Dr. Ethan Chorin

Ethan Chorin (Founder, Managing Director) (Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, French) has held influential roles in the corporate, public, and non-profit sectors, based primarily in the Middle East and North and East Africa. He is the author of two books, including “Exit the Colonel: the Hidden History of the Libyan Revolution” (PublicAffairs, 2012). From 2004 to 2008, Chorin was posted as a U.S. diplomat to Libya, Washington D.C., and the United Arab Emirates; prior to that, he was a business developer at Shell Oil. In 2011, Chorin co-founded a non-profit that initiated several partnerships between hospitals and NGOs in Libya and several major U.S.-based universities. From 2008 to 2011, he was senior manager for Government Relations (Africa) and head of Corporate Social Responsibility and at Dubai Ports World, based in Dubai, and was a member of the 2008 Obama campaign foreign policy group.

Mr. Francis Ghilès

Francis Ghilès is a trilingual (English, French and Spanish) journalist and political analyst who through eighteen years with The Financial Times reporting on international capital markets and North Africa has built up extensive experience and high level contacts throughout the Western Mediterranean, the UK, the USA and Japan. He has been Research Assistant to Pierre Mendès France (MP and the Mayor of Grenoble), Co-founder of the annual Mediterranean Gas Conference, and founder of the North Africa Business Development Forum, and Senior Fellow at IEMed in Barcelona. Mr. Ghiles is now based at the Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB), where he analyses emerging security, political, economic and energy trends in the region and connects them to European, US and North African policy priorities. Mr. Ghiles has been a freelance writer for the IHT, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Les Echos, Libération, El Pais, La Vanguardia, The Financial Times, Institutional Investor, Euromoney, Nature, The Times Literary Supplement, Pouvoirs, Le Monde Diplomatique, Politique Etrangère, and has been interviewed widely on international media.

Dr. Robert Springborg

Robert Springborg is one of the West’s foremost experts on Egypt and the Egyptian military, and the the political economy of the Middle East. Until October, 2013, he was Professor in the Department of National Security Affairs of the Naval Postgraduate School and Program Manager for the Middle East for the Center for Civil-Military Relations. Until August, 2008 he held the MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, where he also served as Director of the London Middle East Institute. Before taking up that Chair he was Director of the American Research Center in Egypt. From 1973 until 1999 he taught in Australia, where he was University Professor of Middle East Politics at Macquarie University. He has also taught at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

Amb. Lange Schermerhorn

Ambassador Schermerhorn’s 35-year Foreign Service career included economic, political, staff, and program direction assignments in the Department of State, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Iran, the United Kingdom, Belgium (twice) , and lastly as Ambassador to the Republic of Djibouti (1998-2000) during which the year-long Arta Somalia reconciliation conference sponsored by the Government of Djibouti took place.

Since retiring in 2001, she has continued her interest in Africa and the affairs of the Horn, with consulting assignments in Egypt, Somaliland, and Djibouti. She participated in election observation missions for Nigeria’s April 2003 and April 2007 presidential elections, Somaliland’s September 2005 parliamentary and June 2010 presidential elections, and Kenya’s December 2007 Presidential election and August 2010 Constitutional referendum.

Maj. Adam Tiffen

Maj. Adam Tiffen is an expert in post-conflict reconstruction, and Co-Founder of Tri-Star Collaborative, a firm specializing in sustainable development in emerging markets and post-conflict environments. With offices in Washington D.C., and Monrovia, Liberia, Tri-Star Collaborative focuses on sustainable infrastructure development in West Africa. Tri-Star’s services include civil engineering, master planning, strategic planning, and construction project management. A licensed attorney, Adam specializes in international business transactions and international trade law. He is admitted to the bar in the State of Florida and Washington D.C., and before the United States Court of International Trade.

Adam is an Infantry officer in the Maryland Army National Guard, where he holds the rank of Major. He has served two extended deployments in Iraq and From 2011-2012 was Aide-de-camp to senior NATO staff in Kabul, Afghanistan. He has been twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for service. Among his other awards are the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. He is also a qualified military parachutist. Adam is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School and Philadelphia University.

