Asheesh Advani
CEO, Junior Achievement Worldwide

Asheesh is a lifelong social innovator with a passion for entrepreneurship. Asheesh is currently the Board Chair of Prosperity Now, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit that bridges public policy and practice in the areas of education, financial capability, entrepreneurship, and home ownership.

He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and is also actively involved in the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a member of the Civil Society Advisory Council and the Global Agenda Council for the Future of Education, Gender, and Work.

Francesca Molinaro 
Director, Corporate Diversity and Inclusion Chemonics

Francesca Molinaro is Director, Corporate Diversity and Inclusion for Chemonics. She has nearly 20 years of professional experience designing and implementing strategic D&I, leadership and organizational development, and change management initiatives.

Ms. Molinaro served as the D&I advisor for the Inter-American Development Bank and is founder of Decode Leadership LLC, a boutique D&I consulting and coaching firm. She has master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and George Washington University, and a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. Francesca is a proud mom of two young daughters who remind her daily of the importance of being curious.

Dr. Louise Fox 
Chief Economist, USAID

Dr. Louise Fox is USAID’s Chief Economist. In this role, she guides the Agency on economics-based decision making and is responsible for keeping USAID’s economists on the cutting edge of ideas in development economics.

Before joining USAID, Dr. Fox served as a Visiting Professor of Development Economic Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and as a consultant in development economics, specializing in employment, labor markets, gender, social service delivery and poverty reduction. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Dr. Fox had a distinguished career at the World Bank where she advised governments in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe on how to develop, implement, and evaluate effective policies for employment, social security and poverty reduction.

Maha Yassine 
Senior Program Coordinator - MENA, Human Rights Vital Voices Global Partnership

Maha Yassine is a Senior Program Coordinator for MENA on the Human Rights team at Vital Voices Global Partnership. Maha provides expertise on the MENA region to the Voices Against Violence project, managing extreme cases of gender-based violence supported through the emergency assistance fund. She also coordinates programming in the Near East, focusing on the issue of Child, Early and Forced Marriage.

She has been a case manager for the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, and served as an immigration and resettlement counsellor in Canada for 3 years.

Nora Brown 
Chief of Party, DAI

Nora Brown currently serves as Chief of Party for DAI’s Center for Development Innovation contract with the US Global Development Lab at USAID. Under this $25M, 4-year project, Ms. Brown oversees an all-female program staff of 10 to support USAID’s implementation of innovative design practices.

Activities include adaptive management, collaborative design, systems thinking, communications and outreach and accelerating impact. Prior to joining DAI, Ms. Brown’s work focused on managing multi-partner, higher education programs, designing enterprise development initiatives, and providing strategic guidance on integrating private sector approaches into development practices.

Sanola A. Daley 
Private Sector Gender Specialist

Sanola A. Daley is a Private Sector Gender Specialist focused on women in the workplace. She currently consults for the International Finance Corporation on women's employment and is also President of the Ellevate Women's Network Washington DC Chapter, which focuses on promoting women's professional and career development. From 2012- 2017, she worked at the Inter-American Development Bank Group as a Gender Specialist for Private Sector Operations across Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as a Diversity & Inclusion Advisor.

Susanna Mudge 
President and CEO, Chemonics International

President and chief executive officer Susanna Mudge has held many key leadership roles since she began at Chemonics in 1992, including as executive vice president and senior vice president of the Latin America and Caribbean region, during which she grew the division from four programs in three countries to 26 programs in 14 countries. She brings in-depth global expertise in strategic private sector development, organizational development, trade and investment promotion, and sustainable natural resource management. As Chemonics’ first female president and CEO, Ms. Mudge is committed to fostering female leaders in international development and has done so throughout her career.

Dr. Tessie San Martin 
President and CEO, Plan International USA

Dr. San Martin has over 25 years of experience working in economic growth policy, capacity-building, corporate governance, and political reform around the world. She leads Plan International USA, an INGO focused on children’s rights and gender equality in more than 70 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Plan is known for championing the voices of girls and women through supporting locally developed programming.

Dr. San Martin’s leadership positions in the international development community include co-chair for the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, focused on aid effectiveness, and board member at Friends of Publish What you Fund, supporting PWYF’s efforts in aid transparency.

