Andrew Jones

Guardian, Sanctuary Resorts

Andrew Jones grew up in the hotel business as his parents managed Country Inns and Restaurants in the United Kingdom. Over the past 45 years, he has worked in numerous senior management and corporate positions for prestigious hotels, resorts and management companies in London, Bermuda, Canada, Hong Kong and across Asia.

In 1996, Andrew embarked on a new journey. He founded and became the Guardian of Sanctuary Resorts a resort management company creating responsible and sustainable tourism experiences where people their body, mind and spirit in an environmentally friendly space.

As part of his service to Industry, Andrew is a Past Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the Board of Trustees for the PATA Foundation, and Advisor on CSR and Responsible and Sustainable Tourism. Andrew was also a member of the World Travel Market World Responsible Tourism Day Advisory Panel.

Andrew is a Certified Hotel Administrator of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality.

Andrew believes in directly contributing to the community in which he lives and is Chairman Emeritus of the KELY (Kid’s Everywhere Like You) Support Group.

Mat Jacobson

Founder & CEO, IQ University - Ducere globl Business School

Mat has founded several successful companies based on a core belief in democratising access to world class education. These companies range from for-profit businesses developing the world’s leading degree programs, to philanthropic education focussed on Africa. Mat works together with Presidents, Prime ministers, Nobel Prize Winners and CEO’s to disrupt traditional education that drives meaningful impact spanning over 25 countries.

Karen Thornber

Director of the Harvard University Asia Center; Chair of the Harvard Asia Center Council; Harvard Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and of Comparative Literature

Karen Thornber is Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, where she is also Victor and William Fung Director of the Harvard University Asia Center and Chair of the Harvard Asia Center Council. Thornber is author of two multiple international award-winning scholarly monographs – Empire of Texts in Motion: Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese Transculturations of Japanese Literature (Harvard 2009) and Ecoambiguity: Environmental Crises and East Asian Literatures (Michigan 2012); she has just finished her most recent scholarly monograph, titled Global Healing: Literature, Advocacy, Care. Co-editor of a special issue of Literature and Medicine on World Literature and Health, a special issue of Humanities on Global Indigeneities and Environment which was also published as a separate volume, and a volume on The Poetics of Aging in the Japanese Narrative Arts, Thornber has also published more than six dozen articles on comparative and world literature, East Asian literatures and cultures, the literatures and cultures of the Indian Ocean Rim, diaspora, gender, indigeneities, postcolonialism, transculturation, trauma, and the environmental humanities and medical and health humanities. Current projects include a scholarly monograph on Gender, Leadership, and Asia; a textbook on Asian Feminisms; and a co-edited special issue of the journal World Literature on trans-Asian literatures and cultures.

Richard Robinson

Founding Partner, nHack

Richard Robinson is a serial tech entrepreneur and executive, working in China since 1996. He is a founding partner at nHack investing in Nordic startups and bringing them to China / Asia for market access, manufacturing, follow on funding, etc. Richard has served as a senior executive at three companies from pre-IPO through to their public listings then went on to found five companies of which three have exited to publicly listed firms.

Richard is an Adjunct Professor at Peking University’s Guanghua MBA program teaching Entrepreneurship in China. Active as a startup advisor, mentor, and angel, Richard is a mentor at 500 Startups, Chinaccelerator and HAX. He frequently speaks at tech conferences globally, including serving as master of ceremonies at TechCrunch Beijing, Web Summit Lisbon and Dublin, GMIC Beijing and Silicon Valley, and Startup Asia Singapore and Jakarta.

Dino Patti Djalal

Former Indonesian Ambassador to the U.S.​

Dr. Dino Patti Djalal obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) and his Masters Degree in Political Science from Simon Fraser University (British Columbia, Canada). In 2000, he received a Doctorate Degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

In September 2010, Dr. Dino was appointed Ambassador to the United States, and took up office at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC, in the same building where in 1980 he worked as dish washer and janitor.

Dr. Dino Patti Djalal was a member of the Governing Board of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), which was established by the Bali Democracy Forum; and was a member of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Council on World Affairs (ICWA). He has served also as (pro bono) Chairman of the Indonesian Board of Director of the World Resources Institute Indonesia (WRI). He also served as special adviser to the Chairman of the Global Green Growth Institute (the organization is based in Seoul, South Korea). In 2017, Dr. Dino was unanimously voted to become the Chairman of the Indonesian Diaspora Network Global (IDN Global). In 2018, Dr. Dino was unanimously voted into the position of Chairman of the Indonesian Lecturers Association.

Dr. Dino Patti Djalal retired from Government in 2015 and is now a private citizen. In 2015, he founded the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI), an independent non-government non-political non-partisan non-profit forum on international relations which aims to promote positive Indonesian internationalism and bring together Government officials, diplomats, business community, students, lecturers, opinion makers and celebrities who are involved in international work. In just 2 years, FPCI has become the largest foreign policy association in Indonesia, boasting some 90,000 people in their network. He’s also established School of Diplomacy, and runs speech writing and spokesperson workshops.

Robert Cain

President, Pacific Bridge Pictures

Robert Cain is a Los Angeles based producer and consultant who specializes in Hollywood and international production, distribution, finance and strategy. He has long and extensive experience creating entertainment in the U.S., China, and around the world, and has also served in senior executive and consulting roles at major studios including Viacom, Sony Pictures, MGM, Disney, China Film Group, Shanghai Media Group, China Central Television, and others. Rob has worked in a wide spectrum of entertainment fields including film/TV production, distribution, and finance; digital media; DVD; SVOD; video and mobile games; slate financing; and mergers and acquisitions.

In addition to his corporate activities, Rob also is skilled in international production and has served as a producer and advisor on film and television productions in the U.S., Korea, Japan, Singapore, Russia, India, Dubai, and China.

An East Asian Studies graduate of Harvard College and a Wharton MBA, Rob is widely noted and quoted as one of the foremost experts on China’s entertainment industry and its links with Hollywood. He has made frequent appearances on CNN, MSNBC, CBS News, Fox News, CNBC, NPR, and other broadcast and cable programs.

Rob is an award-winning screenwriter, and as a studio executive in Russia he set up and financed the Academy Award nominated film “Mongol.” He is currently focused on producing feature films in China and in India.

Michelle Sugihara

Executive Director, CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

Michelle K. Sugihara is the Executive Director of CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment). She is also an entertainment attorney, film producer, and adjunct professor for the Claremont Colleges’ Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies. She is on the Executive Committee of Time’s Up AAPI, a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theater, and a member of PBS-Southern California Asian Pacific Islander Community Council. She is also an associate member of Cold Tofu, the nation’s premier Asian American comedy improv and sketch group. Follow CAPE on IG: @cape_usa | Twitter: @capeusa. www.capeusa.org

Minji Chang

Board of Directors, Kollaboration; Actor; Writer; Producer

Minji Chang is a Korean American actor, writer, producer, podcast host, and community activist. Minji graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Public Health and after exploring careers in health and technology, she pivoted to pursue her lifelong passion of acting, filmmaking, & advocacy work with a focus on social justice through the arts. Minji presided as the San Francisco and Global Executive Director of Kollaboration for 9 years. Kollaboration discovers, connects, and elevates Asian Pacific Islander American artists through showcases, community partnerships, leadership development, and digital content to highlight Asian American culture and advance diverse representation in media. Her work with Kollaboration included partnerships with Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Rock the Vote as well as HBO, Comcast NBCUniversal, Warner Brothers, Pandora, and Spotify. As an actor, has been featured on numerous viral BuzzFeed sketches in addition to a growing body of short films and national commercials. In 2017, Minji launched her podcast called “First Of All” – a real, unfiltered conversation on family, career, relationships, and modern culture from an Asian American millennial’s perspective. She’s expanded her work to include writing, producing, and directing. She has trained at UC Berkeley, the American University in Paris, Beverly Hills Playhouse San Francisco & Los Angeles, The Actors Green Room, Doug Warhit, and the Upright Citizens Brigade in Hollywood. Her unique and multifaceted background is the foundation for her passion to inspire people through honest and thought-provoking storytelling.

