. Working with the Ministry of Education, Nico helped pass landmark education reform laws in 2005-06 and facilitated state-level education reform in several districts. He later became involved in politics, serving as Mayor of the…
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Shuaihua "Wallace" Cheng
Shuaihua "Wallace" Cheng is a senior economist at the UN World Food Program, responsible for rural transformation, digital economy, and food security. He has over 15 years' research and policy advisory experience with UNCTAD, International Trade Centre, German Development Institute, ICTSD, and Shanghai Municipal Development Research Center in the areas of macroeconomy, trade and investment, innovation and digital economy, international development, food security, and climate change. Wallace is also an author for the Agenda of World Economic Forum, a member of Advisory Board of Asia Society's Asia 21 Young Leaders, and Adjunct Professor at the University of International Business and Economics. Wallace holds degrees from Fudan University and the University…
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Emmanuel "Alex" Asiedu
Emmanuel "Alex" Asiedu is the Managing Director of STANLIB Ghana Limited and the president of the Ghana Securities Industry Association, the umbrella body for capital market operators in Ghana. He is also the president of the CFA Society, Ghana and chairs the national advisory board of Impact Investment Ghana. Prior to this he held lead responsibility for Ecobank’s investment management portfolio where his team managed retail and institutional portfolios. Alex is passionate about bringing about change in Africa and is involved in a number of social impact programs and activities that aim at creating positive health and educational outcomes. He has lectured as an adjunct at Ashesi University, a leading…
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Natalia Arboleda
Natalia Arboleda is an attorney and a diplomat specializing in human rights, humanitarian, and public international law. During her 15-year career, she has negotiated peace agreements with guerrilla groups, represented Colombia at the U.N. Security Council, and led reconciliation efforts in remote areas of Colombia. Natalia was a core member of Colombia’s peace negotiating team in Havana, where under the auspices of Cuba and Norway, Colombia and the FARC guerrilla group brought one of the longest armed conflicts in the world to an end. After the successful negotiation of the peace agreement, Natalia played an active role in the approval of the constitutional amendments required to implement the terms of…
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Alberto de Belaunde
Alberto de Belaunde is a former congressman from the Republic of Peru. He chaired the Congressional Climate Change Committee and was part of the Justice and Human Rights Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. Alberto was the second openly LGBTQ+ congressman in Peru's history. In 2019, he received the Victory Institute Tammy Baldwin Breakthrough Award for his work for equality. Alberto is a lawyer and teaches Legal Ethics at Pacific University. He has a master's degree in Environmental Management and completed an executive program in Economics of Sustainable Development and Climate Change. He was part of the Global Competitiveness Leadership Program at Georgetown University and part of the Global Shapers…
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