Looking to the Future: IGL Alumni Advisory Discussions Summer 2020 Webinars

Graduate School I: Making the Decision of When and Where

Liz Robinson A15, Magenta; Elayne Stecher A14, PhD Candidate, UCLA; Kelsi Stine-Rowe A10, F11, Wikimedia Foundation; Lumay Wang Murphy A11, Annheiser-Busch

Saturday, June 6, 1pm

Elizabeth Robinson is the Asia Regional Lead at MAGENTA, a social and behavioral change research and communications firm. She has five years of experience in international development and humanitarian aid, including in Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Based in Jordan with frequent travel to Kabul, Elizabeth is fascinated by the challenge of education in fragile contexts, and is eager to tell you why she thinks grad school is overrated.

Elayne Stecher is a mixed methodological researcher with work experience in academia and the private sector. Her work combines qualitative study with quantitative analysis, particularly on topical matters related to illicit markets, organized armed groups and political violence. Elayne received her BA in International Relations and Arabic from Tufts University in 2014 and her MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago in 2019. She is currently enrolled at UCLA where she is pursuing a MA in Statistics and a PhD in Political Science. She is trilingual (English, Spanish, Arabic) and is currently focused on Mexico, although she has also conducted research on armed groups in Iraq, Kashmir, and Nigeria. Before matriculating at UCLA, Elayne was a market research consultant in Chicago and has continued her work on these projects as a contract consultant.

Kelsi Stine-Rowe is a passionate global professional with broad expertise in nonprofit program management, communications, and monitoring & evaluation. She currently works at the Wikimedia Foundation where she leads a global community outreach team working to make Wikipedia more inclusive and diverse. Prior to this role, Kelsi was a social impact research with Prof. Rosabeth Moss Kanter at Harvard Business School and led large monitoring & evaluation projects in Africa and the Middle East with Search for Common Ground. Lastly, Kelsi has worked for the last several years as a nonprofit leadership coach to social impact start ups and NGO leaders across the United States. Kelsi holds a masters degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and now lives in Seattle, WA.

Lumay Wang Murphy A'11 is a corporate strategist at AB InBev, at the largest CPG company by EBITDA. She is results-oriented, curious, and an advocate of developing and empowering teams. ABI's lean strategy team is responsible for the company's long-term vision and providing insights and analysis of the global company's highest priority issues. Lumay is a former management consultant within Monitor Deloitte (Strategy & Analytics) with deep expertise in retail and CPG industries and a focus on innovation, growth strategy, and sustainable supply chain. After graduating from Tufts as an art history and IR major, she was a legislative correspondent for Senator John F. Kerry and legislative assistant for Congressman Scott Peters where her portfolio included agriculture, energy, and climate change. She received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2016. She currently serves on the board of The Ocean Foundation.

Careers in Diplomacy and Security

Matan Chorev A06, F07, Carnegie Endowment; Jesse Sloman A09, Department of Defense
Wednesday, June 10, 1pm

Matan Chorev is the Chief of Staff of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously served as Speechwriter, Special Assistant, and Acting Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary of State William J Burns and as a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Chorev has also served as a Crisis, Governance, and Stabilization Foreign Service Officer at the United States Agency for International Development with assignments in Morocco and Yemen, and as a Rosenthal Fellow at the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning. Prior to this he was the Executive Director of the Future of National Security Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He is a David Rockefeller Fellow at The Trilateral Commission and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He graduated from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Jesse Sloman is a cyber policy advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Department of Defense. He previously worked as an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, where he developed and evaluated future operational warfighting concepts. Prior to joining CSBA, Mr. Sloman worked at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as an intelligence officer in the Marine Corps from 2009 to 2013 and as a civil affairs officer in the Marine Corps Reserve from 2013 to 2016.

Working in/for the UN System

Joanna Friedman A04, UNFPA; Douglass Hansen, A02, UNAMA
Wednesday, June 17, 1pm

Joanna Friedman is the global cash assistance specialist in the Humanitarian Office of UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, based in Geneva. She has managed and advised humanitarian programmes for UNHCR, UNDP, UNICEF as well as NGOs including Oxfam and Action Against Hunger across diverse crisis and displacement contexts. Her work has focused on cash transfers, livelihoods and protection support to women, families and the most vulnerable. She is a Tufts University and EPIIC alumna (2004) and holds a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Doug Hansen graduated from Tufts in 2002 with degrees in Philosophy and Peace & Justice Studies, and participated in EPIC in 2000-2001. A recently well-heeled hobo, he's lived in 14 countries on four continents. Doug currently works as a judicial affairs officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, where he advises the newly established International Crimes Directorate in the Attorney General's Office and the High Council of the Supreme Court on remote court hearings. With the UN he has also worked as judicial affairs officer and special assistant to the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations Mission in Liberia, legal officer in chambers with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and prosecutor with the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Outside the UN, he has worked with the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and as a victim-offender mediator in the US and Nigeria. He likes baseball and burritos and packing up to go someplace new.