LeeJ Razalan

Co-Owner / Manager,
Kinjaz, LLC

LeeJ Razalan, co-owner and manager of the Kinjaz, is the Movement In The Shadows. After graduating magna cum laude from Biola University with a major in Business Administration and minor in Biblical Studies, he pivoted his career path to the pursuit of his passion and became commercial industry dancer in Hollywood. His dance career landed him unique opportunities such as the 1st Apple iPod silhouette model, performing live at the Grammy Awards, and starring in numerous national print and commercial advertisements for brands like Coca-Cola, Levi’s, and Target. Dance led to acting school where he would learn the art of storytelling and would then become a theater actor, get a taste of stand up comedy, and also become a producer. Soon following, he would add talent manager to his repertoire as he served 4 years in between Los Angeles and Las Vegas managing the world famous dance crew Jabbawockeez and co-producing their live theater shows. Currently, he is exploring building a whole new Urban Dance ecosystem with the international sensation, Kinjaz and their armory of entrepreneurial ventures in the US and in Asia. He is honored to be a guest of Harvard and HPAIR and hopes to provide meaningful and lasting inspiration for the those seeking to play the legacy game. #RespectAllFearNone

Esther Htusan

Foreign Correspondent, Associated Press

Esther Htusan, 31, is a Foreign Correspondent for the Associated Press in Myanmar. In 2013, Htusan joined the Associated Press as a reporter. Since then, she has been relentlessly pursuing stories about human rights abuses in Myanmar following a half-century of dictatorship. She has reported on ethnic and religious conflicts in Myanmar and the plight of the Rohingyas, who are Muslims living in the Rakhine state in the country’s western shore but are denied Myanmar citizenship.

Htusan was a member of the Associated Press investigation team that looked into forced labor in Southeast Asia’s fishing industry. The team’s work had highlighted global supply chain linked to human rights situation of labors and migrant workers across the region in Southeast Asia. Her compassion and resourcefulness in reporting led to some of the most powerful images the world has seen about modern day slavery, including men in a cage on a remote Indonesian island. Htusan helped interviewed forced laborers who spoke of abuses at the hands of their captains and begged the journalists to tell their families back home that they were still alive. The work of Htusan and her three other colleagues won 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.

Htusan is a Nieman Fellow for Journalism at Harvard and currently studying Human Rights and International Law.

Nathan Freitas

Founder, Guardian Project

Nathan is the founder and director of Guardian Project, an award-winning, open-source, mobile security collaborative with millions of users and beneficiaries worldwide.

Their most well known app is Orbot, which brings the Tor anonymity and circumvention network to Android devices, and has been installed more than 20 million times. In late 2017, he co-designed with Edward Snowden, an app called Haven, which works as a personal security system that puts the power of surveillance back into the hands of the most vulnerable and under threat.

His work on off-grid, decentralized, secure mobile communication networks, dubbed Wind, was originally imagined and workshopped while a fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center in 2015. In 2018, Wind was selected as a finalist in the Mozilla-National Science Foundation “Wireless Innovation for a Networked Society (WINS)” Challenges.

Nathan also enjoys year round surfing in the New England winter, and is eager for others to join him in this literally numbing, yet clarity generating, experience.

Puangthong Pawakapan

Associate Professor of Political Science, Chulalonglongkorn University

Puangthong is currently a visiting scholar at Harvard Yenching Institute, Harvard University, 2018-2019. Her academic interest is in the areas of the Thai military, human rights, Thailand’s foreign relations with Southeast Asian countries. Her recent works include “The Central Role of Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Command in the Post-Counter-insurgency Period,” Trends in Southeast Asia (ISEAS: Singapore 2017); “The Foreign Press’ Changing Perceptions of Thailand’s Monarchy.” Trends in Southeast Asia. (ISEAS, 2015); State and Uncivil Society in Thailand at the Temple of Preah Vihear, (ISEAS, 2013).

Hangwei Li

Freelance Journalist & PhD candidate, Harvard Kennedy School

Hangwei Li is a Predoctoral fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a PhD candidate in politics and international studies at SOAS, University of London and a researcher at the Global Development Policy Center, Boston University.Prior to her current gig, she worked as a journalist and researcher for three years in Africa (mainly in Ghana, Zambia and Tanzania). She also has working experiences with United Nations Information Center , Council of Europe and University of Zambia. Her previous work has been published in various media, including the Guardian, Financial Times, NPR, VICE, Middle East Eye, South China Morning Post and Beijing TV. Her investigation on environmental issues for the Guardian won a silver medal from United Nations Correspondents Association in 2017.Hangwei’s current research interests include China’s political communication practices and external propaganda, Chinese and African politics as well as China-Africa relations.

Wen Zhou

CEO / Co-Founder, 3.1 Phillip Lim

Wen Zhou moved with her family from Ningbo China to New York City’s Chinatown at the age of 12. She didn’t speak a word of English but possessed a challenger spirit, love of fashion handed down from her mother, a seamstress, and an entrepreneurial drive to succeed even at a young age.

By 26 years old, she had founded two businesses, a fabric selling company, and an offshore clothing production company. Through a fateful meeting in Paris, Zhou met young designer, Phillip Lim and the two quickly became friends. With Lim ready for a new endeavor, Wen seized the opportunity to make him her business partner and in the Fall of 2005, Wen and Phillip launched 3.1 Phillip Lim. They were both 31 years old at the time.

The company’s vision of cool, easy chic wardrobe essentials for today’s global citizen have become synonymous with an understated modern luxury. As President and CEO, Zhou has grown 3.1 Phillip Lim into a global fashion brand with womenswear, menswear, footwear and accessories. She juggles the roles of CEO, business partner and friend, with her most important job – being a mom to her two children, Ming and Zen.

Zhou is proud to serve on the Board of Directors for the Nest organization and is a passionate advocate of New Yorkers for Children and Apex for Youth.

Dingliang Yang

Instructor in Urban Planning and Design, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Dingliang Yang is an Instructor in Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is an architect, urban designer, and the founding partner of VARY Design. His works are interdisciplinary and dedicated to critical research and cross-scale innovative design as responses to different urban issues during cities’ developments and regenerations. His works also have been widely published in media including Archdaily, Dezeen, Archinect, and Architectural Review, as well as exhibited in the Venice Biennale, Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing Design Week, China International Architectural Decoration and Design Art Fair, Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS) and Architecture and Design Museum in Los Angeles.

