Innovation and Competitiveness

Hannah Abdullah is a senior fellow with the GMF Cities program, leading its work on sustainable urban development and local climate resilience. She heads GMF’s Transatlantic Forum for Nature and Environment (TAFNE) and the Ukraine Cities Partnership for Sustainable Local Recovery (UCP), initiatives that foster cooperation among local leaders, communities, businesses, and experts across Europe and North America.

Before joining GMF, she was a senior research fellow for the Global Cities Program of CIDOB–Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, where she led the program’s research and other activities on urban climate action in close collaboration with Barcelona City Council. She also served as a program officer for the New York office of the Goethe-Institut, Germany’s cultural agency.

Hannah Abdullah holds a master's degree and a PhD in sociology from the London School of Economics (LSE). She has held research, teaching, and lecturing positions at LSE and at the University of Dresden, the University of Leipzig, and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.

Steven Bosacker oversees the GMF Cities program.  He was previously director of public sector innovation and strategic partnerships at Living Cities, a collaborative of philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing the income and wealth gap among people in US cities.

Bosacker built a career in Minnesota as the city coordinator of Minneapolis, chief of staff to Governor Jesse Ventura, and executive director and corporate secretary to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. He has held leadership roles on the advisory boards of the Congressional Management Foundation, the National Civic League, and CityHealth, which recommends the best policy solutions to ensure all people can make good health choices.

Bosacker holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Metropolitan State University.