SPEAKER PROFILES

Ziad is a multi-disciplinary engineer who specializes in building Municipal Recycling Facilities on the communal level going against the trend of a central Mega recycling Plant. While doing research at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA his team developed a technology to accelerate the composting cycle of organic waste in an odorless manner to produce high grade fertilizer. After returning to Lebanon in 1996, Ziad started Cedar Environmental, an environmental & industrial engineering organization that aims to build recycling plants to produce organically certified fertilizers and leave no waste material to be disposed of, but instead recycled into a new form of product to be used again and again. Most municipalities in Lebanon and the middle east cannot afford to buy recycling plants, so Ziad worked out a three way contract where local banks give his company soft loans to build the recycling facilities and municipalities pay only for the service of recycling/composting in comfortable monthly installments not exceeding 5 US Dollars per household per month.

Recently, Ziad and his engineering team, after four years of research, developed a new technology which transforms plastic bags into solid plastic panels, dubbed ECO-BOARD, used in the outdoors to replace wooden and steel panels. They have won the 2013 International Energy Globe Award for this revolutionary process. Currently, they are transforming that technology from using fossil fuels to generate the required energy to biomass a renewable energy source. He is the recipient of an American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) design award in 1993 for his design linking municipal waste management to agriculture.

In 2001, he received the Ford Motor Company Environmental & Conservation award for the Middle East. In 2011, he was named Arab World Social Innovator by Synergos institute in New York City, USA. In February 2014, he was awarded by the World CSR Congress the Green Future Leadership Award. In April 2014, he was named to the fourth annual GOOD 100 list of global citizens and creative changemakers by GOOD Magazine, a US based publication. In June 2003, he was awarded the certificate of appreciation and recognition by the Syrian Government for his overall plan to make Syrian Food industries compliant with Clean Production Protocols. He expanded his study to be implemented all over the Middle-East and North Africa region and received the certificate of recognition of the Arab League in April 2006. His work in the advancement of the Zero Waste Societies earned him a speaking slot at the TEDxBeirut conference in September 2011. He has made numerous TV appearances for his innovative social work promoting environmental protection and green jobs creation. He holds a patent in a technology to compost organic materials dynamically with no pollution and has written extensively on environmental policies, issues and future trends.

ZiadAbichaker

CEO Cedar Environmental - Lebanon: Environmental EngineerIndustrial Engineer, Master Garbage Man

Alissa Amico is the Managing Director of GOVERN, which works alongside public and corporate leaders in advancing on corporate governance and economic governance in the Middle East and North Africa and other emerging markets through rigorous research. A unique policy and advisory entity, Govern provides expertise and technical assistance to policymakers and support to leading private and sovereign entities in the region, deploying internationally recognised practitioners and renowned academics in teams of targeted, complementary expertise.

Until 2015, Alissa was responsible for overseeing OECD’s work on financial markets and corporate governance in the Middle East and North Africa. Alissa joined the OECD in 2005 to establish a regional programme on private sector development in the MENA region with the relevant Ministers in the region. In 2008, she launched a regional project on financial markets and corporate governance. In this capacity, Alissa provided technical expertise to a number of governments in the design of regulatory initiatives and institution building, including in particular to stock exchanges, securities regulators, central banks, ministries of finance and economy as well as corporate governance centers. Alissa was involved in the formulation of corporate and capital market laws and regulations in Egypt, Oman, Morocco, the UAE and other countries of the region. She has also provided policy advice to governments on broader economic policy challenges such as through a recent initiative to establish an economic advisory council to the President of Egypt. Over the past decade, she has accompanied executives and boards of leading companies in the region on a range of governance reforms.

Alissa has authored a number of publications including Recommendations on Corporate Governance of Banks in the Middle East and North Africa (2009), The Role of MENA Stock Exchanges in Corporate Governance (2012), State-Owned Enterprises: Engines of Development and Competitiveness? (2013), Corporate Governance Enforcement in the Middle East and North Africa (2014), The Role of Institutional Investors in MENA Capital Markets (2015). Her contributions have included articles in academic journals, regional and international newspapers and she has been interviewed by television and online media. She is a regular contributor to key fora in the region (GCC Regulators Summit, Capital Markets Forum, Euromoney, etc.) Alissa holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business, York University (Canada) and a Masters degree in Political Economy with a specialisation in the Middle East from the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK). She is a member of the French Institute of Directors’ International Commission. Alissa was named one of the Top 100 Leaders in Europe and the Middle East by the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence in 2011 and was recognised by Columbia Law School as the Rising Star of Corporate Governance in 2014. She is trilingual in English, French, and Russian and speaks basic Arabic.