Xochitl Sanchez 
Senior Advisor, ACTION Secretariat

Xochitl Sanchez is the senior advisor for development finance at the ACTION secretariat. Prior to joining ACTION, Xochitl was a senior program associate at the Microcredit Summit Campaign, where she co-led the development and research of the agenda focused around innovations and best practices in the microfinance and financial inclusion space, and coordinated stakeholder engagement and partnership building efforts..

Xochitl holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University and a Master’s in International Development, Microfinance and Entrepreneurship from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She is fluent in English and Spanish, and is the President of the steering committee for the Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) chapter in DC.

Anjali Shahani 
MBA Student, Georgetown University

Anjali recently graduated with a Master's in Business Administration from Georgetown McDonough School of Business, where she was part of the Leadership Fellows program.

During her studies she interned at the Mexican Embassy, assisting the NAFTA Renegotiation Team. Prior to her MBA, she worked at the World Bank’s Latin America Unit and Compartamos Banco, a micro-finance bank in Mexico.

Currently, she is the Mexico Country Manager for Globalwonks, a freelance consulting startup platform, and will be shortly joining Accion’s Global Advisory Solutions team.

Andy Rabens 
Special Advisor for Global Youth Issues at the U.S. Department of State

Andy Rabens is the Special Advisor for Global Youth Issues at the U.S. Department of State. He serves as the principal representative on youth issues and leads efforts to coordinate and amplify global youth policy and initiatives. He also oversees the entrepreneurship portfolio for the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Andy and has been named one of the Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders under 33 by Diplomatic Courier Magazine and Young Professionals in Foreign Policy. He is a Fellow with the New Leaders Council;; an advisory board member with the Millennial Action Project; and a long-time Tutor at Miner Elementary School in Washington, DC.

Ben Olds 
Executive Leadership Coach

A seasoned leader and human resources executive, Ben started his career with Bain & Company, where he built expertise in organizational and leadership development. As a case team leader, he earned a reputation as a great developer of talent, receiving high praise and numerous awards for his commitment to helping his teammates and clients improve every day. After Bain, Ben joined Monitor Group to lead North American talent management and internal coaching.

Catherine Johnston 
Principal Development Specialist, DAI

At 33, Catherine Johnston quit her life and joined the Peace Corps – embarking on a mid-life journey that has led her from a “normal” US business career through West African villages, the Georgetown University MBA program, and a 15-year career in international economic development with DAI Global. Catherine was an Acting Chief of Party within 6 weeks of starting at DAI, and her recent COP position in East Timor built on multiple senior leadership positions on field projects and at headquarters. As a senior member of the DAI Africa Region management team, she delivers technical and management assistance in the field for DAI’s Africa Region portfolio of projects, and also enjoys life at home in rural Vermont.

Edy Greenblatt 
Author, Executive Coach, Adjunct Faculty and University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management

Dr. Edy Greenblatt energizes leaders and their teams through coaching, education and innovative blended solutions that enhance performance while improving people's well being. She creates radically innovative interdisciplinary, multi-method interventions that help leaders, teams, and organizations learn, grow, laugh, and energize while they rise to meet demanding performance goals. She is an entertaining and sought-after speaker, change agent, coach and coach supervisor, dividing her time between the USA, Israel) and Canada.

Erin Sawyer 
Vice President, Junior Achievement Worldwide

Erin has more than a decade of experience helping JA Worldwide empower young people to own their economic success. In her current role of VP, Programs, Partnerships, and Alumni, she not only develops campaigns to engage over 100 million alumni but also curates partnerships and programs that build on JA’s 100-year history. In addition to a master’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of Washington, Erin’s postgraduate work includes certificates from Penn State and the Center for Creative Leadership.

Jen Dalton 
CEO & Founder, BrandMirror

Jen Dalton has 15+ years’ experience in brand strategy. In 2012, she launched BrandMirror, becoming a certified master personal brand strategist. In 2016, Jen published The Intentional Entrepreneur, a bestselling book that shares her process for building your personal brand as an entrepreneur. She has spoken to and coached thousands of individuals and entrepreneurs about how to stand out. She is an international speaker, working with the State Department, UXPA, the Navy, GE, IBM, Capital One, and more.

Julie Silard Kantor 
President and CEO, Twomentor LLC

Julie Silard Kantor is the founder of Twomentor, LLC, and an ‘all-in’ roll-up your sleeves leader and serial entrepreneur committed to building mentoring cultures to drive employee engagement and elevating women in the STEM workforce. Whether in a board room with executives or working with collaborative teams, Julie instills excitement, inspires commitment, and demonstrates an unwavering drive to succeed and see others succeed. Twomentor, LLC, focuses on STEM Diversity and a skilled workforce, builds on her 24 years in workforce development and building movements including Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and Million Women Mentors. As a sought after global speaker and connector, Julie is well networked to the national community of top business, academic, non-profit, & government leaders.