He is the author of Townization: In Search of New Paradigm of Urbanization in China (Springer, forthcoming 2019), Urban Grids: Handbook for Regular City Design (ORO, 2018), Zhengzhou: From A Rail-City to A Metro-Polis (AR+D, forthcoming 2019), Savannah: Rethinking the Multi-Scalar Capacity of the City Project (Mariscal, 2018), Chongqing: Searching for Regularity as A Transformative Model in the Design of the Contemporary City (Mariscal, 2017), and Shanghai Regeneration: Five Paradigms (AR+D, 2016), Hangzhou:Grids from Canal to Maxi-Block (AR+D, 2016). His most recent writings are included in CITY, EL Croquis, Mechanics in Engineering, Time+ Architecture, Common Frameworks: Rethinking the Developmental City in China (Harvard GSD, 2016), and Cities and Urban Plans in the 21st Century (AMB, 2014). He is the curator of the first Chongqing International Creative Week in 2018.

Yang received his Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree with distinction at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he was awarded the Urban Planning and Design Thesis Prize and Paul M. Heffernan Fellowship. He also holds a bachelor’s degree of architecture from Zhejiang University with the university’s highest honor of the Chu Kochen Medal.

Max Kuo

Partner, ALLTHATISSOLID; Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Design

Max Kuo is a founding partner of ALLTHATISSOLID and Design Critic at Harvard Graduate School of Design. His recent writings and designs speculate on the destabilization of representation and meaning in post-digital architecture. This exploration has been featured in such publications as Bracket (Actar), Thresholds (MIT), and Mas Context. Max was recently awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the Heinz Architecture Fellow at The MacDowell Colony. He has lectured at universities throughout Seoul and Tongji University in Shanghai. His professional experience includes working in the offices of Reiser + Umemoto, Fernando Romero Enterprise, and Lean Arch.

Prior to entering the field of architecture, Max participated in artist residency programs at the Whitney Museum, Independent Studies Program (NYC) and Red Gate Gallery Residency (Beijing). His art practice explores the socio-political behaviors characteristic of uneven developments in the metropolis. These works include collaborations with Beijing punk bands, wandering hypnosis, and other urban critical fictions.

Adam Wolf

Founder and Chief Scientist, Arable Labs

Adam Wolf is the founder and Chief Scientist of Arable Labs Inc. He holds a PhD in Biology from Stanford, and later taught at Princeton. Dr Wolf brought his experience in agronomy, hydrology, and plant science in the creation of Arable, a company empowering people to measure and manage their land. During his scientific career, Adam lived and researched in Russia, Africa, Europe, and East Asia, and brings a global perspective on the application of data to solving real world problems.

Chi Ho Sham

Vice President & Chief Scientist, Eastern Research Group, Inc.

Dr. Chi Ho Sham is a Vice President and the Chief Scientist of Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), leading the drinking water protection practice that integrates service areas such as drinking water protection, wastewater management, water conservation, water resource planning, and water quality assessment. He provides technical leadership and advice on scientific research and policy development issues, on projects in source water protection, impacts of wildfires and forest management on water quality, underground injection control, and aquifer storage and recovery. He has been principal investigators for numerous research projects and has delivered numerous workshops on drinking water issues.

He is an active member of the American Water Works Association and is currently the chair of its Technical and Educational Council – overseeing and coordinating activities of 8 technical divisions that comprise of 60 plus committees and over 2,000 volunteers. In addition, he leads and participates in the development of policy statement, contribution to manuals of practice, oversight of the innovation initiative, development of conferences, and promotion of operational standards.

He received his B.A. from the University of Regina in Canada and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Prior to joining the consulting field, Dr. Sham was a faculty member of Boston University from 1982 to 1992. Currently, he is an adjunct professor and a research fellow at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Stuart Orr

Freshwater Practice Lead, WWF

Stuart Orr is the Leader of WWF’s Freshwater Practice, driving the freshwater strategy of the world’s largest independent conservation organisation. A global authority on water stewardship, Stuart has spent the past decade devising and testing innovative approaches to freshwater conservation at WWF by engaging business and finance, and focussing on emerging themes such as the water-food-energy nexus, economic incentives and water-related risk. He has written numerous scientific papers and mainstream publications on issues ranging from corporate water governance to fish protein in the Mekong. Stuart has also sat on various advisory panels and boards, including the World Economic Forum’s Water Security Council and the IFC’s Infrastructure & Natural Resources Advisory Steering Committee. Stuart holds an MSc in Environment and Development from the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia.

Alicia Harley

Giorgio Ruffolo Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School

Alicia Harley is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Alicia has a BA in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College (’08) and a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government (’18).

Alicia’s research focuses on helping the poorest farmers realize greater benefits from the fruits of agricultural technology innovation. Alicia’s projects include a multi-village study of the drivers of technology access by small farmers in Bihar, India; a cross-state comparison if drip irrigation policy in India, and a cross-national comparison of solar irrigation policy in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. In each of these projects, she is specifically interested in understanding the opportunities and barriers for access to technology by the poorest farmers.

Lenka Kollar

Director of Strategy & External Relations, NuScale Power

From the moment Lenka stepped into her freshman nuclear engineering seminar, she knew that she would find her passion in bringing the many benefits of nuclear technology to people around the world. From energy production, to medical imaging and food irradiation, these technologies can help economies prosper and improve the quality of life for people while conserving natural resources. Experiences with the U.S. Department of Energy and International Atomic Energy Agency, along with pursuing an international MBA, led Lenka to her dream job at NuScale Power, where she is working to bring NuScale’s small modular reactor to market in the United States, and eventually emerging economies that need energy most. She has spoken at events such as Women in Cleantech and Sustainability at Google and at the UN climate talks, COP22 and COP23, on the importance of including nuclear energy, and the people that work on it, in the clean energy conversation. Lenka received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University and her MBA at INSEAD in France and Singapore. She also serves as an Executive Officer in the International Youth Nuclear Congress. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new places, hiking mountains, and reading sci-fi.

Lin-wu Hu

Director for Research and Services, MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory

Dr. Lin-wen Hu (Nuc Eng PhD, MIT, 1996; Nuc Eng SM, MIT, 1993) is an internationally recognized expert with more than 20 years of experience in nuclear systems design, safety, and nuclear technology applications. She is a senior research scientist and director of MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory’s research and services division, which consists of reactor experiments, neutron activation and elemental analysis, neutron beam applications, and reactor physics groups. Dr. Hu is the Technical Lead of the MIT Reactor (MITR) as a partner facility of U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Science User Facilities and is an expert in a wide range of nuclear technology applications including advanced nuclear fuel and materials irradiation tests, radioisotope production, licensing, and safety analysis of nuclear reactors. Dr. Hu’s group is leading the development of a transportable Fluoride salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor (FHR) with an innovative demonstration strategy through integrated subcritical facility. She currently leads several research projects including MITR LEU fuel conversion feasibility study; FHR design, modeling and safety analysis, fluoride salt and materials irradiation testing; and Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) instrumentation design. Dr. Hu served on numerous U.S. and international technical committees including National Academies of Sciences study committees, International Group of Research Reactors steering committee, High Performance Research Reactors working group, American Nuclear Society Isotope and Radiation division as chair and executive committee. Dr. Hu is a Fellow and life-time member of the American Nuclear Society and authored over 200 technical reports, peer-reviewed conference or journal papers.

