ADEL Bios

Salem Afeworki is an award-winning sustainability executive with over 16 years of experience advancing climate resilience and organizational transformation across public and private sectors. As the first Energy and Sustainability Services Manager for the City of Costa Mesa, she developed citywide frameworks now used as models nationwide. Previously, she led a 12-person team at Value Sustainability, building public-private partnerships to scale clean energy adoption.

An executive leader at the intersection of leadership, innovation, and collective impact, he serves as the Director of Leadership Programs at MBZUAI in Abu Dhabi, where he curates transformative learning experiences that empower decision-makers to lead with purpose in a world continuously reshaped by artificial intelligence. 

Samira K. Azzam is a manager of global government relations at Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 consulting and technology company. 

Jessica Berlin is the founder and managing director of CoStruct, a strategy consultancy working at the intersection of business, technology, and economic development. CoStruct consults public, private, and nonprofit organizations on innovation strategy, program design for tech and entrepreneurship initiatives, and market entry in emerging and frontier markets.

Nicola Bilotta is currently researcher at IAI where he works on international political economy, digital economy and geo-finance. 

Cristian Botan is a digital entrepreneur and open government activist. After two years working on anti-corruption for Transparency International, Cristian launched an innovative, award-winning digital initiative aimed at combating nepotism in public sector recruitment in Romania.

Anabella C Ron graduated as both an economist and industrial engineer, since then her professional and academic career have been focused on International Development. 

Chiara Cocchiara is a System Operations Engineer at EUMETSAT, preparing future Earth Observation Space Missions to monitor weather and climate. She was awarded the MIT Innovator Under35 and the ESNC Prizes for a new drone technology design to help saving human lives, especially the immigrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

Cosmin Buteică has 12+ years of professional experience in international development and International Financial Institutions and is currently Senior Environmental Specialist in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region of the Environment, Natural Resources, and Blue Economy Global Practice.

Jerome Cowans is the Social Impact Specialist at Cemex Carib Cement in Jamaica. He leads the development and implementation of national community initiatives that strengthen corporate social responsibility and stakeholder engagement. He is also co-founder of Future Bridge Ja Ltd., a consultancy that connects vulnerable communities with private-sector CSR opportunities.

Rachid Dahbi is the co-founder of Averty Market Research and Intelligence. He began his career with Hewlett-Packard as an HP.com country manager for Africa, where he was responsible for online lead generation and regional marketing campaigns.

Cire Ba is Executive Director, CIRTECH-CTC and has over six years of experience in political consulting. After the completion of his master’s degree in management studies from the Bordeaux Management School, he began his professional career in the management of development projects before specializing in public communications. 

Mohamed El Dahshan is managing director of OXCON, a research and consulting firm working on issues of economic and social development in the Middle East and Africa, with a focus on fragile and post-conflict countries. He is also a Fellow at Chatham House and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP).

Dr. Fang Xiao is the deputy director of the Center for European Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS). She was also a visiting fellow with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) starting in January 2013 as a visiting fellow with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung EU office.

Andy Gboka joined Exotix in March 2011 as an equity analyst covering the brewing and cement sectors in sub-Saharan Africa, not including South Africa. 

Dr. El Mostafa Jamea is a senior researcher and consultant at the MENARES research institute in Casablanca. 

Quentin James is the African Americans director for the Ready for Hillary political action committee (PAC). There he manages engagement with the African American community throughout the United States to build momentum for a Hillary Clinton presidential run. Formerly, Quentin served as the national director for the Sierra Student Coalition, the youth arm of the Sierra Club and the largest youth environmental organization in the United States.