AlissaAmico

Managing DirectorGOVERN

SPEAKER PROFILES

Noha El-Mikawy is the Regional Director of the Ford Foundation's Middle East and North Africa office in Cairo, Egypt. She oversees the foundation’s entire grant making in the region. Before joining the Ford Foundation in 2012, Noha served as team leader for democratic governance at the United Nations (UNDP) Arab regional center. Previously, Noha led Middle East focused comparative research on political economy and institutional analysis at the Centre for Development Research at the University of Bonn (Germany) in collaboration with the Economic Research Forum for the Arab States, Iran and Turkey (ERF). She began her career lecturing and writing on politics of the Middle East at the American University in Cairo, Free University of Berlin and Erlangen-Nuremberg University. Noha has a number of publications including two books on politics of reform in Egypt and one edited comparative study on processes of economic reform, participation and legislation in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. Noha holds a Ph.D. and M.A. both from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

NohaEl-Mikawy

Regional Director of Middle East and North Africa, Ford Foundation

After thirteen years in the private sector in the US and Palestine as a project and consultant engineer, and then in academia at Birzeit University, Ziad Khalaf’s growing interest in socio-economic development led to a post-graduate diploma in development management and subsequently to a career in development work in Palestine that extends to the present. He directed the Human Resources Development Programme at the Welfare Association for four years, and in 1998 led the launching of the A. M. Qattan Foundation in Palestine which has since become one of the major organizations working in education, culture and the arts in Palestine and the region. Throughout his work with the latter, he was instrumental in developing the Foundation’s three core programmes, the establishment of a number of strategic partnerships between the Foundation and leading developmental institutions in Europe and the US, and launching innovative projects including the Gaza Music School, the Performing Arts Network Program, and Selat: Links through the Arts. Ziad Khalaf co-founded and has been active in a number of local and regional institutions including the Technical Development Corporation; Ramallah Municipal Council; Al-Haq Society; The Arab Foundations Forum, and Future Pioneers School.

ZiadKhalaf

Director GeneralA.M. Qattan Foundation

SPEAKER PROFILES

As Director of Global Partnerships at Foundation Center, Lauren Bradford manages the SDG Philanthropy Platform including SDGfunders.org and other major projects and relationships. Lauren began her career in strategic urban planning in Australia before transitioning to international development with the United Nations (UN) in Timor-Leste, where she worked on Millennium Development Goal progress and UN Country Team coordination. From there she joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), working in the World Heritage Center, and then to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Development Cooperation Directorate/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) where she advised and coordinated the OECD Post-2015 task team and supported the work on financing for development including Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD). After this, Lauren worked with the World Bank, looking at how best to leverage land to structure urban regeneration private-public partnerships. With degrees in both Urban Planning and International Development, Lauren has expertise in the global development framework and its relationship to data and knowledge, including the creation and implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the financing of the 2030 development agenda.

LaurenBradford

Director, Global PartnershipsFoundation Center

Clare Woodcraft is the Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Foundation, the national foundation of the UAE, and is responsible for driving its vision of supporting youth development in the country. Woodcraft brings over 20 years of experience working in the field of sustainable socio-economic development in the Middle East and Africa with particular focus on the finance and energy sectors. She has worked as a development practitioner, a journalist and a corporate executive specializing in sustainability and social investment. Prior to joining Emirates Foundation, she was Deputy Director of Shell Foundation, the Regional Director of Communications for Royal Dutch Shell in the Middle East and North Africa, she headed Visa International’s public affairs arm in emerging markets (Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa), and also worked in Palestine for various development agencies and contributed to several literary studies on the issue of sustainable socio-economic development. Woodcraft is a fluent Arabic speaker holding a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and French from Salford University in the UK and a Masters in Sustainable Development from the London School of Economics. She holds various governance roles including on advisory boards for Salford University, the British Embassy in the UAE, the UK/UAE 2017 Year of Culture and OperationHope, a US based NGO focusing on promoting financial literacy. She is currently theChair of the Board of the Arab Foundations Forum.

ClareWoodcraft

Chief Executive OfficerEmirates Foundation

SPEAKER PROFILES

Barbara Lethem Ibrahim is founding director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement (2006-2014) at the American University in Cairo, currently Advisor to the President, AUC.

