2024 Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network

Giorgi Agirbaia currently serves as executive director of ProActive Group Georgia, a leading independent youth NGO. He is also an internationalization development manager at Alterbridge University in Georgia.  

Agirbaia has ten years of experience working in civil society and six years in the education sector, having served in various roles such as international youth and educational programs manager, team leader, and certified trainer. Since 2014, he has implemented international programs supported by the EU, the Council of Europe (CoE), the German Federal Foreign Office, and USAID Georgia. He has conducted dozens of Erasmus+ youth mobility projects in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia, contributing to the development of a free, democratic, and proactive-minded inclusive society.  

Agirbaia holds an MBA and a PhD in public governance from the Georgian Technical University, and as an Erasmus+ doctoral exchange student, studied at Alcala University, Spain, in 2021. He is the consultant for the book “Regional Policy of EU Countries.” He advocates for meaningful youth participation as the CoE’s Conference of International NGOs youth delegate and serves as an elected leadership council member of the European Democracy Youth Network. He also regularly participates in international forums and conferences as a moderator and panelist, including the Economic Forum of Young Leaders in Poland, the Global Peace Summit in Seoul, South Korea (2017) and the World Forum for Democracy (2022–23) at CoE and European Parliament. 

Mariam Aleksanyan is a project officer at the Council of Europe (CoE) office in Yerevan. In this role, she implements country-specific initiatives focused on addressing issues related to discrimination, racism, and hate speech in Armenia. 

Prior to assuming her position at the CoE, Aleksanyan demonstrated her expertise within the NGO sector in Armenia. Her professional background reflects a commitment to promoting human rights and combating societal challenges. Furthermore, she actively contributed to empowering youth in Armenia to facilitate their increased participation at the local level. 

Aleksanyan holds a master’s degree in global political economy from the University of Kassel. Her academic interests revolve around the democratic consolidation process and the impact of foreign aid in fostering a country's economic growth. 

Hadeil Ali is director and fellow of the Diversity and Leadership in International Affairs Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The program is dedicated to elevating diverse voices and perspectives to lead to more ideas, more innovation, and more robust policy solutions. 

Ali serves as a thought leader on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the national security space and is the chair of the Think Tank Diversity Consortium. She is an advisor with Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS). She has published numerous pieces with CSIS, Inkstick Media, Business Insider, and Medium on the topics of DEI and national security. She has participated in dozens of panels, lectures, and conferences throughout the United States.  

Ali is a 2023–2024 Penn Kemble Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and a 2022 fellow with the International Career Advancement Program. She was included on the 2022 CSIS National Security and Foreign Affairs Top 50 Leadership List and is a Middle East Policy Council 40 Under 40 awardee. She holds a master’s degree in contemporary Arab studies with highest honors from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and communications summa cum laude from Drury University. She speaks French, Arabic, and Spanish. 

Karen Alzate has served in the Rhode Island General Assembly since 2018. She is the current chair of the Special Legislation committee, and a member of the Finance, Labor, and Municipal Government and Housing committees. 

In 2020, Alzate was elected chair of the Rhode Island Black and Latino Caucus. Under her leadership, the caucus was able to pass legislation that increased the minimum wage in RI, passed driver privilege cards for those who are undocumented, and allowed in-state tuition for undocumented students pursuing college degrees. 

Alzate is also a member of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and is the vice chair of the government, social justice, and taxation committee. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Rhode Island College (2013) and a master’s degree in community development from Roger Williams University (2019). 

Malika Banyundo is the co-founder of Rights Hut, a Brussels-based NGO that promotes collaborative solutions for better migration systems in the EU.  

Banyundo holds a law degree and is pursuing a master's degree in political science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Committed to advancing the participation of individuals with migration backgrounds in EU policymaking, she advocates for collaborative solutions and inclusive policies at local and international levels. As a dedicated proponent of diversity and equity, she strives to ensure that EU policies align with the needs of all residents, fostering a more inclusive and democratic Europe. 

Oltjana Beci is a cybersecurity professional currently working for an Albanian government institution. Her engagement extends beyond her professional domain, as she actively contributes to promoting democracy, gender equality, and inclusiveness in her capacity as a board member of the Women's Democracy Network Albania. In addition, she has contributed to the cause of youth inclusion and empowerment as a member of the Youth Advisory Group of the OSCE Presence in Albania from 2018 to 2020.  