Kimberly Churches 
CEO of the American Association of University Women (AAUW)

Kimberly Churches is CEO of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), a leading voice in advancing gender equity through research, education, and advocacy.

Prior to joining AAUW in June 2017 Kimberly served as the managing director of the Brookings Institution, an internationally recognized public policy think tank where she provided vision and problem-solving skills while focusing on expansive partnerships, external relations, and advancement.

Lisa Tarantino 
Principal Associate, Abt Associates

Lisa Tarantino is a Principal Associate with Abt Associates, Inc., where she oversees health finance and governance programs in the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. She currently manages programs to strengthen global health security, prepare countries to transition from development assistance, and improve the quality of health services in countries striving towards Universal Health Coverage. She has spent her career implementing global health and enterprise development programs in over 20 countries worldwide. Lisa has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and speaks Russian.

Lisa Leander 
Program Manager, Economic Empowerment & Entrepreneurship, Vital Voice

Lisa Leander is an international development expert with over 15 years of experience managing capacity building projects globally. In her role as Program Manager, Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship at Vital Voices, she leads an international business accelerator for women owned small and medium sized businesses.

Liz Whitehead 
CEO, 12PointFive

With over 15 years of helping large corporations meet supplier diversity and inclusion goals, Liz Whitehead’s achievements include growing inclusive communities of corporate representatives and small business owners, creating and deploying global training curriculum as well as developing and managing international certification standards, programs and operations.Liz founded 12PointFive to help businesses leverage corporate diversity and inclusion initiatives. Before starting 12PointFive, Liz supported multinational corporations in connecting with entrepreneurs as a leader in local, national, and international women’s business organizations.

Manasi Kapoor 
MBA Candidate at Georgetown University | McDonough School of Business

Manasi Kapoor grew up in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and moved to the United for college. She attended Macalester College in Minnesota and was an economics and political science major. After graduating, she worked in healthcare consulting at the Advisory Board Company in Washington D.C. At the Advisory Board Company, she served as a senior consultant to hospital and health system executives. Her research has focused on outpatient pricing strategy, consumer-driven health care, and population health management.

Mimi Darmstadter 
Professional Certified Coach (PCC)

Mimi Darmstadter MA, PCC, owner of My Life’s Work – Coaching & Consulting, is an executive coach and a seasoned leader in the Human Resources field.

In 2009, Mimi co-founded Working MAMA (Metropolitan Area Working Mother’s Alliance), a group coaching program. The program seeks to help high-achieving working moms identify the behaviors that optimally support professional and personal success and satisfaction.

Sarah Hillware 
Senior Consultant, World Bank

Sarah has spent her career designing and managing effective public affairs and social impact campaigns with measurable public health, gender equality, educational and environmental outcomes. She currently is a consultant at the World Bank working on communications and partnerships for a global program. In 2012, she founded Girls Health Ed, a nonprofit health education program for girls and young women throughout the United States and Kenya. Sarah continues to advise and lead strategic initiatives. Sarah has given talks at TEDxBerkeley as well as at the United Nations through TEDxUNPlaza. She was recently named to the Leadership Center for Excellence 40 Under 40 list, and is a frequent keynote speaker and local television commentator on WUSA9.

Abigail Bokoyeibo 
Youth Empowerment and Workforce Development Fellow, World Vision

Abigail Bokoyeibo is an International Development Practitioner and Social Impact Strategist. She helps social enterprises and non-profit organizations develop impact strategies and program designs. She is also a youth development and women empowerment specialist. Abigail is the founder, Young African Women Connect Initiative (YAWCI), a young women development organization that builds, empowers, and connects young women in Nigeria. A professional trainer and speaker, she has organized and spoken on entrepreneurship, youth development, women empowerment, volunteering, renewable energy, and self-leadership. In 2017, Abigail was selected as one of 100 best young nonprofit leaders to serve as a fellow in the US.