Matthew Bunn

Professor of Practice, Harvard Kennedy School

Matthew Bunn is a Professor of Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School. His research interests include nuclear theft and terrorism; nuclear proliferation and measures to control it; the future of nuclear energy and its fuel cycle; and innovation in energy technologies. Before coming to Harvard, Bunn served as an adviser to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, as a study director at the National Academy of Sciences, and as editor of Arms Control Today. He is the author or co-author of more than 25 books or major technical reports (most recently Preventing Black-Market Trade in Nuclear Technology), and over 150 articles in publications ranging from Science to The Washington Post.

Patricia Wieland

Head, World Nuclear University

Patricia Wieland, Physicist, PhD in Industrial Engineering, is Head of the World Nuclear University (WNU), based in London, since January 2014, running several international leadership development programmes. WNU received the nomination award for Human Capital Development at Atomexpo 2018. Previously she was Deputy Director of the Nuclear Engineering Institute, a nuclear research centre in Brazil. Her career in the nuclear area since 1981 includes almost 6 years as a staff member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, developing international recommendations on nuclear communications and building competence.

More information on WNU: www.world-nuclear-university.org

Michael Ford

French Environmental Fellow, Harvard University

Michael Ford if the French Environmental Fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE). He also holds a research appointment in the Science, Technology and Public Policy program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Prior to his doctoral studies, Mike completed a distinguished career in the United States Navy, where he served as the commanding officer of a guided missile cruiser and a destroyer and held sub-specialties in nuclear engineering, finance, and operations analysis. He is a past Fellow in the MIT Center for International Studies Seminar XXI program, specializing in national security and international affairs. In his research at CMU, Mike examined the potential for nuclear energy to play a role in decarbonizing the energy sector. He explored the history of advanced reactor research and development in the United States, the potential for broader nuclear development worldwide, and also studied issues surrounding novel nuclear deployment options such as floating nuclear power plants. At Harvard, Mike’s work focuses on market constraints, technology limitations, and regulatory/policy structures that impact the potential of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is currently one of the largest contributors to carbon-free generation worldwide, but the technology faces an uncertain future due to economic, regulatory, and political challenges. His current research findings point to the need for a more focused, steady approach to nuclear energy R&D in the U.S. – one that will ensure an economically competitive nuclear technology is available by mid-century when it may be needed for deep decarbonization. His work has been published in diverse outlets such as Risk Analysis, Energy Policy, and Nature Energy.

Adam Wolf

Founder and Chief Scientist, Arable Labs

Adam Wolf is the founder and Chief Scientist of Arable Labs Inc. He holds a PhD in Biology from Stanford, and later taught at Princeton. Dr Wolf brought his experience in agronomy, hydrology, and plant science in the creation of Arable, a company empowering people to measure and manage their land. During his scientific career, Adam lived and researched in Russia, Africa, Europe, and East Asia, and brings a global perspective on the application of data to solving real world problems.

Swish Goswami

CEO & Co-Founder, Trufan

Swish (Manu) Goswami is a 21 year old Canadian entrepreneur, three-time TEDx speaker (signed with Speakers’ Spotlight), and social media influencer (over 100K followers across all platforms). After serving as a UN Youth Ambassador, Fortune 500 Consultant (to companies like Google, Western Union and American Express) and working at JB Fitzgerald Venture Capital (started by NBA player Trevor Booker), Swish is now the founder and CEO of Trufan, a platform helping influencers and brands identify and reward their top fans. Trufan has raised over $1M to date and is currently backed by several NBA players, media executives and Canadian venture capitalists. Swish sits on various boards including at Dunk (media network of 11M followers hyper-focused on basketball) and the League of Innovators (Canadian charity started by Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite). He has been the recipient of Canada’s Top 20 under 20, Startup Canada’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the United Nation’s Outstanding Youth Leadership award.

Richard Robinson

Founding Partner, nHack

Richard Robinson is a serial tech entrepreneur and executive, working in China since 1996. He is a founding partner at nHack investing in Nordic startups and bringing them to China / Asia for market access, manufacturing, follow on funding, etc. Richard has served as a senior executive at three companies from pre-IPO through to their public listings then went on to found five companies of which three have exited to publicly listed firms.

Richard is an Adjunct Professor at Peking University’s Guanghua MBA program teaching Entrepreneurship in China. Active as a startup advisor, mentor, and angel, Richard is a mentor at 500 Startups, Chinaccelerator and HAX. He frequently speaks at tech conferences globally, including serving as master of ceremonies at TechCrunch Beijing, Web Summit Lisbon and Dublin, GMIC Beijing and Silicon Valley, and Startup Asia Singapore and Jakarta.

Scott McNally

Program Manager, Crescent Point Energy

Scott McNally is currently Program Manager at Crescent Point Energy, where he is responsible for developing the renewable energy division for the company. Scott formerly worked on encouraging entrepreneurship in energy during his time at the State of North Dakota, the U.S. Department of Energy (ARPA-E), the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and as a contributing author to Scientific American Magazine. Scott holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.S. in Energy Resources Engineering from Stanford University, and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University. Scott can be reached at scottmcnally@gmail.com

Aaron Easaw

General Partner, ACE Venture Capital

At 21 years old, Aaron Easaw is currently the Owner of ACE Industries, a venture studio, and family office. Still the General Partner of ACE Venture Capital, Aaron focuses on investing in the best entrepreneurs under 30 years old. However, what’s more impressive than his current work is the journey that led him here, which all ties into his mantra of “age doesn’t define ability.” When Aaron was 11 years old, he led a team of 80+ employees for his software development firm, Easaw Development. After a few years of running his firm and working with clients in 5 continents, he sold the company and moved into the world of angel investing at the age of 16.

Ihsan Erhuy

CEO, Mountain View Pain Center

Dr. Ihsan (Oscar) Erhuy is co-founder and co-owner of Mountain View Pain Center. Under his leadership, along with his business partner, Dr. Niall McNally, Mountain View Pain Center has grown from a small two person chiropractic clinic into a large, multi-disciplinary, comprehensive pain management and injury rehabilitation clinic. With more than 100 employees across 9 locations in Colorado, Mountain View Pain Center treats over 12,000 patients per month, and is one of the fastest growing businesses in the state.

Oscar specializes in motor vehicle accident injures, back and neck pain, and extremity problems. Dr. Erhuy certifications include Diversified, Gonstead, Thompson, Upper Cervical, Activator, Sacral Occipital, Applied Kinesiology, and Soft Tissue techniques. Oscar attended the University of Arizona for his undergraduate work, and Parker College of Chiropractic for his doctorate.

Alistair McNally

CEO, Mountain View Pain Center

Dr. Niall McNally is co-founder and co-owner of Mountain View Pain Center. Under his leadership, along with his business partner, Dr. Oscar Erhuy, Mountain View Pain Center has grown from a small two person chiropractic clinic into a large, multi-disciplinary, comprehensive pain management and injury rehabilitation clinic. With more than 100 employees across 9 locations in Colorado, Mountain View Pain Center treats over 12,000 patients per month, and is one of the fastest growing businesses in the state.

Dr. McNally has a strong background in sports injuries, back and neck pain, whiplash injuries, disc injuries and is also professionally trained in pediatrics, orthopedics, and nutrition. Niall attended the University of Central Oklahoma for his undergraduate work, and Parker College of Chiropractic for his doctorate.