Mr. Geoffrey Milton

An expert in emerging markets and bank regulatory matters, having operated on five continents, Geoffrey Milton began his career with Bank of America in 1969 after graduating with a Degree in Economics from London University. From then until 1983 his responsibilities took him, via London & Manchester, to the Middle East (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia & Cairo) for 6 years. He was CEO & a Director of Misr America International Bank in Egypt (1979-1983). He chaired the American Business Group in Cairo, was a Member of the Founding Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (1982-3), and became a Board Member and Vice President of the Arab Bankers Association of North America (ABANA) from 2000-2005. In 2006, he was elected to the Board of the ABANA Foundation.

After a 20 year career in London, Singapore & New York, Geoffrey left Arab Banking Corporation, where he was the General Manager of the U.S. and Latin America business, in 2003 to assist in the start-up of C.I.S. LLC (Capital Investment Solutions), a boutique investment advisory firm. During his career at ABC he was also appointed to the Boards of Banco ABC Brasil in Sao Paulo (1998-2003) and Union Bank of Bangkok in Thailand (1987-1988), after negotiating significant investments in both entities. He had served on the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the Institute of International Bankers in New York and chaired their Legislative and Regulatory Committee. He was a Member of the Advisory Board to the Middle East Institute in Washington DC and, in addition, worked in Jordan and Yemen with the Financial Services Volunteer Corps.

Ms. Thelma Tajirian

Ms. Thelma Tajirian (Arabic, French and Armenian) is a seasoned international finance and development professional with 25 years experience in the US, Canada and emerging markets. Much of Ms. Tajirian’s career has involved taking new initiatives from ideation to strategy to revenue generation and sustainability. Most recently Ms. Tajirian worked at IFC, World Bank Group, where she was Program Manager and Product Leader providing advisory on access to finance services in six countries on financial and financial infrastructure projects. Ms. Tajirian also worked in Middle East North Africa region, including Iraq and Yemen, where she helped set up financial institutions for USAID and US Department of State-funded projects. While in Qatar, she was Director of Youth Initiatives Finance for Silatech, a social enterprise of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah. In that context, she was seconded to Qatar Ministry of Business & Trade, where she advised on creating portfolio credit guarantee scheme. She started her career in the US at Wells Fargo Bank where she worked for 19 years in lending, marketing, strategy and business development. Ms. Tajirian holds an Executive MBA from University of Southern California and MA in International Relations.

Dr. Mietek Boduszynski

Mietek Boduszynski (Arabic, Japanese, Albanian, Croatian-Bosnian-Serbian, Polish, and French) is a recently-retired U.S. diplomat, whose most recent posting was as Public Affairs Officer (PAO) in Libya. As a diplomat, he helped develop civil society organizations in Albania, supported the Final Status process in Kosovo, promoted scientific collaboration in Tokyo. He is currently Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations at Pomona College, where he teaches courses on U.S. Foreign Policy and the Arab Spring. He is the author of a book on democratic transition in the Balkans, and a number of articles on Balkan politics and international justice, and in the fall of 2013 will publish two articles on Libya, in the Journal of Democracy and the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Cyril Kormos

Cyril Kormos (French) is Vice-President for Policy at The WILD Foundation, where he conducts research and advocacy on a range of issues including wilderness law and policy, climate policy, conservation finance and biodiversity offsets. He is a specialist in conservation issues in Africa, and has done extensive fieldwork in Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau and Botswana. Mr. Kormos also serves as Vice-Chair for World Heritage for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). In this capacity he is a member of IUCN’s World Heritage Panel, which advises UNESCO on World Heritage nominations, and attends U.N. World Heritage Committee meetings as a member of IUCN’s delegation. Mr. Kormos is also an associate editor for the International Journal of Wilderness and an editorial board member for IUCN-WCPA’s Parks journal. Prior to moving to WILD in 2002, Mr. Kormos was Senior Director for Programme Management in the President’s office at Conservation International. He has published widely in scientific, law and policy journals and has been the editor/ co-editor of several books on environmental law and policy.