Beci believes that education and the cultivation of leadership based on Euro-Atlantic values are key to empowering democratic societies, strengthening international cooperation and social cohesion, and fostering peace and security. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electronic engineering from the Polytechnic University of Tirana and a master’s degree in diplomacy and international relations of the EU from the University of Tirana.  

Beci’s achievements also include receiving awards from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs Scholarship for Peace and Security to complete a training program in the field of arms control and disarmament as well as the OSCE Young Developers and Entrepreneurs to Advance Start-ups scholarship to attend the European Innovation Academy. Additionally, she has successfully completed the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance Young Faces educational program in cybersecurity governance and the Swedish Institute Academy for Young Professionals in the field of e-governance. Furthermore, she has completed several other cybersecurity trainings with a focus on technical and strategic aspects. She is fluent in English, French, and Italian. 

William "Tony" Bishop currently serves as an advisor on cyber policy at the White House. He previously served as deputy policy director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. At the DCCC, he wrote policy guidance for members of Congress and congressional candidates.  

Previously, Bishop served as executive director of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC). In this role, he worked to create and advance public policy to empower the Black community with a voting block of 19 Black members in the Ohio legislature. He also led the organizational component of OLBC that provides community resources, civic education, and fundraising efforts. Prior to this role, he was a Robert Schuman fellow in the European Parliament (EP), where he was one of the first African Americans to receive the fellowship. While at the EP, he worked in the Directorate General for the Presidency as a member of the team for relations with national parliaments. The opportunity for this role came through his work in the EP’s liaison office in Washington, DC, where he worked to strengthen the European relationship with Congress.  

Prior to engaging with Congress externally, Bishop worked within its walls as a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) fellow in the office of House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries. This fellowship was preceded by time spent in the Ohio Legislature as a legislative aide for issues of healthcare equity and reform. He is also president of the CBCF Alumni Association. Bishop holds both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Otterbein University, located in Westerville, Ohio.  

Edrieënna Brandao is based in the Dutch Caribbean and is active at the intersection of social justice and community resilience. Through her consultancy work at Euxtopia Innovations, Brandao stimulates community and internal capacity-building by designing and evaluating social programs with local NGOs. 

Brandao's undergraduate degree is in education, and she specializes in foundational health and well-being. This is complemented by her activism and advisory work with organizations in the Netherlands such as UNESCO, UNICEF, Humanity in Action, and Greenpeace, as well as with governing bodies on her island and at the federal level. 

Carolina Buendia is a research analyst for religion and inclusive societies at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) and works on the Religion and Psychosocial Support initiative.  

Buendia is a PhD candidate at the Global Development Studies Unit of the political, societal, and regional change doctoral program of the University of Helsinki. Her research examines how discourses and practices around women’s rights have been shaped and transformed with the proliferation of partnerships through a case study of Finland’s development cooperation in Kenya.  

Before joining USIP, Buendia worked as a consultant for the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission supporting the design and implementation of psychosocial peacebuilding initiatives in Colombia. Between 2018 and 2020, she conducted research on migration and gender-based violence within the project “Violence against women migrants and refugees: analyzing causes and effective policy response” in collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies. She has experience working on and researching feminism and peacebuilding, migration- and gender-based violence, psychosocial support and religious actors' engagement, and the private turn in development. 

Hakan Çoban was born in Famagusta, Cyprus. Coming from a community of Turkish Cypriots, a minority population that suffered greatly, allowed him to grasp certain things from a young age. At the age of 13, he became politically engaged in organizations advocating for the reunion of Cyprus. He founded his own non-profit organization at the age of 21 to bring all students together, regardless of their color, gender, or sexual orientation. 

As a volunteer in this organization, Çoban assisted in organizing cultural events, panel discussions, and workshops on human rights, history, politics, as well as environmental activities. Later, he became more involved in rights-based organizations focusing on the reconciliation process of Cyprus and youth participation in the peace process. During this period, he had the opportunity to visit the European Youth Parliament and represent Turkish Cypriot youth twice. This inspired him to consider a career in European institutions. 