Jack Cable

Student, Stanford; Time's 25 Most Influential Teens for 2018

Jack Cable is an 18-year-old coder turned white hat hacker, currently a freshman at Stanford University. Jack is ranked top 50 overall on HackerOne, an international community of hackers that organizes bug bounty challenges in the public and private sector. After placing first in the Hack the Air Force bug bounty program in 2016, Jack has participated in a number of live hacking competitions, including in Las Vegas, New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Amsterdam, London, and Montreal. Additionally, Jack placed first in the international bug bounty competition HackIT Cup, held in Kiev, Ukraine in October 2017. To-date, he’s found over 300 vulnerabilities and regularly reports bugs to companies like Google, Facebook, Uber, Yahoo, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Due to his participation in government challenges, Jack worked this past summer at the DoD’s Defense Digital Service. There, Jack helped organize the Hack the Marine Corps competition held live in Las Vegas, where 80 hackers worked alongside Marine Corps personnel to discover vulnerabilities in public-facing Marine Corps websites.

In December, Jack was named one of Time’s 25 Most Influential Teens for 2018. Jack has also launched a cybersecurity company, Lightning Security, and writes a blog sharing research with the security community. At Stanford, Jack plans to study computer science and remain engaged in security, including launching the first bug bounty program for Stanford.

Nima Baiati

Global Director of Strategy and Corporate Business Development for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies, Lenovo

Nima Baiati is the Global Director, Head of Strategy and Corporate Business Development for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies at Lenovo. Bringing a unique blend of technical expertise in software product management (Cybersecurity), Symantec (Head of Global GTM Strategy for Enterprise Security), several start-ups in San Francisco and acute business and financial acumen developed in banking (Morgan Stanley) Nima is focused on building and driving strategy, execution and growth. With experience in building and launching new products, opening new markets and defining corporate and product strategy Nima bridges the gap between product and business execution. Throughout his career Nima has been part of defining strategy, corporate development and building and driving technology ecosystems. Nima earned his undergraduate degree from the University of San Francisco and received his M.B.A. from the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University where he was also a Fellow of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute. In 2017 he was the recipient of the 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business Award.

Vijay Janapa Reddi

Associate Professor, Harvard University

Vijay Janapa Reddi is an Associate Professor in John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. Prior to moving to Harvard University, he was an Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include computer architecture, and hardware and software co-design, specifically in the context of mobile and edge computing systems to improve their performance, power efficiency, and reliability. Dr. Janapa Reddi is a recipient of multiple awards, including the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Gilbreth Lecturer Honor (2016), IEEE TCCA Young Computer Architect Award (2016), Intel Early Career Award (2013), Google Faculty Research Awards (2012, 2013, 2015, 2017), Best Paper at the 2005 International Symposium on Microarchitecture, Best Paper at the 2009 International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture, and IEEE’s Top Picks in Computer Architecture awards (2006, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017). Beyond his technical contributions, Dr. Janapa Reddi is extremely passionate about STEM education. He is responsible for the Austin Independent School District’s “hands-on” computer science (HaCS) program, which teaches 6th- and 7th-grade students programming and the general principles that govern a computing system using open-source electronic prototyping platforms like the Arduino. He received a BS in computer engineering from Santa Clara University, an MS in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Harvard University.

Aaron Easaw

General Partner, ACE Venture Capital

At 21 years old, Aaron Easaw is currently the Owner of ACE Industries, a venture studio, and family office. Still the General Partner of ACE Venture Capital, Aaron focuses on investing in the best entrepreneurs under 30 years old. However, what’s more impressive than his current work is the journey that led him here, which all ties into his mantra of “age doesn’t define ability.” When Aaron was 11 years old, he led a team of 80+ employees for his software development firm, Easaw Development. After a few years of running his firm and working with clients in 5 continents, he sold the company and moved into the world of angel investing at the age of 16.

Swish Goswami

CEO & Co-Founder, Trufan

Swish (Manu) Goswami is a 21 year old Canadian entrepreneur, three-time TEDx speaker (signed with Speakers’ Spotlight), and social media influencer (over 100K followers across all platforms). After serving as a UN Youth Ambassador, Fortune 500 Consultant (to companies like Google, Western Union and American Express) and working at JB Fitzgerald Venture Capital (started by NBA player Trevor Booker), Swish is now the founder and CEO of Trufan, a platform helping influencers and brands identify and reward their top fans. Trufan has raised over $1M to date and is currently backed by several NBA players, media executives and Canadian venture capitalists. Swish sits on various boards including at Dunk (media network of 11M followers hyper-focused on basketball) and the League of Innovators (Canadian charity started by Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite). He has been the recipient of Canada’s Top 20 under 20, Startup Canada’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the United Nation’s Outstanding Youth Leadership award.

MK Tang

Chief China Economist, Goldman Sachs

MK is managing director and chief China economist of Goldman Sachs. He writes reports on a wide range of China macro themes, as well as on economic and policy outlooks for China.

Prior to joining the firm in 2012, MK worked in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority research department as senior manager, focusing on economic and financial stability issues. Earlier in his career, he was an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC for six years, first in the research department, then at country desks covering several developed and emerging markets including the UK, Euro area, CEEMEA and Latam countries. In this role, MK was also involved in the IMF’s flexible credit line implementation process. MK’s research on trade, exchange rate and monetary transmission is published in academic journals and policy working papers.

MK has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, where he was also a fellow at the Harvard-Yenching Institute. He earned BSc/MSc degrees from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Yasheng Huang

Professor of Global Economics and Management, MIT Sloan

Yasheng Huang is professor of political economy and international management and holds International Program Professorship in Chinese Economy and Business at Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a special-term professorship at School of Management, Fudan University and an honorary professorship at Hunan University. His previous appointments include faculty positions at the University of Michigan and at Harvard University.

In addition to academic journal articles, Professor Huang has published Inflation and Investment Controls in China (1996), FDI in China (1998), Selling China (2003, Chinese edition, 2005), Financial Reform in China (2005, co-edited with Tony Saich and Edward Steinfeld), and Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics (2008, Chinese edition, 2010).

At MIT Sloan School, Professor Huang founded and runs China Lab and India Lab, which aim to help entrepreneurs in China and India improve their management. He has held or received prestigious fellowships such as National Fellowship at Stanford University and Social Science Research Council-MacArthur Fellowship. He is a member of MIT Entrepreneurship Center, a fellow at the Center for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, a fellow at William Davidson Institute at Michigan Business School, and a World Economic Forum Fellow. He has served as a consultant at World Bank and at OECD and is serving on a number of advisory boards of non-profit and for-profit organizations.

Anne Stevenson-Yang

Co-Founder and Research Director, J Capital Research

Anne Stevenson-Yang co-founded J Capital Research in late 2007 and is J Capital’s Research Director. Her coverage areas include solar, internet, medical devices, property, some consumer and direct-sales names, and China’s macro-economy.

