Alumni Updates 2020

Youngwoo Kim is now Director of the Performance Management Team at KOICA and recently published an updated version of his Master’s Project in KOICA’s Journal of International Development Cooperation (https://www.ejidc.org/archive/view_article?pid=jidc-15-2-141).

Betty Tushabe is now Rwanda Country Director of IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative. She is based in Rwanda.

Appavoo Anbarasu is now Development Commissioner with the Government of Puducherry, India.

Chad Shipmaker is now CEO of Valid  Manufacturing and a Board Member for the Salmon Arm Economic Development Society.  Check out his recent interview on the Positive Turbulence podcast (https://www.positiveturbulence.com/podcasts/small-town-genie-us/).  He and his family live in British Columbia, Canada.

Danilo Estrañero was recently promoted to Colonel in the Philippine Army. In addition, he is currently the Senior Military Adviser to the Chairperson of the House Committee on National Defense and Security for the Government of the Philippines.

Fortuna Haxhikadrija-Shaqiri is now the Chair of Kosovo’s State Aid Commission.

Kanat Ibrayev is now a Development Analyst with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kazakhstan.

Alejandro Weber has been announced as Chile’s new Undersecretary of Finance. Link: https://www.emol.com/noticias/Nacional/2020/11/20/1004405/Presidente-por-renuncia-autoridades.html

Sophia Hyder Hock and her company Papilia, has been named one of 30 Global Shakers for making post-COVID tourism #responsible & #sustainable for people & the #environment https://globalshakers.com/world-shakers/sophia-hyder-hock/

Amy Stenoien is now a Private Enterprise Officer, Economic Growth Office at USAID Congo.

Soledad Bauza is now Management Coordinator for the UNDP accelerator labs. She returned to NYC after 4 years as UNDP Deputy Representative in Cuba.    

Anant Pandey was appointed Director of the Department of Foreign Cooperation for the Provincial Government of Haryana in India. He lives in Gurgaon.

Rupali Thakur was inducted into the Indian Administrative Service and is now the Chief Executive Officer of HIMURJA, an agency of renewable energy for the state government of Himachal Pradesh. She resides in Shimla, India.  

Michel Chagas is now a Scientific Research Manager with the Instituto Serrapilheira, a private nonprofit institution created to increase the visibility and impact of science in Brazil. He is based in Rio.

Yuto Hashimoto graduated from the MIT Master of Applied Science in Supply Chain Management program in May. He now serves as an intern at the United Nations Office or Project Services Tokyo Liaison Office.

Dominique Deshommes is now a Project Manager of Private Sector Partnerships with UNICEF in Burundi.

Smriti Sharma is now the Senior Manager of Public Policy at Amazon. She is based in New Delhi, India.    

Niraj Kumar Gayagi was appointed Joint Secretary of the Department of Justice for the Government of India.

Sharique Syed Mashhadi is now a Research Consultant with RTI International based in Jharkhand, India.

Branka Panic, Founder and Executive Director, AI for Peace, was interviewed in Forbes magazine: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2020/08/23/is-ai-a-force-for-good-interview-with-branka-panic-founder-and-executive-director-at-ai-for-peace/#6d244c816304

Edison Jakurti was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister,  Ministry of Economy, Employment, Trade, Industry, Business and Strategic Investments (Meptinis), Government of Kosovo.  Edison pursued his MIDP, through MIDP’s partnership with the Kosovo Transformational Leadership Program (KTLP).

Link: http://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/CA7406EN/

Abu Sufian Elassfia is now a Program Manager with Creative Associates International in Washington, DC. He and his wife live in the DC area.

Selim Selimi was appointed as the new minister of justice of the Republic of Kosovo on June 3, 2020. Selim will focus on strengthening the rule of law to further Kosovo’s economic development. Through MIDP’s partnership with the Kosovo American Education Fund (KAEF), he pursued graduate studies in international development policy at Duke University.

ChoogMo Yang is now the 4th Administrator of the SDIA (Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency) in Korea.

David Thomspon is now the Deputy Coordinator for Power Africa (USAID) and his wife, Priscila Izar, who is also MIDP alumna continues her urban planning and teaching work. Both are living in Pretoria, South Africa.