After moving back to Cyprus from Bolivia, Çoban had the opportunity to manage the political campaign for Niyazi Kizilyurek, the first Turkish Cypriot member of the European Parliament. Since this campaign work, he has been interested in new media and the influence of the media on societies. After the European Parliament elections in May 2019, he moved to Brussels and began working as Kizilyurek’s assistant in the EP. Last September, he was elected to represent accredited parliamentary assistants in the Accredited Parliamentary Assistants Committee. 

Yasmine Dong (she/her) serves as senior trade policy advisor at the UK Department for Business and Trade where she leads the work in developing policies addressing non-tariff measures. Her portfolio includes international trade and foreign affairs with special emphasis on reducing technical barriers to trade and enhancing the multilateral governance of trade. She is a foreign policy expert who works collaboratively with international and regional organizations to promote various facets of international standards.  Her research interests include the geopolitics of transatlantic relations, national security, and global trade. 

Dong actively supports and champions gender diversity in the workplace. She co-chairs the Gender Equality Network within the Department for Business and Trade and sits on the steering committee of the Cross-Government Gender Network. Additionally, she is committed to fostering social inclusion and mobility within foreign affairs and national security fields.  In 2021, she was named one Yahoo’s Finance Top 100 UK Future Women Leaders for her work around promoting gender equality in the UK civil service and for her broader community service. 

Leonela "Leo" Felix is a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly since 2021, where she serves as a member of the House Committee on Judiciary and co-chairs the Rhode Island Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander Caucus. Simultaneously, Felix holds the pivotal role of ethics education coordinator within the legal department of the City of Providence, where she leads the development of educational programs on municipal ethics, ensuring strict compliance with state and federal laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Among Representative Felix’s legislative accomplishments are sponsoring transit-oriented development legislation, addressing housing challenges, and enhancing protections for homeowners facing foreclosure. Leveraging her firsthand experience within the criminal legal system, Felix played a crucial role in passing the automatic expungement provision in cannabis legislation, leading to the expungement of over 25,000 criminal records to date. Beyond her legislative duties, Felix serves as the vice-chair of the National Conference of State Legislators' Standing Committee on Law, Criminal Justice, and Public Safety, contributing her expertise to national discussions on key legal and public safety issues. Additionally, she is a proud member of the NewDEAL (Developing Exceptional American Leaders) network, a prestigious organization dedicated to identifying, nurturing, and connecting emerging leaders committed to driving innovative and inclusive policymaking across the United States.

Eliana Fernandez is a dedicated organizer with more than ten years of experience in grassroots organizing. She is a strong advocate for her community and a national spokesperson for immigrants like herself. She was born in Ecuador and raised there by extended family after her parents migrated to the United States when she was three years old.  At age 14, she joined her parents in the US. 

Growing up without her parents from a young age, Fernandez struggled to understand her parents’ sacrifices and grappled with many challenges related to her family’s separation and immigration status.  However, she did not let these challenges define her and later became inspired to help her parents and her community.  

Fernandez has emerged as an important voice in both the local and national immigration conversation to share her experiences as a mother, student, and activist. She currently serves as the organizing director at Make the Road New Jersey. 

Judit Ignácz is a consultant and trainer specializing in diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and justice (DEIBJ) and is committed to promoting human rights and intersectional feminism. She holds a degree from the School of Public Policy at Central European University. Her work involves management, grant writing, advocacy, public policy analysis, research, and human rights monitoring at the national and international levels. She develops and leads non-formal education programs and interactive workshops tailored to the diverse needs of participants in the civic and for-profit sectors.  
 
Ignácz regularly presents and shares her insights on oppression, allyship, and resilience against racism. She also publishes articles on human rights, intersectionality, feminism, and social issues affecting the Roma, BIPOC, and WOC communities in prominent Hungarian media outlets.  
 
In 2020, Ignácz co-founded Ame Panzh ("Five of Us"), a Romani activist group of knowledge producers that launched a unique series of online discussions addressing racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic rhetoric and practices in Hungary, and published its first book on Roma representation and DEIB in 2023.

Aloïs Kirner is currently consulting director at ELABE, an opinion research consultancy. He advises a range of private and public organizations on issues related to corporate reputation, change management, and leadership practices. He has also served as communications manager at Boeing.  