Working in Journalism/Photojournalism

Elizabeth Herman A10, Photojournalist and PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley
Wednesday, June 24, 1pm

Biz Herman is a photojournalist based in New York City and a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work focuses on the politics of history, conflict, and group belonging; her dissertation examines the ways in which trauma impacts intergroup relations and pro-social behavior. Since 2016, Elizabeth has been an Innovation Fellow at Beyond Conflict’s Innovation Lab, which applies research from cognitive and behavioral science to reduce social conflict and foster reconciliation. A regular contributor to The New York Times, she was previously a Fulbright Fellow to Bangladesh and has had her photography and research published in national and international outlets.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Mary Langan A09, PhD Candidate, SAIS, Johns Hopkins
Wednesday, July 1, 1pm

This seminar focused on monitoring and evaluation for your research and projects. Why are monitoring and evaluation important considerations for your project or research? Watch this recording to understand the role they play in your design and implementation of an effective project.

Mary Langan is a Tufts BA (IR '09) and Johns Hopkins SAIS MA (IDEV '11) graduate and a current PhD Candidate at John Hopkins SAIS in the African Studies department. Prior to her current studies Mary worked in the fields of International Development and Humanitarian Assistance, primarily in East Africa. Mary has led Monitoring and Evaluation programming for NGOs in South Sudan, Iraq and Syria and completed evaluations for USAID in Ethiopia, CEIMM in Nicaragua and Fundacion Paraguaya in Paraguay. Mary also led a year-long Randomized Controlled Trial in southwestern Uganda for IPA focused on USAID's childhood health and nutrition programming. In addition to her work as an M&E specialist, Mary has served as a CCCM specialist, managing camps in Iraq and South Sudan and coordinating camp management programming across South Sudan.

Working in the US Foreign Service: What You Need To Know

Michelle Dworkin A00; Adam Levy A08; Mariya Iliyas, F18 -- US Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 8, 1pm

Michelle Dworkin has been a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for the past 12 years and is currently the Director of the Program Office in USAID/Honduras. She previously served as a Congressional Liaison Officer in USAID's Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs, and as a Program Officer in USAID's missions in Guatemala and Egypt, and USAID's Regional Platform for Western Afghanistan in Herat. Prior to joining USAID, she worked with NGOs on educational and exchange programs focused on the Middle East. She holds a Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Anthropology from Tufts University. She is an alum of EPIIC's 2000 class (Global Games: Sports, Politics and Society).

Mariya Ilyas is a U.S. Foreign Service Officer currently serving as Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy Amman. She joined the U.S. Foreign Service in September 2018 as a Thomas R. Pickering Fellow. Previously, Mariya taught English as a Fulbright Scholar in Antalya, Turkey (2015-2016) and worked as a product analyst at Liberty Mutual Insurance, a fortune-100 company in Boston (2013-2015). Mariya holds an M.A. in international relations with Honos Civicus distinction from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a B.A. in mathematics from Bowdoin College. She speaks Arabic, Urdu, Turkish and Spanish. Mariya hails from Alexandria, VA and enjoys sudoku, writing poetry, and baking.

Adam Levy is a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. Currently he works on the Syria Desk supporting efforts to promote a political resolution to the Syrian conflict. Previously, he has served in Bamako, Mali; Havana, Cuba; and Toronto, Canada as well as shorter assignments in Washington, including in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Prior to joining the State Department, Adam worked in the international conflict resolution and negotiation field, first founding a non-profit in northern Uganda and then working on Track 1.5 negotiation efforts in Latin America, the Balkans, and the Middle East. He received a BA from Tufts University and a MA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he was also a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Fellow.  Originally from Ecuador, Adam calls Massachusetts home and is an avid bread baker.

Enacting Social Entrepreneurship

Anastasia Konstantakatou, A08, F08, Klotsi, Matthew Edmundson A05; Kahran Singh A10
Wednesday, July 15, 12pm

Anastasia Konstantakatou is the founder of www.klosti.com, a social enterprise that showcases and sells unique, Greek hand-crafted creations inspired by Greece's cultural heritage. It's mission is to support Greek craftsmen so that they may continue to make a living from their talent and flourish artistically. Anastasia holds a BA in Political Science and Languages from Tufts University and a MALD from the Fletcher School also at Tufts.  Anastasiya was a member of EPIIC 2006.