Mr. Peter Francis

Peter Francis is the founder and president of Global Energy Consultants, which specializes in providing advice to the oil and gas industry in emerging and developing countries. Mr. Francis completed 30 years of service with ExxonMobil in a number of executive treasury and government relations positions in the U.S., Europe and Africa. He has extensive knowledge of working in developing and transition economies; how to influence and build relationships with senior government officials; and developing strategies to support new business entry. He also has extensive knowledge of working with U.S./U.K./Brussels government agencies, multilateral and international financial institutions and NGOs. Mr. Francis has been instrumental in raising loans for Mobil’s E&P worldwide operations including the groundbreaking NNPC/Mobil Producing Nigeria $1 billion loan for the Oso field development. He has also guided ExxonMobil’s new business entry strategies in Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. He holds professional qualifications Associate and Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute in London. He is a member of Royal Institute of International Affairs and the Energy Institute and has served on the U.S.-Kazakhstan Business Council, U.S.- Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, U.S.-Qatar Business Council, US- Angola Business Council and the Corporate Council on Africa. He is a director of Oracle Energy Corp, a Vancouver based TSX listed company focused on exploration and production in Africa and a member of the board of Africare in Washington DC, the largest African American development organization. Mr. Francis is a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Ms. Sylvana Sinha

Sylvana Q. Sinha has wide-ranging experience in government relations and public and private international law issues. She has advised governments in Afghanistan, Asia, and the Middle East on governance and legal reform. Her legal practice has included Investor-State and international commercial arbitrations and U.S. federal court proceedings relating to international disputes, representing clients in the energy, extractives, telecommunications, hospitality, and insurance industries, among others. She has particular expertise in business and human rights, including representation of a Canadian oil company in human rights (Alien Tort Statute) litigation involving allegations of international law violations in Sudan and research for the Special Representative to the UN Secretary General on business and human rights issues. Ms. Sinha also served as a foreign policy advisor to the 2008 Presidential campaign of then-Senator Barack Obama. Ms. Sinha has a law degree from Columbia university, a master’s in international development from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Wellesley College (philosophy and economics). She is also a member of the South Asian Women’s Leadership Forum and Asian Women in Business. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. David Zilberman

DAVID ZILBERMAN holds the Robinson Chair in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Zilberman’s areas of expertise include agricultural and environmental policy, marketing, risk management, the economics of innovation, natural resources, water, biotechnology, and biofuels. He has served as a Consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. He received his B.A. in Economics and Statistics at Tel Aviv University, Israel, and his Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. He served as Department Chair from 1994 to1999 and has served on the Boards of many organizations, including the AAEA and the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, as well as on three National Research Council panels. He is the Co-founder of the International Water Resource Economics Consortium and the International Consortium of Applied Bioeconomy Research. He established the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program at Berkeley and the Berkeley Master’s of Development Practice.

Mr. Mark Hope

Mark Hope has spent 28 years in a number of senior positions at resource-focused multinationals with operations in Africa and the Middle East, in Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, Mozambique, Kenya, Iran, and Sao Tome e Principe. Born and raised in East Africa, Mr.Hope successfully built five companies, which have together employed more than 1,000 new staff.
From 2005-2010 Mr. Hope was Vice President and Country Managing Director for Royal Dutch Shell in Libya. This followed an appointment as acting CEO for Olakola LNG, for which he set up a $4 billion LNG project in Lagos, Nigeria. Mr. Hope has been Deputy Chairman and Managing Director at Fayum Gas Co. in Egypt; Business Development Manager - Middle East & North Africa for Shell International Gas, and Drilling Commercial manager for Shell International. Mr. Hope has deep experience in auxiliary sectors such as water management and integrated transport. He began his career with Shell in oilfield operations.

Mr. Hope holds degrees in law, business and mechanical engineering from the University of London and the University of Birmingham, respectively, and hold several professional certificates and professional honors.