Kirner is committed to fostering societal and corporate change by shaping positive perceptions and narratives, and in 2021, he led the adoption of the advertising and PR industry's first ever industry-wide commitment charter for sustainable and inclusive communications practices. Drawing on his experience and expertise in public opinion management, he advises elected officials and non-profit organizations on agenda-setting strategies benefiting invisible minorities. He is currently assisting the French Institute for Handisports (ISPC-Synergies) in raising public awareness of handicap inclusion as a driver of innovation, creativity, and dynamism in the context of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Kirner holds a master’s degree in international relations and a bachelor’s degree in transatlantic relations from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). 

Galyna Kotliuk is a feminist human rights defender and activist. She currently serves as the gender democracy program coordinator at the Heinrich Böll Foundation office in Kyiv, Ukraine.  

As program coordinator, Kotliuk is focused on advocating for and promoting a gender-sensitive and gender-responsive recovery of Ukraine. Aside from this, she is also a co-editor of Gender in Detail, the most prominent expert resource on gender equality in Ukraine.  

The scope of Kotliuk's academic interests includes Russian colonialism and postcolonial approaches to gender role construction in Ukraine. She has presented her research at several conferences worldwide and her publications on this topic include "Gender in Ukraine: Between Russian Colonialism and Western Orientalism” (2023) and “Feminism in Ukraine is always anticolonial” (2023). She holds two master’s degrees, one in English philology from Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (2014) and another in culture studies from the University of Regensburg (2019). 

Yulian Kritsak is the founder and chairman of 3.5 Percent, a Ukrainian NGO promoting youth participation and rights. With his team, he is engaged in creating a think tank that performs research and advocacy towards reducing youth brain drain from Ukraine. He has successfully coordinated a sociological research study with the European Youth Foundation of Council of Europe on reasons for brain drain among young people, and he has contributed to the GMF Black Sea Trust-supported project on creating a national action plan on preventing brain drain. Currently, he manages a comprehensive program with UNICEF regarding humanitarian response and early recovery, including nine project activities covering seven regions of western Ukraine. 

Kritsak actively participated in shaping youth-related policies, advocating for the state social program "Youth of Ukraine 2021–2025" in the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine. He successfully advocated for recommendations in the Governmental Youth Strategy 2020–2030, contributing to the formulation of policies that address the needs and aspirations of the youth in Ukraine. He is committed to engaging young people in decision-making processes and has been instrumental in popularizing Sustainable Development Goals and Youth Goals. His work includes providing non-formal education for members and event attendees and fostering a culture of active civic participation among youth. 

Kritsak has been recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for his significant contributions to the development of youth parliamentarism and local self-government. He also serves as a supervisory board member of the Ukrainian Youth Foundation and previously served as an expert on youth rights at the European Youth Forum. 

Clara Latini currently works as a consultant for the World Bank. She has professional experience with the European Commission (DG INTPA), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Secretary-General Office, United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN), London School of Economics European Institute, and various other think tanks. 

Latini has a master’s degree in public policy from the London School of Economics and is the youngest member of the UNSDSN EU Green Deal Senior Working Group. Clara participated at the Conference of the Parties (COP), Sustainable Brands, UN Water Conference, UNESCO Conference on Resilience, Stockholm+50, Asia-Europe Meeting Summit, G20, and other high-level conferences. She was also invited as a panelist to events for the UN Development Program, C20, Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States, the New York City Mayor’s Office, the European Commission, New European Bauhaus, Sciences Po, University of Warwick, and others.  

Latini has been published by Springer, Routledge Handbook of Comparative Economic Systems, and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, with a preface from Pope Francis and experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She is fluent in English, Italian, German, and French.  

Vero Melua is a Georgian women's rights activist and works for several NGOs. She serves as project manager at ForSet and content creator at Tbilisi Pride and is a co-founder and communications strategist at Femea.  

Melua received her bachelor's degree in social sciences at the Free University of Tbilisi. She has been involved in activism since childhood, volunteering on issues like children's rights, improving schools' infrastructure for safer and better education, and more. Later, she dedicated her knowledge and skills to feminism and women's informational empowerment. She is especially interested in the rights and experiences of refugees and internally displaced women, sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health, and women's political participation. 

Dylan Pereira is co-founder and editor-in-chief of Revista Diplomacia, the only printed magazine for international relations and diplomacy in Venezuela. He is also a weekly opinion writer on human rights, democracy, and sustainable development for Diario El Universal, a major Venezuelan newspaper, and he has been a political analyst on television programs such as “Brújula Internacional”, “Primera Página”, “Ampliamente”, and "Con Gladys Rodríguez." 

