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.