Matt Edmundson is co-founder of Violet Health, an India-based social enterprise focused on combatting iron deficiency anemia in pregnant and lactating women through culturally appropriate iron supplements. Prior to that, he was Operations Officer at RefugePoint, a non-profit focused on advancing solutions for at-risk and vulnerable refugees in Africa. He received his MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and his BA from Tufts University. Matt was in EPIIC 2004 and was the co-founder of the IGL's photography and human rights program, EXPOSURE.

From his first job, with the Expedia co-founders at a Benchmark Capital & General Catalyst-funded company to his latest work with Vidyanext, Kahran Singh straddles the technical, business & product worlds. Trained in computer science and economics, Kahran’s passion comes out of using design to solve complex problems. Kahran has built products and taken them to market in four different countries. He has a deep understanding of digital marketing from pioneering the practice at Symphony Teleca, a division of Harman International.

Public Sector Consulting

Amy Ouelette A12, Deloitte; Aparna Ramanan A13, Deloitte, Bradley Friedman A15, Deloitte; Piyali Kundu A10, PwC
Saturday, July 18, 1pm

Bradley Friedman is a Senior Consultant in Deloitte Consulting’s Government & Public Services Practice. Bradley has advised government agencies at the federal and local levels about enterprise strategy and emerging technology. Bradley is currently pursuing an MBA at the Berkeley Haas School of Business and was part of the 2012 & 2014 EPIIC colloquiums.

Piyali Kundu graduated in 2010 with a dual major in IR and Community Health. She is an alumna of the 2007-2008 Global Poverty and Inequality EPIIC Colloquium, a former member of the 2008 ALLIES team that went to Amman, Jordan, and also a co-coordinate of the EMPOWER Program from 2009 - 2010. After graduation, Piyali moved to the Netherlands where she obtained a MSc in Health Economics and Policy and started her career in public sector consulting at PwC in the Middle East, based in Dubai.  She moved with her family back to the Netherlands in 2016 and was a Manager in Strategy & Operations at Deloitte, focused on health and international public sectors. Her experience has focused on organizational change, program design and development, policy and regulatory implementation within international organizations, aid agencies, national and regional government, and higher education institutions. She has contributed to thought leadership and research on economic development, the education and skills gap, women's labour force participation, and maternal health services. She took a year off consulting to join an Amsterdam-based NGO working on digital health solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. A native New Yorker, she is currently based back in Brooklyn, pursuing a Masters of Social Work at Columbia University, and trying to keep her three daughters entertained while social distancing.

Amy Ouelette graduated from Tufts in 2012 (IR/Poli Sci) and spent the next year as a Research Associate at a global peacebuilding nonprofit near Porter Square. She moved to Washington DC for 4 years, working as a Federal government consultant with Deloitte. Outside of work, she formed a meditation community, took acting classes, and bought a condo. Now, Amy lives in Boston and serves in a rotational leadership role alongside executives in the public sector and higher ed industry at Deloitte.

Aparna Ramanan is a senior consultant at Deloitte, with 8 years of experience working with and advising public sector and nonprofit organizations. She has experience advising clients on high-level strategy formulation, customer experience, market research, governance design, and process improvement. In addition, she is passionate about social entrepreneurship and has advised start-ups in emerging markets in Africa and Central America on scaling, market analysis, customer research, and marketing strategies. Prior to Deloitte, she worked at the US Institute of Peace, managing peacebuilding programs in the Middle East, and MasterCard Europe. Aparna received her Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and holds a BA from Tufts University.

Technology in Development

Adam White, E09, Rachael Alldian, A12, Viamo; Marc Sacal, A15, Arcus FInancial Services
Wednesday, July 22, 1pm

Adam White (E09) is an educator, entrepreneur, designer and researcher. He founded the design firm Groupshot, which helps start-ups, businesses and non-profits to develop new projects and business models. He is also a creator of the Digital Matatus project, recently featured in WIRED magazine, Fortune, and the BBC. Adam is a frequent speaker about his work on technology, global development, entrepreneurship and Innovation including talks at Harvard’s Social Entrepreneurship Conference, Columbia’s SIPA, Tufts University, and Barcelona’s Smart City Expo. Adam has led student research groups to places like India, China, and Kenya. He is also the founder and director of Atlas Workshops. He has led students from around the world in innovative research and design projects on every continent besides Antarctica and has worked, lived and traveled in over 80 countries. He holds a Master’s Degree in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and International Studies from Tufts University. Adam has won awards in innovation from the World Bank, the Media Architecture Biennale, and the IRU.

