Alumni Updates 2021

Batool Askari has been hired as a Program Officer on the Project Management Quality and Support (PMQS) team with FHI 360, an international nonprofit working to improve the health and well-being of people in the United States and around the world. She will be based at their headquarters in Durham, NC.

Kalkidan Kebede is now a Research Associate in the Health Service Research Division at FHI360. He is based at their headquarters in Durham, NC.

Daniela Tort is now Technical Assistance Officer at the International Monetary Fund(IMF).  She is based in Washington, DC.

Ahmet Onur Ozturk is now Head of the Textile and Apparel Products Department, DG of Exports, at the Turkish Trade Ministry . He is based in Ankara.  

Vera Lalchevska is now Senior Researcher with the Gulf Research Center.  She continues to be based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bibi Khan successfully completed her Ph.D. in Strategic Leadership and Complex Systems Leadership from Thomas Jefferson University.

Hitoshi Aoyagi, was recently elected as the Chief of the 14th district of the Japanese House of Representatives.  Read more about him and his campaign here: https://aoyagi-h.com/

Melanie Faltas-Bert is now Vice President at M Booth Health in New York City.

Zohara Qudsia Kaakar has been promoted to the position of Subgrants Administrator at the National Democratic Institute. She works in Washington, D.C.

Erkan Tek is now Deputy Director General at the Government of Turkey’s Department of Ministry and Finance. He is based in Ankara.

Nadia Rinquest is now the Head of Ministry at the Western Cape Government’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Opportunities. This promotion follows six years working as an economist for the government’s Provincial Treasury. She works in Cape Town, South Africa.

Sriniavas Katikithala is now Director of the Apex Training Centre for the Indian Administrative Service & National Institution for Civil Service Leadership at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. He works in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.

Ignacio Javier Torres is now Country Manager at Stakeholders Sustainability Index. He resides in Chile.

Aldo Alexandrow is now Senior Coordinator Head of Desk for the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He works in the Office of the Vice Minister for Europe. He is based in Caracas.

Paola Carvajal is now Senior Manager at Roland Berger. She is based in Washington, D.C. and the Baltimore Area.

Romina Damini is now a law consultant with the International Organization of Migration in Albania.

Allegra Paneto now serves as the Deputy Country Representative for USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Sudan.  

Diogo Cruz is now the Head of the Department for Financial Citizenship Promotion with Brazil’s Central Bank.

Husnu Tekin received his PhD in Islamic Economic and Finance from Istanbul University. He currently works with the Ministry of Finance in Turkey.

Michael Spolum, Natel Energy’s Director of International Business Development, recently published an article with the National Hydropower Association on “Why the conservation and strategic restoration of source watersheds is critical to the long-term sustainability and overall resilience of the hydropower sector, and water infrastructure in general”. Read more: https://www.hydro.org/powerhouse/article/why-the-future-of-hydropower-should-include-ecosystem-restoration/  

Vitaly Yermakov, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies regularly publishes on Energy issues: https://lnkd.in/eRgQQHUT Quoted in the below article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-21/iea-says-russia-could-do-more-to-supply-gas-to-europe?sref=zOQUKB1c Big Bounce: Russian gas amid market tightness https://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Russian-gas-amid-market-tightness.pdf

Wazi Ligomeka, Director of Policy Planning and Research at the Malawi Revenue Authority, was appointed to the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters for 2021-2025 Term. He is the first Malawian to be appointed to this committee. Link:https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sga2051.doc.htm?fbclid=IwAR3WBPlGn-VWkpgIyNNRm-gDHAVFI1M0p1UdGKgK5brLn1Kuey9RBK2BP5w

Liridona Osmanaj is now the Advocacy and Campaigns Lead for Save the Children’s Kosovo office. She resides in Prishtina.  

Ignacio Asis is now a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist with Fonplata, a South American development bank. 

Palina Matthiasdottir is now a Political Counselor with the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Permanent Delegation of Iceland to NATO. She is based in Brussels, Belgium.  

Eunju Cha has been appointed Resident Representative of the Timor Leste office for the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).  

Margaret (Korgoren) Chase  has been accepted into the PhD program in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University beginning this fall.

Rupali Thakur is now CEO of the renewable energy sector at the State Nodal Agency for Himachal Pradesh. She was also inducted into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) from the Himachal Pradesh State Administrative Services (HPAS) last year.

Maria Undurraga has been announced as the new Minister of Agriculture for Chile. Link: https://www.latercera.com/politica/noticia/monckeberg-y-walker-dejan-gabinete-para-ser-candidatos-a-constituyentes/K56ZY5MIX5FSTGC6AUA4777XCU/  

Hakki Karatas is now the Chief Economist for the Foreign Economics Relations Board (DEIK) in Turkey where he directs the Economic Research Department. DEIK is a non-governmental institution whose mission is to increase the Foreign Direct Investment and trade potential of Turkey.