Justin Alexander

Justin Alexander has been visiting Iraq for a decade, working with a range of organizations. He is currently based in Doha, Qatar, working as the senior international economist for Qatar National Bank. Before this he was a Middle East editor for the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, producing regular political and economic analysis on Iraq and other countries in the region. His involvement with Iraq began in the late 1990s, campaigning against the humanitarian impact of the sanctions regime, and Alexander first visited Iraq in 2001 on a sanctions-breaking delegation. After the 2003 invasion he founded Jubilee Iraq, an NGO which worked with Iraqi and international partners to advocate for the cancellation of Iraq’s debts (a large part of which were written of by the Paris Club of creditors in 2005). He later volunteered with Christian Peacemaker Teams, living in Baghdad and travelling from Basra to Fallujah, accompanying families trying to get access to detained relatives and supporting cross-sectarian reconciliation initiatives. In 2005-06 he worked with UNAMI to provide technical support to the Iraqi parliament in the drafting of the new constitution and encourage civil society involvement in the process. A highlight was guiding a group of Iraqi MPs on a study tour of South Africa, to learn about its transition from authoritarian rule and experiences of reconciliation.

Johan Bergenas

Johan Bergenas is the deputy director of the Managing Across Boundaries program at the Stimson Center, which looks for innovative government responses–at the international, national, and regional levels–and for smart public-private partnerships to mitigate transnational security threats and ameliorate development challenges. His areas of expertise includes the nexus between security and economic development, public-private sector partnerships, strategic communications, media and public affairs. Prior to joining the Stimson Center, he worked for the Monterey Institute. Before then, he was a member of Oxfam America’s humanitarian policy and communications teams, covering development and conflict issues in the Middle East and Africa. At Oxfam he was also part of several grassroots student organizing efforts. Bergenas has been a reporter and a freelance journalist for numerous publications, covering a wide range of international and U.S. domestic issues.

Jacob Colie

Jacob Colie is the President of Stagecoach Digital LLC. He helps nonprofits, colleges and universities, and small businesses take advantage of the internet. With 12 years of nonprofit experience, Jacob raised over $68 million from 200,000 supporters. He pioneered many key digital fundraising tools and marketing methods. He is passionate about leveraging technology to raise money, improve returns on investment, engage supporters, advocate and raise awareness.

Willroy Grant

Willroy Grant is the Peacebuilding Coordinator for Collaboration at World Vision International. World Vision is one of the largest international relief and development non-governmental organizations, on-the-ground in more than 100 countries, and has a world-class peacebuilding team. Grant is based in his native Costa Rica and has global responsibilities. His previous assignment with World Vision was supporting the agency’s emergency response to the Haiti earthquake in January 2010.

Grant has spent much of his professional life as a peacebuilder. Since 1995, he has worked in Latin America as a family conflict mediator, counselor, consultant, and trainer on conflict resolution issues. He recently was a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and for the Foundation for Peace and Democracy as a senior conflict resolution trainer on protected land issues in Costa Rica. Grant has especially enjoyed working with church youth ministries. He received his B.A. from the University of the Ozarks and his M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University. Grant works fluently in English and Spanish.

Pierre Habshi

Pierre Habshi is a business entrepreneur and international development consultant with extensive field experience. Habshi is the founder and former CEO of a leading e-commerce venture in Thailand, and current board member and ongoing advisor of the company’s strategic planning, operations, and investor relations. He has consulted and managed development projects in Afghanistan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, and East Timor. Habshi has also served as an elections monitor, analyst, and coordinator of civil society initiatives in Haiti, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, the Palestinian Territories, and most recently in Tunisia following the country’s successful pro-democracy revolution in 2011. His connections in Iraq run deep. From 2001 to 2003, Habshi worked with UNICEF in Baghdad as an analyst and reports officer, monitoring the delivery of humanitarian goods under the UN Oil for Food Program. In 2003, he coordinated UNICEF’s emergency response to the Iraq War in Amman, Jordan as the country received tens of thousands of refugees from Iraq. Later that year, Habshi returned to Iraq to head Creative Associate’s South/Central Iraq office. With 30 Iraqi national employees who he recruited and trained, Habshi managed $1.8 million in small grants and successfully rehabilitated more than 200 schools. He has a Master in Business Administration (INSEAD), a Master in International Public Policy (SAIS), and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (UC Berkeley).

Idriss Al-Rifai

Idriss Al Rifai is a Dubai-based consultant with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the world’s leading consulting firms, in their Public Sector practice area in the Middle East. As a core member of the Public Sector team, he advises governments in the region. Al Rifai has nurtured a passion for Iraq for years: He was born, and spent his early years, in Baghdad. Prior to joining BCG, Al Rifai worked for more than six years at the French Ministry of Defense, focusing on security matters in Africa and the Middle East. He spent several of those years on the ground in multiple countries, doing political and macro-economic analysis. He later joined the Defense Ministry’s Delegation for Strategic Affairs at the Crisis Desk and provided Minister-level guidance on French engagement with Iraq and Afghanistan. Al Rifai has degrees from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Paris and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Nathaniel Rosenblatt

Nathaniel Rosenblatt coordinates activity for two centers of research at The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS). Nathaniel received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD and a Master of Arts (MA) in International Economics and International Relations with a Middle East concentration from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC. Nathaniel wrote his graduate thesis on Syrian politics, participated as an international elections observer in Iraq’s national elections in March 2010 and is the author of a paper on the Turkish national elections in 2007.

Leah Rush

Though raised in Texas, Leah played basketball collegiately at the University of Oklahoma. After graduating in 2007, she began playing professionally in the WNBA and with several teams throughout Europe and Australia. Because of the success she’s had as an athlete, opportunities to be involved in various humanitarian and development projects resulted. She believes in the positive effects of sport and the power it has to engage individuals and communities because she has seen it in action. Rush has worked with numerous organizations and causes, concentrating on youth development, health and education promotion, environmental conservation, and community building. Leah recently finished her master’s degree in Development Anthropology from the University of Durham in the UK and plans to continue working in the international development and aid sector long after she finishes her basketball career. Since 2007, Leah has lived and worked in multiple countries across the globe; for now, when she’s not traveling, she can be found in Washington D.C.

Polly Stamatopoulos

Polly Aris Stamatopoulos has been working in all areas of resources development and non-profit management since 1991. She is currently the CEO of The Rainmakers Group.

Stamatopoulos has previously held the position of Director of Development at numerous DC-area and national non-profit organizations, including Women Empowered Against Voiolence (WEAVE) and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). She is a long-time champion of women’s rights, peace and social justiceand has chosen to work with organizations that help her pursue her personal and professional goal—advocating for the under-served. In striving to achieve her goals, Stamatopoulos has gained extensive experience working with and on behalf of gay, lesbian and transgender people, people with mental illness, victims of crime, women and children, the elderly, disabled, and the poor and/or homeless.