Rachael Alldian (A12) is an efficiency-driven digital development strategist and has been with Viamo as the Director of Program Operations and Global Projects Lead for three years. Rachael manages Viamo's global Program Operations team, as well as Viamo's in-country team in Zimbabwe. In that role, she is responsible for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of Viamo's new business development and operational processes. She is also responsible for engaging and advising potential partners on mobile strategies and mobile technology solutions whilst she also directly oversees and coordinates implementation of all our mobile engagement projects in Zimbabwe.

Marc Sacal was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico and graduated from Tufts in 2015 with a B.A in Economics and International Relations. After graduation, he joined Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division in the Latin American M&A group. In 2018, he moved to Arcus Financial Intelligence as the Chief of Staff to the CEO and now am the Head of BizOps & Strategy. At Arcus his responsibilities include the execution of the Company key strategies, including fundraising from VCs, expanding to the rest of LatAm, among others.

Graduate School II: International Relations

Rachel Brandenburg A05, US House of Rep; Amy Calfas A13, Georgetown School of Foreign Service; Meghan Armistead, A96, Catholic Relief Services
Wednesday, July 29, 1pm

Meghan Armistead is currently the Senior Research and Policy Advisor at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), focused on identifying, analyzing, and translating evidence from the field for improved humanitarian and development policy. Previously, Meghan was a Senior Technical Advisor in the Program Quality and Impact team at CRS, working with partner agencies around the world and fostering local leadership.  Over the past 20 years, Meghan has worked with community, faith-based, and national organizations in the US and overseas to forge and strengthen partnerships, to assess and strengthen organizational capacities, and to identify and scale civil society innovation and leadership.  She has been an NGO Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Haiti and worked for Lutheran World Relief (LWR), as a technical advisor in East and West Africa, as well as serving at LWR headquarters focused on global program quality and innovation. She has a BA in History from Tufts University and an MA in International Development and Economics from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Meghan lives in Baltimore with her husband and their children.

Rachel Brandenburg is senior policy adviser for Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). Previously, Rachel worked at the Atlantic Council as director of the Scowcroft Center Middle East Security Initiative. From late 2014 to early 2018, Rachel served in the US Department of Defense Office of the Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy where she initially focused on Iraq and the counter-ISIS campaign as Iraq director, and then Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon as Levant director. Rachel had previously worked on the Middle East and North Africa at the US Institute of Peace and served at the US State Department in the Office of Middle East Transitions as the Tunisia assistance coordinator, and in the Middle East Partnerships Initiative office. Prior to joining the US government, Rachel worked with Search for Common Ground, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, and the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels. Rachel was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in Israel and a Critical Language Scholarship in Jordan. Rachel completed an MS in foreign service at Georgetown University and a BA in international relations and Middle Eastern studies at Tufts University.

Amy Calfas holds a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Tufts University, where she was a member of EPIIC and ALLIES, and recently graduated from Georgetown University's Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program with a focus in Global Politics and Security. Prior to Georgetown, she managed Generation Democracy, a global network of young human rights activists and political leaders in over 75 countries around the globe, and supported the U.S. Institute of Peace's programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She has also worked with the U.S. Department of State, Human Rights Watch and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. She has worked across Asia, including in India and Thailand, and her research on human rights and women's empowerment has been published internationally by The Hill, Fair Observer, the Soufan Group, and the Atlantic Council.

Space: The Next Frontier for International Relations Majors

Katherine Monson A13, CEO of KSAT Inc. for Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT); Lauren Milord A12
Wednesday, Aug 5, 1pm
Zoom: https://tufts.zoom.us/j/98763755970

Katherine Monson is the CEO of KSAT Inc. for Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT). KSAT is a world-leading provider of ground station services for satellites, rocket launchers, and experimental spacecraft – supporting over 96% of commercial satellites launched into NGSO during the last two years. With over 50 years of experience, KSAT’s network today spans over 180 antennas at 20 ground station locations across the globe (including Pole to Pole coverage from Antarctica to the Arctic), and is constantly expanding. KSAT is proud to be the behind-the-scenes bridge back to earth, supporting the vast majority of space companies, agencies, and start-ups. Katherine began her career in aerospace as an early member of Spire Global. During her tenure at Spire, Katherine led the Ground Station department, building out a global network of infrastructure to download data from the constellation of over forty spacecraft. Katherine is an avid hiker, and enjoys learning new languages and exploring new places. She lives in Boulder County, Colorado.

