Young Professionals Network

His previous professional experiences include UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and the International Labour Organization (ILO). He also collaborates with numerous startup support programs as a jury member, mentor, and trainer, and lectures on entrepreneurship at ESSEC Business School.

Before retiring in 2009 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after twenty-one years of service in the US Air Force, Atallah's military career included aviation, special operations, intelligence, and counterterrorism. In his last military posting, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as Africa Counterterrorism Director (2003-2009), while concurrently holding positions as East Africa Director (2003-2007) and Country Director for Morocco and Tunisia (2007-2009). Upon his retirement, Atallah was the only foreign area officer in the Air Force to hold three concurrent regional designations for Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Atallah is Chief Executive Officer of White Mountain Research, a small Virginia-based business providing tailored international security solutions to clients focused on Africa and the Middle East.

Before retiring in 2009 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after twenty-one years of service in the US Air Force, Atallah's military career included aviation, special operations, intelligence, and counterterrorism. In his last military posting, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as Africa Counterterrorism Director (2003-09), while concurrently holding positions as East Africa Director (2003-07) and Country Director for Morocco and Tunisia (2007-09). He was Air Force Defense Attaché accredited to six West African countries; Director of the Sub-Saharan Africa Orientation Course at the Joint Special Operations University; and instructor pilot with over 4 000 flight hours, including combat flight time. A native of Beirut, Lebanon, fluent in Arabic and French, Atallah holds a Bachelor of science in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and a Master’s degree of science in International Relations from Troy University.

Dr. Atta Mills worked for the World Bank for over 20 years at various positions, and for 12 years as a lecturer in the UN African Institute for Development and Planning (IDEP). He is currently a consultant on investment, trade, and macroeconomic policy focusing on Sub-Saharan African countries and a blogger on the political economy of social change in Ghana. He is also a co-founder of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Foundation and a co-chair of the Board of Directors.