Anne was formerly co-founder of a group of Online Media Businesses called Blue Bamboo Ventures and also founded and operated a CRM software company, Clarity Data Systems, and a publishing company whose flagship magazine is City Weekend. Over 25 years in China, Anne has also worked as an industry analyst and trade advocate, heading the US Information Technology Office and, 1993 through 1997, the China operations of the US-China Business Council. Anne authored the 2013 monograph China Alone: China’s Emergence and Potential Return to Isolation for the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Warren McFarlan

T.J. Dermot Dunphy Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Professor McFarlan earned his AB from Harvard University in 1959, and his MBA and DBA from the Harvard Business School in 1961 and 1965 respectively. He has had a significant role in introducing materials on Management Information Systems to all major programs at the Harvard Business School since the first course on the subject was offered in 1962. He has been a long-time teacher in the Advanced Management Program: International Senior Managers Program, Delivering Information Services Program, and several of the Social Sector programs. He is currently teaching in several short Executive Education programs.

Professor McFarlan’s newest book, Can China Lead? Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth, coauthored with Professors Regina M. Abrami and William C. Kirby, was released in February 2014. Joining a Non-Profit Board: What You Need to Know, coauthored with Professor Marc J. Epstein, appeared in March 2011, published by Jossey-Bass Division of John Wiley. Chinese General Management: Tsinghua-Harvard Text and Cases, coauthored with Professor Guoqing Chen, published by Tsinghua University Press, appeared in 2009. (Available in Mandarin only). Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases (seventh edition), coauthored with Professors Lynda M. Applegate and Robert D. Austin appeared in 2006. Seizing Strategic IT Advantage in China, coauthored with Professor Richard Nolan, and Professor Guoqing Chen of Tsinghua University, appeared in 2003 (available only in Chinese).

He served a three-year term as Senior Editor of the MIS Quarterly (1986-1988). He served for over ten years on hospital boards in Boston, including Chairman of the Mount Auburn Hospital. He is currently Guest Professor and Co-Director of Case Development at the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Charlene Chu

Senior Partner and Head, Autonomous Research

Charlene Chu is Senior Partner and Head of Autonomous Research Asia in Hong Kong, where she publishes research on macro-financial developments in the Chinese economy. She is considered one of the leading experts on shadow finance in China. Prior to joining Autonomous in 2014, Charlene worked for eight years as a Senior Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Fitch Ratings in Beijing, where she oversaw the credit ratings of Chinese financial institutions. Before joining Fitch Ratings, Charlene served as a senior analyst in the Emerging Markets & International Affairs group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she focused on financial sector reform and monetary policy development in China and other Asian countries.

Charlene holds both an MBA and an MA in International Relations from Yale University. She is an elected member of the Conference of Business Economists. Charlene is co-author of the book Song of Praise for a Flower, a living history of China’s tumultuous transformation and the historical struggles confronting Chinese women.

Helen Lawrence

Global Head of Social Media, Twitter

Helen Lawrence is Global Head of Social Media at Twitter, leading the company’s social handles and content within the Global Marketing team.

Helen was EMEA Head of Creative Agencies at Twitter before moving to the USA in 2018. As creative agency lead Helen ensured that creative brand campaigns reach their potential on Twitter.

Prior to joining Twitter in 2014, Helen was Social Strategy Lead at BBH London, where she managed the agency’s social team, working on the Johnnie Walker, Google and The Guardian accounts. Prior to BBH, Helen has lead social and mobile departments at ASOS and UK agency, Dare.

MediaWeek named her in their annual 30 Under 30, and in TechCrunch’s Women in Technology list. She is @helenium on Twitter.

John Deighton

Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration Emeritus, Harvard Business School

John Deighton is The Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is an authority on consumer behavior and marketing, with a focus on digital and direct marketing. He teaches in the area of Big Data in Marketing, and previously initiated and led the HBS Executive Education program in Digital Marketing and taught the elective MBA course, Digital Marketing Strategy.

His research on marketing management and consumer behavior has been published in a variety of journals including the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and the Harvard Business Review. His research has also received a number of commendations, including the American Marketing Association’s Best Article Award for an article in the Journal of Marketing and an honorable mention from the Journal of interactive Marketing. He received the European Case Clearing House Award in Marketing (2012), the Edward N. Mayer, Jr. Award for Education Leadership (2011), the Direct Marketing Education Foundation Robert B. Clarke Outstanding Educator Award (2002), and the University of Chicago’s Hillel J. Einhorn Excellence in Teaching Award (1995).

He is a past editor of the Journal of Consumer Research, a leading outlet for scholarly research on consumer behavior, and was the founding co-editor of the Journal of Interactive Marketing, which reports academic research on marketing and the Internet.

Prior to joining HBS, he was on the faculties of the University of Chicago and the Tuck School of Business (Dartmouth College). He has a Ph.D. in Marketing from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the University of Cape Town. He also has a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Natal. His applied research includes consulting with a number of U.S and international corporations.

Benita Bhatia Dua

CEO, Vanilla Skills

Benita has completed her post graduation in management studies from Gujarat University and also has relevant certifications from IIM Ahmedabad and Stanford University, USA.

Her LinkedIn Social Selling Index is 80, putting her at 1% people in her industry. She actively uses Social Media for her company’s marketing and over 80% of her business comes from her use of social media. She is consistently the top 3% of the most viewed profiles on her LinkedIn network, most of the profile-viewers being CEOs, MDs, Founders, Directors, L&D heads and the ilk; essentially, her target audience.

She and her team handle the social media accounts of some of the top corporates in India in the Finance sector, infrastructure sector, home textile industry, food and beverage industry etc. She is also responsible for managing the social media handles of some CEOs of corporate India.

She has been named one of the 100 Most Influential Woman Online two years in a row. In addition, she was also honoured as L I F E’s Business Women Next Door Women Entrepreneurs of 2016 by Business World.

Her core strength lies in her ability to develop strategies that make an impact and help businesses achieve their goals using social media.

She has created a popular online course where you can learn to use Twitter in less than an hour. To view the course check https://goo.gl/p41W7V.

Her book, Whale of Time with Social Media is the 1st ever fable around social media and aims to help businesses use social media strategically and profitably.

Kimberly Lee

Senior Marketing and Business Development Manager, Tencent

Kimberly is Senior Marketing and Business Development Manager at Tencent’s International Business Group. In her role, she leads the company’s Tencent/WeChat Ad Solutions business and team in the United States. Her mission is to work with brands and agencies in market, helping them realize their potential and optimize spend across Tencent social products, which occupy ~50% of China mobile internet usage in terms of time spent.

Before recently returning to the United States, she spent almost two years at Tencent’s Hong Kong office where she led regional brand initiatives for Tencent’s new International products across APAC. Prior to that she orchestrated several WeChat partnership campaigns while on the WeChat US team in the Bay Area. Her past experience also includes at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta serving in a World-Wide Public Affairs and Communications capacity.

Timothy Heath

Senior International/Defense Researcher, RAND Corporation

Timothy Heath is a senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation. Prior to joining RAND in October 2014, he served as the senior analyst for the USPACOM China Strategic Focus Group for five years. He worked for more than 16 years on the strategic, operational, and tactical levels in the U.S. military and government, specializing on China, Asia, and security topics.

Heath has published numerous articles and one book. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, he has extensive experience analyzing China’s national strategy, politics, ideology, and military, as well as of Asian regional security developments. He earned an M.A. in Asian studies from George Washington University and a B.A. in philosophy from the College of William and Mary. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science from George Mason University.