Pereira has previously worked as a research and analysis policy strategy assistant at World Enabled and has recently collaborated with the Council of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. He has also been a delegate at various international summits such as the World Youth Assembly at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the Young Americas Forum, and Smart Cities Amsterdam. He is an alumnus of the Botín Foundation’s Program for Strengthening the Public Function in Latin America and the Carolina Foundation’s Young Ibero-American Leaders program. He is also a member of the board of directors of various organizations such as the Vida Verde International Foundation and the Organization of Ibero-American Journalists. 

He holds a bachelor's degree from the Metropolitan University of Caracas, and he is currently completing a master’s degree in political action, institutional strengthening, and citizen participation in rule of law at Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid.

Justin Sammon is a member-relations coordinator of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), a network of over 130 regional governments within and beyond the EU.  
 
His work focuses on coalition- and partnership-building in support of regional development, European integration, and social, political, and economic inclusion. He leads the AER's Ukraine Focus Group, which consolidates European networks to build the capacity of Ukrainian regions in view of EU accession. In 2022, he spearheaded the organization of the AER's flagship youth event, the Summer Academy, a winner of the European Parliament's Citizens' Prize in 2023.  
 
His career has included work and traineeships in European public institutions, think tanks, trade unions, and academic institutions He holds a master’s degree in European studies from Lund University, and a bachelor’s degree in classical civilization and modern Irish from Trinity College Dublin.  

Chris Simon is currently the acting program lead for the Leaders Europe program at the Obama Foundation in Chicago. In this role, he designs and implements a leadership development program shaped around President Obama’s values and aimed at building a growing network of innovative and values-based changemakers who seek to drive change in their communities across Europe.  

Before joining the Obama Foundation, Simon was based in Brussels, Belgium, working as a policy and media consultant. Prior to this, he was a trainee at the Delegation of the European Union to the United States in Washington, DC. As a dual EU-US citizen, his interests are focused on strengthening transatlantic relations, preserving democracy, and facilitating connections across sectors, regions, and cultures. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from McGill University in Montréal, Canada, and later received his master’s degree in public policy from King’s College London.  

Maria Willett is the chief of staff for the City of Rochester Hills and leads the mayor’s key initiatives, fundraising campaigns, special events, and communications. Whether it’s meeting with a resident or coordinating a fireworks show for thousands, every day is a little different.  
 
In addition, Willett is a familiar face in the Greater Rochester Region.  She is a founding member of the Young Professionals of Rochester, a founding member of the Rochester Hills Museum Young Leaders Circle Board, and most recently a founding member of Create Collective, a local arts council dedicated to proactively and intentionally bringing art into the Greater Rochester community. She also serves on the Rochester Area Youth Assistance board, the Michigan Women in Municipal Government board, and the US Global Leadership Coalition Michigan Advisory Committee. 
 
Her leadership has been recognized with Crain’s Detroit 20 in the 20’s Award and the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce Young Professional of the Year award. She was named an Elite 40 Under 40 by Oakland County. Willett earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, a master’s degree in public administration, and an MBA from Oakland University. 

George D. Williams II is a seasoned social impact professional and strategist with a decade of experience in developing and executing successful events, initiatives, summits, courses, and experiences around the globe.  
 
Williams has experience working for notable organizations and entities including the White House, the Clinton Foundation, and the Markham Group, and for various US cabinet secretaries, governors, and members of Congress. He founded and leads the Diversity Global Institutes, an international education organization that provides access to impact-driven university-level course content to historically underserved groups and disadvantaged students in purposefully selected global destinations. At Diversity Global, he also facilitates people-to-people engagement and citizen diplomacy initiatives around the world, amplifying perspectives from outside the traditional intelligentsia to foster resilient relationships among societies while identifying and empowering future and emerging leaders to enhance their existing skills, develop new ones, and position them to maximize their potential impact. 
 
Additionally, Williams was selected as an inaugural fellow of the US Economic Development Administration and International Economic Development Council’s Economic Recovery Corps, which aims to transform the practice of economic development in the United States and beyond. He is a passionate advocate for advancing equal opportunity and equity, and he embeds this into all his projects. He was also a Laureate Scholar at Howard University, where he studied political science and diplomatic interpretation.