Andrea M. Bertone 
Director, Gender Department, FHI 360

Andrea M. Bertone, Ph.D. has over 20 years of international development and research experience on gender integration, gender equality in education, human trafficking, female empowerment, and gender-based violence. Dr. Bertone is the Director of FHI 360’s Gender and Social Inclusion practice, where she provides strategic programmatic and technical leadership, gender technical assistance across development sectors and geographic locations. Concurrently, she serves as Adjunct Professor at George Washington University where she has been teaching graduate courses on human trafficking, gender, and development since 2006. Dr. Bertone holds a Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Anna Slother 
COO Global Healthy Supply Chain Office, Chemonics

Anna Slother is the chief operating officer for Chemonics’ Global Health Supply Chain office. She has previously served as senior vice president of supply chains solutions, the human resources division and the Central and Eastern Europe division. Prior to those roles, Ms. Slother’s career includes serving as the business development and project director in the Europe and Eurasia division, employee relations director for the Human Resources Division, and operations director for the Europe and Eurasia division. Ms. Slother has extensive experience in business management and the development of training programs in Europe and Eurasia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Deborah Kennedy-Iraheta 
Chief Operating Officer, FHI360

As Chief Operating Officer, Debbie Kennedy-Iraheta ensures that FHI 360 delivers measurable, cost-effective results, and enables the organization to meet its goal of applying holistic, country-centered solutions to complex development challenges. Prior to joining FHI 360, Debbie held multiple leadership positions with USAID: in two Regional Bureaus (Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and the Near East) leading bilateral and regional programs in education, governance, climate change and biodiversity conservation; as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Human Resources, where she led USAID Forward's talent management component and oversaw the rebuilding of USAID's Foreign Service Corps; and as COO for the USAID Tsunami Relief and Reconstruction Task Force, which led this highly successful humanitarian relief and reconstruction effort.

Elise Young 
Senior Gender Advisor, FHI 360

As Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs at Women Thrive Worldwide, she advocated for U.S. and global policies that enable women, men and youth to share equally in the enjoyment of economic prosperity, voice and freedom from violence. This included working closely with global south partners to push for a UN Sustainable Development goal on quality education. As Senior Policy Analyst for ActionAid USA, she coordinated the Haiti land and housing rights campaign, partnering with Haitian grassroots leaders to advocate for a more inclusive and transparent redevelopment process. As a grassroots organizer with Bread for the World, she worked with activists and Congress to stand up for fair trade policies and increased and improved US poverty-focused development assistance. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa.

Ellen Yount 
Vice President, MSI

Ms. Ellen Yount is a seasoned international development professional, working at the intersection of governance and strategic communications/transparency. Currently she serves as a Vice President at MSI, where she has held a number of senior leadership positions for the last decade. Prior to her career in international development, she was appointed by Governor Tom Ridge (R-PA) to serve in his Administration, serving as the youngest female Director of Communications in state history.
Throughout her career, she has been a champion of female leadership, from promoting and mentoring young women in the Balkans where she ran a democracy NGO, to training government officials and women political activists/candidates in Serbia, Indonesia, Jordan, Croatia, Timor-Leste and Libya. At her alma mater, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, she has also spoken on panels about the importance of work/life balance.

Gwen Young 
Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project, Wilson Center

Gwen K. Young is the Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center. Ms. Young brings to her position over 25 years of experience in international public service.

Ms. Young has advocated for and published on the role girls and women play in political, social and economic development. Ms. Young has also worked “on the ground” with private sector and public service actors on issues of women’s entrepreneurship including tools to ensure access to finance.

Hassanatu Blake 
MPH MBA - Co-Founding Executive Director and President of Focal Point Global

Hassanatu “Hassa” Blake has nearly 15 years of experience in global health, international development, and education technology as a public health specialist, researcher, and entrepreneur. Hassa has worked with the National Institutes of Health in Jamaica, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Namibia, BroadReach Healthcare in Zambia, and the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, DC. For the past 8 years, Hassa has served as Co-Founding Executive Director and President of Focal Point Global, an EdTech organization focused on educating and empowering youth and young adults on social issues such HIV/AIDS, Ebola, & youth employment and entrepreneurship.

Jean Gilson 
Senior Vice President of Global Strategy, DAI

Jean Gilson has worked in international development for 30 years. As DAI’s SVP for Strategy, she is responsible for corporate strategy, brand and communications, and IT. She also oversees DAI's innovation activities and growing sustainability business with commercial clients. Working across global business units, Jean is intimately involved with decision making on talent acquisition and development, strategic partnerships, and M&A. Jean is a long-standing board member of the Society for International Development-Washington Chapter, and sits on the board of SID International. She also serves on the boards of MAG America, an anti-landmine NGO; Code Partners, a new coding academy; and IntraHealth International, a DAI affiliate.