Meicen Sun

Ph.D Candidate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Meicen Sun is a PhD candidate of international relations and political economy at MIT focusing on the tech-power nexus. Her research examines the intersection of information, technological innovation and geopolitics. Sun was the worldwide winner of the 2012 Undergraduate Award for her college thesis on China’s voting in the UN Security Council. She has since published a series of research articles and commentaries on issues related to Chinese foreign policy and international security in academic journals, policy outlets and the mainstream media.

Sun is a regular invitee to conferences on international affairs including the U.S.-China Strategic Dialogues, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy’s trilateral and quadrilateral meetings, and the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific’s preventive diplomacy meeting. She has spoken on China’s foreign relations, global citizenship and the Sustainable Development Goals at forums including the United Nations, the Carter Center and the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center. She has published and spoken in both English and Chinese and is proficient in French. In addition to her research and policy work, Sun has written stories, plays and music and staged many of her artistic works in China, Singapore and the U.S.

Sun previously worked for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC and the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa. She holds an A.B. with Honors from Princeton University and an A.M. with a Certificate in Law from the University of Pennsylvania. Sun is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and a Pacific Forum Young Leader.

Ravi Ramamurti

University Distinguished Professor, Northeastern University

Ravi Ramamurti is University Distinguished Professor of International Business & Strategy and founding Director of the Center for Emerging Markets at Northeastern University. He studies strategy and innovation in emerging markets. He earned his MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad and his Doctorate in Business Administration from Harvard University. Ravi has been a visiting professor at HBS, the Wharton School, MIT-Sloan School, the Fletcher School, CEIBS-Shanghai, and IMD-Switzerland. His eight books include three published by Cambridge University Press on the internationalization of emerging-market firms. His latest book, Reverse innovation in health care, was just published by HBR Press (2018).

In 2008 Ravi was elected a Fellow of the Academy of International Business in 2008. He was elected in 2007 as president of the Academy of Management’s International Management Division. In 2017, The Globals, based out of London, recognized him for being the “most innovative thinker on strategy and innovation in emerging markets.” He is a six-time winner of the ADL Prize for Professor of the Year based on his excellence as a teacher.

In 2017, his article on reverse innovation won the inaugural prize for Best Article published in Global Strategy Journal. He has published in the top academic journals and in practice-oriented journals such as Harvard Business Review. He has studied or consulted with firms in more than 20 emerging economies and been a consultant to global organizations, including the Economist Group, Fulbright, USAID, UNCTAD, the World Bank’s board, and the United Nations. He appears often on China Global TV and is quoted frequently in the business press.

Kwamina Panford

Professor, Northeastern University

Kwamina Panford is an Africa Specialist. He teaches, researches and publishes several books, scholarly, magazine and newspaper articles in Africa, Asia and Europe. His areas of expertise are Human Capital, International Organizations and Natural Resources, Public Policy and Development. He has several Senior Scholar Fulbright and Carnegie Fellowships for his scholarly work, mostly on Africa with a focus on Ghana. He has practical experience writing labor and oil revenue management laws for Ghana where he has also been involved in creating and supervising institutions and practices to avert the natural resource curse. His accomplishments including assisting Ghana to create a body to supervise the use of petroleum revenue has been praised by Kofi Annan of the UN, Camdessus of the IMF and Pres Clinton’s Ned Rubin (Secretary of the US Treasury) as one of the most innovative solutions to Africa’s resource management challenges. Panford has held many senior administrative and academic positions such as Vice Provost & Chair of Department at Northeastern and a Senior Adviser/Consultant to Ghana Government. His passion includes the roles of China in Technology, employment and development in Africa. He has taught at several universities in Africa and the US.

Scott Swift

Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow, MIT Center for International Studies

Adm. Swift served in the U.S. Navy for more than 40 years, rising from his commission through the Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate program to become a Navy light attack and strike fighter pilot. He commanded at all levels including F/A-18 weapons school, aircraft carrier-based squadrons, Carrier Air Wing, Carrier Strike Group and the U.S. Seventh Fleet forward deployed to Japan, finally completing his uniformed career as the 35th Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet in 2018.

During his years of service, he participated in combat Operations Praying Mantis, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and received a master’s degree from the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.

He is a graduate of San Diego State University and the U.S. Naval War College. Selected as the MIT Center for International Studies Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow, Admiral Swift continues to explore opportunities to serve where his interests, abilities, experience and national need align.

Moon Kim

Ph.D Fellow at Pardee RAND Graduate School / Assistant Policy Researcher at RAND

Moon Kim is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He has an MA in International Science and Technology Policy from the George Washington University, and a BS in finance and economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a civil servant resource analyst for the development of a satellite servicing spacecraft, Restore-L. In this role, he formulated the mission’s life-cycle cost, ran scenario based cost simulations, conducted various cost analyses, managed the contractors’ cost performance, and implemented Earned Value Management. Prior to NASA, he worked at Morgan Stanley as an analyst in the United States, Hong Kong, and South Korea. During the first four years at Morgan Stanley, he supported the firm’s syndicated corporate loan origination and both primary and secondary market loan trades. In the second four years, he worked as a trade support for the firm’s institutional equity sales and trading activities in South Korea. Moon is fluent in English and Korean.

Jim Dimarogonas

Senior Researcher, The RAND Corporation

Dr Dimarogonas is currently a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. He has 20 years of experience in military space and space control; nuclear command and control; cyber and electronic warfare; tactical and strategic communications and networks. Previously he spent 18 years at MITRE, serving in various leadership roles such as portfolio manager for strategic and resilient communications and networks in support of the Air Force Space and Missile Center (SMC); associate department head for the satellite communications department; project director for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program; chief engineer for the deputy assistant secretary of defense for command, control, communications space and cyber. Dimarogonas received his Ph.D. in Systems Science and Applied Mathematics from Washington University in St Louis with concentration on control theory and signal processing.

John Rockaway

Propulsion Engineer, SpaceX (ex)

Originally from Kentucky, I attended Yale and spent a lot of time with the robotics and aerospace clubs on campus. I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and found a job with SpaceX as a Test Equipment Engineer in their testing site in McGregor, TX. There I worked on the team that developed our liquid oxygen sub-cooling system, taking it from prototype to production and helped to set up the cooling system throughout SpaceX testing and launch sites. After two years I transferred to headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, where I worked as the project manager of the Dragon 2 Abort System as a Propulsion Engineer II. I build ~1/3 of the spacecraft propulsion system on the first two prototype vehicles, DM-1 and DM-2. DM-1 is currently expected to launch on February 23. I left SpaceX to pursue a combo MS Engineering/MBA degree from Harvard, in order to set me up for a career in aerospace leadership.

Alissa Haddaji​

Senior Researcher, Harvard Business School

Alissa J. Haddaji joined Harvard Business School in 2018, where she works as a Senior Researcher in Space Economics and co-leads the development of the Harvard/MIT Space Research Consortium. She is a guest lecturer in Space Law and Space Policy at Harvard College and Harvard Extension School. She held the position of Planetary Protection and Defense Project Officer at the International Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) in Paris, France from 2015 to 2018. She is a Master’s Graduate in Space Oceanography/Remote Sensing, History/International relations, Science, Technology and Society (STS) and Political Science respectively from Bordeaux 1 University, La Sorbonne-Paris 1 and Brown University. As a visiting scholar, she attended Harvard Kennedy School (2018), the International Space University (2017) and the George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute, Washington DC (2016).