Baldwin, Elizabeth (Lilli) is now a Technical Officer, Networks for Peace at FHI 360, Asia Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand.  

Chorley, Negaya has been appointed to a new Chief Executive Officer at RESULTS Australia as of April 2020.  

Ashwini Bhagat is now the Principal Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievance Redressal, Secretariat Jaipur, Government of Rajasthan in India.

Amarendra Sahoo retired from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after 31years of services and is now the Dean of Academics and Professor of Finance at the IMT Business School. In addition, he is Chairperson of the Grameen Pragati Foundation (grameenpragati.com), a local NGO that provides workforce training and skill development.    

Indrani Banerjee has been promoted to the position of Executive Director in Reserve Bank in India (RBI) in March 2020.

Linh Thi My Vo is now an assistant manager at VinaCapital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  

Kim, Seungsik is now a Project Manager of Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Development Corporation in Korea.

Shimegi, Natsuki is now a Representative Director, and a Certified Public Accountant at the Shimegi CPA and Immigration Lawyer Office in Japan.

Cho, Joong Hyun is now a Director of The Export-Import Bank of Korea.

Yoon, Chang Jun is now a Deputy Director General of The Bank of Korea.

Lee, Jong Hwa is now a Director of The Export-Import Bank of Korea.

Khachaturyan, Diana is now working at Heifer International as the Proposal Costing Manager.

Kim, Myung Sun is now a Director General of Presidential Committee on Autonomy and Decentralization in Korea.

Kwon, Hyuk Joon is now a Director of The Export-Import Bank of Korea.

Sim, JaeHak is now a Director of The Navy Head Quarters in Korea.  

Kim, Euirae is now a Director of Korea Fair Trade Commission

Kwon, Min Kyung is now a Director of Ministry of Education in Korea

Choi, Myung Soo is now a Director of Ministry of Economy and Finance in Korea.

Miyazaki, Kiyotaka is now a Director, Europe Division, Middle East and Europe Department at the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) in Japan.  

Gang, Eun Ho is promoted to Vice Minister with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in Korea.

Jung, ChangHo now works at The Export-Import Bank of Korea as a Senior Consultant.  

Ishikawa, Takeo is a Resident Representative at the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). Currently, he is based in Quito, Ecuador.

Watanabe, Michio is an Executive Director at the International Development Center of Japan Inc. in Tokyo, Japan.

Teale Walheim Yalch is now a Programme Lead for the Postharvest Loss Alliance for Nutrition & Marketplace for Nutritious Foods at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).

Tashi Penjore is now the Head of the Department of Law and Order for the Government of Bhutan, Ministry of Home Affairs.

Susana Garcia Garcia is now the First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Mexico to the OAS.

Maka Beradze is now the Regional Human Resource Manager for the American Bar Association.

Niaz Shinwari is now a Consultant for Counterpart International.

Abu Sufian Hassan is now a Consultant for Creative Associates.

Belay Abate is now the Country Representative for CESO-SACO.

Jeffrey Lynn Sinor is now working in Business Crisis Response for Facebook.

Lilian Paola Carvajal Blanco is now a Consultant for the InterAmerican development Bank (IDB).

Phuntsho Rapten is now a Councilman for the National Council, Parliament of Bhutan.

Danielle Veira is now a Part-Time Professor at Anton de Kom University and Deputy Director for the Government of Suriname, Ministry of Defense.

Alhousseyni Maiga now works at buildOn as the Mali Country Director.

Ramesh Parameswaran was promoted to Deputy General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India, effective January 1, 2020.

Dwinanda Ardhi Swasono received an award from the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reforms in December as one of the top 10 “Outstanding Government Officials.” The Ministry of Finance Voluntary Teaching Program that he initiated also received a record from the Indonesian World Records Museum as the “First Government Volunteerism Program in the Field of …

Saidu Amara now works with the National Monitoring and Evaluation Department under the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development in Sierra Leone.

Sarykulov, Kairat is now a Chief of the Office of the Governor of Shymkent City in Kazakhstan.

Eduardo Marenco now works in Washington, D.C. at the Interamerican Development Bank as a Communication Consultant.

Claudia Paccieri is the General Secretariat of the International Chamber of Commerce Bolivian chapter since September 2017. On April 2018 Claudia and her family welcome her first baby Rafaela.