Judithe Registre 
Founder and Chief Narrative Officer of Inclusivus

Judithe Registre is a visionary. With 15+ years of passionate leadership experience in economic development, human rights, gender equality, and girls’ and women’s empowerment, she now works to achieve economic and social justice through story equity.

Judithe is the Founder and Chief Narrative Officer of Inclusivus, a media platform that illuminates the power of people to create new narratives that change perceptions and create a more equitable reality.

Keshet Bachan 
Founder & Director, Diversity @ Work

Keshet Bachan is a passionate feminist and a gender equality, inclusion and diversity expert with almost fifteen years of experience as a research, management and policy specialist. Keshet recently established Diversity @ Work, a boutique consulting firm which supports companies and organizations improve their performance and build better workplace practices that prioritize gender equity, diversity and inclusion.

Keshet has led influential campaigns and programs and published multiple reports on gender equality, adolescent girl's rights and ICT4D. Keshet played a pivotal leadership role in the establishment of the UN International Day of the Girl and spent many years as the manager of Plan International’s ‘State of the World’s Girls’ report.

Lisa May 
Executive Vice President, Human Resources, RTI International

Lisa May is a member of the executive leadership team and advising on human resources strategies, policies and practices, and key people-related initiatives. She has 25 years of experience in strategic human resource management, with demonstrated expertise in talent acquisition, leadership development, executive coaching, and organizational design. Previously, she served as the vice president of HR for the Global Operations organization at Hospira, Inc. May has earned certifications in mediation, workforce development, and coaching skills.BA BA, Psychology, DePauw University.

Nana Apenem Dagadu 
MPH – Advisor, M&E/Reproductive Health, Save the Children US

Nana Apenem Dagadu is passionate about promoting global health and development in a holistic, equitable, and sustainable manner. As a Ghanaian-American, she is particularly interested in amplifying local voices and efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa and the diaspora. She obtained an MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and has ten years of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions that aim to improve health literacy, prevent gender-based violence, eliminate health disparities, and empower adolescents throughout the life course. Her research focuses on resilience and social norms transformation and she serves as a strategic advisor to PopWorks Africa.

Ronit Avni 
Founder and CEO, Localized

Ronit Avni is the founder and CEO of Localized, a technology company that provides aspiring professionals in emerging markets with pathways to employment and career guidance from global professionals in the fields of the future who share language, culture and roots. Previously, she founded and led the media and education organization, Just Vision, which has won dozens of media prizes globally, including a Peabody and the Puma Creative Impact Award. Her team’s work was featured in nearly every major news outlet and on the TED stage. Named a Young Global Leader through the World Economic Forum and a Halcyon Fellow, Ronit sits on the jury of the Global Teacher Prize.

Roopa Dhatt 
Executive Director and Co-Founder, Women in Global Health

Dr. Roopa Dhatt is a physician by training and an advocate by principle, striving for greater health and well-being for all people through working in global health. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of Women in Global Health (@womeningh #WomeninGH), a movement that strives to bring greater gender equality to global health leadership. She serves on the Research in Gender and Ethics (RinGS) Advisory Board; the Women Leaders in Global Health Conference Steering Committee; the Global Health 50-50 Advisory Council, Global Health Council Advisory Council, and the GlobeMed, Board of Directors.

Susan Fine 
Acting Assistant to the Administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL)

Ms. Fine, a Senior Foreign Service Officer with rank of Minister Counselor, has served in multiple positions in Washington and overseas including Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, PPL, responsible for policy and development cooperation, Director for Development Cooperation, and Mission Director for Senegal and the Sahel. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Colby College and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Terri Kristalsky 
Senior Vice President, Europe & Eurasia Regional Business Unit, Chemonics

Terri Kristalsky serves as senior vice president of the Europe and Eurasia division at Chemonics. She is a senior banking, microfinance, and SME development specialist with nearly 30 years of experience in microfinance, commercial finance, business training, and project design and management. She has worked with Chemonics for nearly 20 years, including as chief of party for USAID’s Southern Africa Financial Sector Program, and the Rural SPEED program in Uganda, and as microenterprise initiative team leader for USAID’s AMIR program in Jordan. Prior to Chemonics, Ms. Kristalsky had an extensive career in commercial banking.