Archives: Person
People
Oya ĂśnlĂĽ Kizil
Oya Ünlü Kizil is a top executive of Koç Holding, the largest conglomerate in Turkey and a flagship of the Turkish economy. Serving as Director of Corporate Brand, Communications, and External Affairs, she takes an entrepreneurial approach to positioning the Koç brand vis-à -vis changing local and international trends. Previously, she served as the first woman and the youngest chief of staff to the Turkish Minister of Economy, Kemal Derviş. Her experience in government, international organizations, and the private sector give her a multifaceted vision of today’s global challenges.
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Ricardo Terán
Ricardo Terán is a serial entrepreneur who believes in the power of business to change the world. He helps accelerate the growth of small- and medium-sized companies, advising them on business-model strategy, partnership and business development, team building, and venture funding. He is currently Director of Business Development for Avanti Way, one of the fastest growing and most disruptive real estate ecosystems in Florida. Ricardo is also Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Agora Partnerships, a non-profit social enterprise that provides access to investment capital, strategic consulting, and a global community of support to entrepreneurs looking to solve the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. He also co-founded…
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Ashraf Swelam
Ashraf Swelam is an Egyptian senior diplomat with more than 25 years of experience. He currently serves as an Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Organizations and Communities. He concurrently serves as the Personal Representative of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Chairman of AUDA-NEPAD Steering Committee, and Egypt's Focal Point to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).  Before assuming his current roles, Swelam served as the Ambassador of Egypt to the Republic of Uganda (2020-22), and as the Director General of the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) (2013-2020). He is the Founder of…
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Imane Rtabi
Imane Rtabi is a Moroccan information technology entrepreneur and has been instrumental in leading and developing the country's information technology infrastructure through her company, Maghrebnet. Initially founded to bring internet access to homes and businesses in Morocco, Imane restructured Maghrebnet to focus on the integration of communications solutions within large infrastructures, including network installations, perimeter security, electricity and green energy, establishing the company as a major solutions integrator in Morocco while expanding to neighboring countries. Imane co-founded and co-chairs INC Group, an investment company involved in renewable energies, light steel construction, and electrical panel building and distribution. She formerly served as vice president of AFEM in charge of International Relations (The Association…
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Jacob Ritvo
Jacob Ritvo is Head of Consumer Product Marketing at Facebook. He was previously Education and Policy Industry Marketing Lead at Twitter, serving as Twitter's primary expert on the education and politics verticals and working to align its value proposition with customers in those industries. Before that he lead marketing and operations at 2ndLine.tv, a performing arts technology startup that was acquired. Earlier in his career, Jacob served as Congressman Pete Visclosky's Director of Communications, as Congresswoman Grace Napolitano's Press Secretary and Legislative Assistant, and in Senator Chuck Schumer's press office, as well as a variety of political campaigns. Jacob has a BA in sociology from Cornell and an MBA in…
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Mara Redlich Revkin
Mara Redlich Revkin is a political scientist and legal scholar conducting empirical research on legal systems during and after conflict with a regional focus on the Middle East. Currently, she is the National Security Law Fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of criminal law and procedure, international law, human rights, and transitional justice. She has conducted fieldwork in Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and Oman using qualitative and quantitative research methods including large-scale household surveys, interviews, and event data based on newspapers and social media posts. Her current research aims to contribute to the development of evidence-based strategies for strengthening rule…
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Robert Piper
Robert Piper is Assistant Secretary-General for Development Coordination for the United Nations. He was previously the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the UN Coordinator for development and humanitarian activities in the occupied Palestinian territory. Robert has dedicated most of his working life to understanding and addressing the development dimensions of conflict-prevention and peace-building. He started his development career in 1989 with the Australian aid agency, AusAid, administering projects in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. He joined the United Nations in 1990, and has served with the United Nations in various field and Headquarters roles since, including in Thailand, Cambodia, Fiji, Kosovo, and Nepal. Following…
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Alejandro Pacheco
Alejandro Pacheco is currently the Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombia. Previously, he served as Strategic Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean, after having led the poverty and inequality area of UNDP Haiti and managed the Government's flagship early recovery and reconstruction program. Alejandro served as Private Sector Specialist for UNDP El Salvador and Belize, as well as Country Adviser for Argentina, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Venezuela for the same organization. He has supported the creation and implementation of public policies in developing countries with impact on thousands of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. Previously, Alejandro worked as a consultant for the Spanish…
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Finbarr O’Reilly
Finbarr O’Reilly is an author and photographer who has spent the past 15 years living and working mostly in Africa and the Middle East. He began his journalism career as a writer in Canada and was based in West and Central Africa for Reuters between 2001 and 2012, covering conflict and social issues across the continent. He turned to photography in 2005 and in 2006 was awarded the World Press Photo of the Year. Finbarr has since won numerous top industry awards for his multimedia work and photography, which has been exhibited internationally. In 2019, he was the Nobel Peace Prize for exhibition photographer. He has published long-term projects on…
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Fares Mabrouk
Fares Mabrouk is Country Director and Fund Manager for Yunus Social Business (YSB) in Tunisia. Founded and led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, YSB helps create social businesses around the world by setting up incubator funds and providing services to companies, governments, foundations, and NGOs. Previously, Fares founded a number of for-profit and nonprofit organizations in North Africa focused on mobile banking and oil logistics. He is a co-founder of and advisor to HuffingtonPost Maghreb, a French language edition of the Huffington Post covering Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Fares has degrees from Pierre and Marie Curie University, ENSAE Paris, and Havard's Kennedy School of Government.
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