She previously served as the MENA Regional Director for the International Population Council and a Program Officer in the Cairo Office of the Ford Foundation. She holds the M.A. degree from American University of Beirut and a Ph.D. in sociology from Indiana University. Her publications address philanthropy in the Arab region, youth activism in Egypt, gender and adolescence, and challenges to civil society and philanthropy in the Arab transitions. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (WINGS) and the International Center for Not for Profit Law. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of Middle East Women’s Studies in 2009.

BarbaraIbrahim

Advisor to the PresidentThe American University in Cairo

Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact, the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with corporations, governments, foundations, investors, communities and civil society to formulate strategies and implement solutions that generate lasting social, environmental and financial benefits.

For the past 50 years, we have been making Positive Impact possible. With a team of more than 2,500 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of over 35,000 technical experts, Palladium has improved - and is committed to continuing to improve - businesses, economies, societies and most importantly people’s lives.

Palladium International Advisoryand Management Business

AbdelRahman Nagy is a Senior Policy and Research Manager at J-PAL and manages J-PAL’s partnerships activities in Egypt. He is working on establishing partnerships, and disseminate evidence from J-PAL evaluations to support international and local organizations in enhancing their programs designs based on the research outcomes. Simultaneously, he is managing J-PAL research projects in Egypt. AbdelRahman is working closely with J-PAL partners, policy makers in Egypt, and J-PAL affiliated professors in finding new solutions to alleviate poverty.

Prior to joining J-PAL, AbdelRahman worked for more than a decade in the monitoring and evaluation field with many international organizations and Egyptian donors such as Save the Children, Aid to Artisans and US-AID programs. He also worked as a consultant with The World Bank, Social Contract, and US-AID. Besides, he is a co-founder for the Arab Foundation for Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality, and El Haya Erada NGO for sustainable development. AbdelRahman did several post graduates diplomas in Economics, Public policy and Research methods. He is currently a PhD candidate in research methods at Cairo university. In addition, he is completing his MA in International and Comparative Education at the American University in Cairo.

AbdelRahmanNagy

Senior Policy and Research ManagerJ-PAL

SPEAKER PROFILES

Nour Shammout is a Policy Manager at J-PAL and manages J-PAL’s Labor Markets sector. She supports the Middle East and North Africa Research and Policy Initiative which aims to fund and develop research partnerships to answer questions critical to poverty alleviation in the region. In this role, she helps foundations, NGOs, and governments integrate rigorous evidence into their program and policy processes, and helps forge new research partnerships to answer questions critical to poverty alleviation. She also manages the Youth Initiative which seeks to generate research on policies and interventions that can help youth successfully navigate the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Prior to joining J-PAL, Nour worked in a variety of positions related to local economic development, employment, and education in the Middle East. She worked at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in Jordan and supported research teams at the World Bank’s Development Research Group studying the impact of labor market interventions. Nour holds an MPP and an MUP from the University of Michigan and a BSc in manufacturing engineering from Boston University.

NourShammout

Policy Manager and Labor Markets Program Manager J-PAL

Bryanna Millis is an Economist and the Director of FHI 360s Workforce Development and Entrepreneurship Department. For more than 15 years she has provided leadership to programs enhancing business competitiveness, job creation, and institutional reform, as well as to the design and implementation of research tools and methods. Bryanna has lived and worked in the MENA region since 2008, providing technical leadership to projects in Palestine, Jordan, and Morocco. In 2014 Bryanna finalized the design of the $70 Million USAID Jordan Local Enterprise Support Project, for which she has provided technical oversight since that time. As the lead of the research and learning agenda she oversaw the design, implementation, and analysis of a large scale MSE survey, which both informs the activities of the program and serves as a foundation for a peer-reviewed paper on the determinants of MSE growth, as well as leading research on the economic impact of Syrian refugees in Jordan. Previously, Bryanna led research for the Palestine Trade Center to increase domestic market share of local producers in the West Bank; and used cost modeling, political economy analysis, and stakeholder advocacy to address regulatory constraints to competitiveness. Bryanna has published widely on her work and most recently spoke on her forthcoming article Determinants of Growth in Micro and Small Enterprises: Empirical Evidence from Jordan at the International Statistics Institute World Statistics Congress in Morocco. Bryanna has a MA in Development Economics from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a BA in Communications and Fine Art from the University of Pennsylvania.

BryannaMillis

Economist & Director of Workforce Development and Entrepreneurship DepartmentFHI 360

SPEAKER PROFILES