Lauren Milord is Director of Programs at DreamUp, where she believes that a learner’s early educational experiences can make or break their pathway to a STEM Career. Lauren works with a range of international space agencies and focuses on expanding access to space-based educational opportunities, including microgravity experiments, and the DreamKit and DreamCoder product lines. Prior to joining DreamUp, Lauren was Community Engagement Specialist in the Office of Engagement at Boston Public Schools where she engaged all sectors of the BPS community in conversations about district policy changes and ensured that community-based and faith-based organizations partnered successfully with BPS schools. Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with a concentration in International Security at Tufts University. When she’s not inspiring dreamers, you can find Lauren Irish dancing wherever a good wooden floor can be found.

Intergovernmental Organizations: Working at the OECD

Denis Bravenic A18, OECD
Wednesday, Aug 12, 1pm
Zoom: https://tufts.zoom.us/j/95746074404

Denis Bravenec is a Junior Policy Analyst (Young Associates Programme) at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Since September 2018, he has served in the OECD’s Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, where he provides policy research and advice for member state governments on sustainable infrastructure and finance, and responsible business conduct in global supply chains. Previously, he interned at the Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington D.C. where he conducted policy analysis and advisory work for Fortune 500 companies and has had experience founding a technology startup. Denis graduated from Tufts in 2018 with a degree in international relations and a minor in entrepreneurship, and comes from the Czech Republic and Mongolia.

Careers in Business: From Start-Ups to Corporations

Padden Murphy A09, Lumay Wang Murphy A11, Anoop Swaminath A02
Wednesday, Aug 19, 1pm

Padden is Head of Communications & Public Affairs at REEF Technology. REEF’s mission is to connect the world to your block. REEF transforms underutilized urban spaces into neighborhood hubs that connect people to locally curated goods, services, and experiences. With an ecosystem of 4,500 locations and a team of 15,000 people, REEF is the largest operator of mobility, logistics hubs, and neighborhood kitchens in the United States, Canada, and has a growing presence in Europe. Previously, Padden held senior communications, public affairs, marketing, and business development roles at WeWork, Getaround, Lyft & Adobe.  Padden has bachelors and masters from Tufts and Oxford where he studied US-Chinese relations and economic development & innovation policy. Padden serves on the board of Bunker Labs, on the Executive Council for Y Combinator Growth, and as a Montana Ambassador for the State of Montana. Padden lives between Bozeman, Montana and New York City with his amazing wife, Lumay.

Lumay Wang Murphy A'11 is a corporate strategist at AB InBev, at the largest CPG company by EBITDA. She is results-oriented, curious, and an advocate of developing and empowering teams. ABI's lean strategy team is responsible for the company's long-term vision and providing insights and analysis of the global company's highest priority issues. Lumay is a former management consultant within Monitor Deloitte (Strategy & Analytics) with deep expertise in retail and CPG industries and a focus on innovation, growth strategy, and sustainable supply chain. After graduating from Tufts as an art history and IR major, she was a legislative correspondent for Senator John F. Kerry and legislative assistant for Congressman Scott Peters where her portfolio included agriculture, energy, and climate change. She received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2016. She currently serves on the board of The Ocean Foundation.

Anoop Swaminath A'02 is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Architect of BrandMedia Technologies. As the company’s founder, he is also the principal inventor of several pioneering technologies, including CloudChain Infrastructure, Automated Digital Exclusive Branding, Display Variance Time-Sequencing, and Double Stack solutions, including Retail Live, Cohorts and Business Montage. The amalgamation of these technologies onto BrandMedia CloudChain majorly disrupts Silicon Valley Big Technology players by enabling unparalleled and direct-to-consumer access for premium brands all over the world. His background includes an array of successful international, technology, and business experiences that span a 16-year career. Recently, Mr. Swaminath had start-up exits with WebFluenz (2013 acquisition, Advisor to CEO), a social media data analytics leader bought by Mu Sigma based in Singapore, and with Counsyl ($375M acquisition, Investor, Adviser to Founder), which returned 35x to its investors. He worked at Cisco Systems in its Central Engineering unit as a Project Manager, leading and overseeing more than 1,500 projects across all of their business units. He has also worked at the World Bank, Greenpeace International, and Creative Labs, among others, executing ICT projects, capacity development initiatives, private sector development and global governance.