Paul Behringer

Ernest May Predoctoral Fellow in History and Policy, Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School

Paul Behringer is a History Ph.D. candidate at American University and an Ernest May Fellow at the Belfer Center. His dissertation examines how U.S. and Japanese military intervention affected the scale, character, and perceptions of violence during the Russian Civil War and the consequences for U.S.-Soviet-Japanese relations. In 2017–2018, he received a Fulbright student research award and American Councils (Title VIII) funding to conduct research in Vladivostok and Moscow. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Nobuyasu​ Abe

Senior Fellow, HKS Belfer Center

Served as a Commissioner, Japan Atomic Energy Commission, until last December, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Director-General for Arms Control and Science Affairs of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Japanese ambassador to the IAEA and other international organizations in Vienna and Director of the Center for the Promotion of Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (CPDNP) at Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA). Served three ambassadorial assignments in Vienna, Riyadh and Bern, as a member of the advisory board to the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) and currently a member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (APLN) and the Group of Eminent Persons for the Entry-into-force of the CTBT). Member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and of JIIA.

Chiara Formichi

Associate Professor, Cornell University

I am an Associate Professor in Southeast Asian Studies in the Department of Asian Studies at Cornell University. I have been in Ithaca since 2014, after spending three years as an Assistant Professor in Hong Kong (at the City University of Hong Kong), two years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Asia Research Institute in Singapore, and a few years between Rome, London, Jakarta and Yogyakarta pursing an undergraduate education in Islamic Studies (Universita’ di Roma “La Sapienza”) and graduate studies at SOAS (History of Southeast Asia).

My scholarship lies at the disciplinary intersection between Islamic Studies, History, and Area Studies, methodologically resting on archival research as well as ethnography in order to reach a more nuanced understanding of constructions of historical narratives. Primarily, I am a historian of Islam in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Islam as a lived religion and as a political ideology in 20th-century Indonesia. Meanwhile, my research encompasses broader considerations, both regional and chronological. On the one hand, my study of Indonesia is informed by my engagement with Asia more broadly (from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean); on the other, I posit that no understanding of the region can be achieved without addressing its historical and religious development in the longue durée.

The larger framework of my scholarly interests encompasses concerns with the implications of “official history” and established narratives, honing in on the silences, absences, marginalizations and elisions that occur in history and historiography. Finding application to the context of religion-state-society relations as much as to the interaction between academic fields, my work has addressed the following questions: How does politics affect history writing? How are historical processes remembered? And what methodological options do historians have to give space to the voices of the losers, the minorities and the marginalized?

Neha Sahgal

Associate Director of Research, Pew Research Center

Neha Sahgal is Associate Director of Research at Pew Research Center, specializing in international polling, particularly on topics related to interreligious relations and political Islam. Sahgal is involved in all aspects of survey research, including designing the questionnaire, monitoring field work and evaluating data quality. Before joining the Pew Research Center, Sahgal worked at The Asia Foundation in San Francisco. She received her doctorate in government and politics, with a concentration in the comparative politics of the Middle East and South Asia, from The University of Maryland in 2008. She is an author of studies on the religious beliefs and practices of Muslims around the world, Christian-Muslim relations in sub-Saharan Africa and religion in Latin America. Sahgal has been invited to speak about the project’s research at universities, religious organizations and government agencies such as the U.S. Department of State. She also talks about the Center’s findings in print and broadcast media.

Warren Goldstein

Executive Director, Center for Critical Research on Religion

Warren S. Goldstein, Executive Director of the Center for Critical Research on Religion (www.criticaltheoryofreligion.org), has a Ph.D. in Sociology is from the New School for Social Research. He is Co-Editor of Critical Research on Religion (SAGE Publications), Book Series Editor of “Studies in Critical Research on Religion” (Brill Academic Publishers and Haymarket Books) and Co-Chair of the American Academy of Religion Sociology of Religion Unit.

Donna Hughes​

Professor and Eleanor M. and Oscar M. Carlson Endowed Chair Editor-in-Chief, University of Rhode Island

Donna M. Hughes is a leading international researcher on human trafficking. She has completed research on the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, and Korea. She does research and writing on women’s rights. Her topic areas include violence, slavery, sexual exploitation, Islamic fundamentalism, and women’s organized resistance to violence and exploitation. She has also worked on issues related to women, science, and technology.

Hughes is frequently consulted by governments and non-governmental organizations on policies related to women’s human rights, particularly on the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation. She has testified before the U.S. House International Relations Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Moscow Duma, and the Czech Parliament.

Her research has been supported by the U.S. State Department, the National Institute of Justice, the National Science Foundation, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the International Organization for Migration, the Council of Europe, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, the University of Rhode Island Foundation, the University of Rhode Island Council for Research, and the University of Bradford, UK. Hughes is the editor in chief of the online periodical Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence.

Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco

Founding Partner, Mahn, Mehlman & Associates, LLC

Dr. Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco is an accomplished survey methodologist, research scientist, and quantitative & qualitative consultant on issues related to human trafficking. She is one of the few researchers with a background to qualify as an expert witness and subject matter expert on human trafficking in criminal and civil court. Her work is published in books, peer reviewed journals, magazines, and news outlets. She has served as a peer reviewer for human trafficking publications and taught human trafficking material at the #1 ranked criminology school in the country, University of Maryland College Park.

Dr. Mehlman-Orozco’s academic accomplishments include:
• Conducting over 2,000 qualitative interviews with human traffickers and victims.
• Conducting systematic social observations of human trafficking within the carpet and textile industry in Jaipur, India, which will be featured in her forthcoming book.
• Performing interrupted pooled time series analysis on the efficacy of safe harbor anti human trafficking policies, which was published in the “Journal of Social Inclusion.” Vetted by Harvard University human trafficking expert Siddarth Kara.
• Identifying geographic patterns of human trafficking prevalence through online advertisements for services. Dr. Mehlman-Orozco has trained both federal and local level law enforcement agents on this methodology, which is currently used as an investigative tool.
• Peer reviewing sex trafficking research published in the Journal of Human Trafficking and the American Journal of Evaluation.
• Serving as the data collection sub committee chair for the Greater Prince William County Human Trafficking Task Force and a member of the Prince George’s County Human Trafficking Task Force.
• Serving as a human trafficking expert witness on multiple criminal cases, for both prosecution and defense.
• Dr. Mehlman-Orozco currently serves as a founding partner of Mahn, Mehlman & Associates, LLC.

Timothy Palmbach​

Chair of Forensic Science Department and Founder of Center for Forensic Investigation of Trafficking in Persons, University of New Haven

Professor Timothy Palmbach joined the faculty of the University of New Haven in 2004 and is Chair of the Forensic Science Department.

Professor Palmbach is founder of Center for Forensic Investigation of Trafficking in Persons at UNH. This center is committed to providing research, training, and investigative assistance to government agencies in the US and abroad. Since 2013 Professor Palmbach has been engaged with the implementation of advanced forensic investigative methods in the war against trafficking in persons (TIP) and related issues such as counter terrorism. He worked in conjunction with non-governmental organizations and government officials to employ the collection of DNA based evidence. His international work in this area includes the countries of Nepal, India, Costa Rica, Poland, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Djibouti, Jordan, and Bangladesh.

Throughout his 34-year career Timothy Palmbach has used his expertise in forensic science and investigations for matters of international interest, human rights, and counter terrorism.