GWX26 Speakers & Moderators

Aditi Banerjee

Co-Founder and CEO

Magic Billion

Aditi Banerjee co-founded Magic Billion in 2018 and IndiaWorks GmbH in 2024 to build transparent, structured pathways for Indian talent into international labour markets, primarily in OECD countries. An economist by training, she spent fifteen years prior to her entrepreneurial journey in the development sector — at the World Bank, Boston Consulting Group and the British Asian Trust, patroned by HRH King Charles — focused on development finance and systemic public sector programs in education, climate and health. She is a finalist at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards (UK, 2019) and a recipient of the Indian Achievers' Award (2023).

Ana Rodriguez

Program Officer

Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP)

Ana Rodriguez is a Program Officer at LaMP, where she conducts quantitative research to inform recommendations and design solutions for projects in Latin America. Her role focuses on analyzing the results of worker voice surveys to provide insights for market players to strengthen responsible recruitment. She also supports the development of low-cost labor mobility tech solutions and conducts qualitative research to complement quantitative results. She also coordinates the work of the Responsible Recruitment Working Group, which co-designs financial solutions to support responsible recruitment in agriculture.

Ana has extensive experience in the development sector, with her research focused on equipping marginalized communities with tools to improve their economic status. Before joining LaMP, she worked at TMG and A4AI, leading research projects aimed at amplifying the voices of marginalized groups in low- and middle-income countries, including women and children. She has also worked in the private sector as a management consultant in Colombia, Sweden, and the UK.

Ana holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from University College London and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and International Business Administration from the dual-degree program between Montpellier Business School and Universidad del Rosario.

Ana is a native of Colombia and speaks Spanish, English, and French. She is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Ankit Mehra

Co-Founder & CEO

GyanDhan

Ankit Mehra is Co-Founder and CEO of GyanDhan, which makes funding for higher education simpler, more accessible and merit-based. A mechanical engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, he spent nearly seven years at Capital One in the United States before leaving in 2013 to do an MBA at IESE Business School, University of Navarra. He returned to India in 2015 and founded GyanDhan to help students pursue their studies without financial barriers. The company has since helped thousands of students secure education financing to study in India and abroad.

Anna Jones

Co-Founder and CEO

RefuAid

Anna is the CEO and co-founder of RefuAid, a UK non-profit dedicated to providing access to finance for people who have been forcibly displaced. Since launching, RefuAid has supported over 1000 individuals to overcome systemic barriers to employment, family reunification and safe and legal housing through access to finance. Through its Equal Access Loan programme, RefuAid have distributed more than £3.6 million in interest-free loans to refugees in the UK, achieving an exceptional 98% repayment rate and delivering a return of £5.66 to the UK economy for every £1 lent. RefuAid has raised over £1.6million in interest-free social investment in order to scale their lending. Building on the success of RefuAid’s approach to lending, Anna co-founded Merit AI, an AI system designed to understand a person’s financial trajectory and future affordability, rather than relying solely on traditional historic data. She also led the creation of Path, a tool that helps refugees navigate the complex process of professional reaccreditation in the UK. With nearly a decade of experience building mission-driven organisations, Anna is passionate about developing sustainable, tech-enabled solutions to social challenges.

Annemiek Dresen

Founder

NewBees

Annemiek Dresen is the Founder of NewBees, a Netherlands-based social enterprise supporting newcomers to enter the workforce and employers in building more inclusive workplaces. Prior to founding NewBees, Annemiek co-founded Guatemala-based NGO Niños de Guatemala, after which she worked in global finance roles at ABN AMRO. Since founding NewBees in 2016, she has helped over 6,000 newcomers and worked with 100+ European companies, earning recognition in 2022 as one of the Netherlands' 30 most inclusive leaders.

Arnab Bhattacharya

Chief Executive Officer

Global Access to Talent from India (GATI)

Arnab Bhattacharya is the Chief Executive Officer of the GATI Foundation, where he leads the organization's strategic vision and partnerships to strengthen global workforce mobility, skills and economic opportunity. With over 25 years of experience across India and Asia, he has built, scaled and transformed businesses in fintech, retail, B2B commerce, real estate and institutional banking. He was a founding member of Niyogin Fintech, India's first listed fintech NBFC, and of Claryty, a platform helping MSMEs grow, and has built and led more than ten independent businesses. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at global financial institutions including Citibank, HSBC and ANZ, where he led commercial banking operations for Greater China and managed a balance sheet of approximately $4 billion. He serves on the board of Printo, advises Kshamata, is an International Coaching Federation-certified leadership coach, and has spent seven years as a partner with Social Venture Partners, focusing on livelihood generation and systemic solutions.

Avinav Nigam

Founder and CEO

TERN Group

Avinav Nigam is the Founder and CEO of TERN Group, a verticalized, AI-native healthcare provider powered by Indian talent. Backed by $53 million from leading investors including Notion Capital, RTP Global, LocalGlobe and BlackRock, the company has scaled across 13 countries under Avinav's leadership. TERN brings together technology, AI, healthcare and global talent, with a vision to address one of healthcare's most structural challenges.

Benedikt Coekoll

Manager

Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP)

Benedikt Coekoll is a Manager on LaMP’s Europe team based in Berlin. At LaMP, he develops practical solutions for more and better labor mobility into the EU and Germany in particular. As part of this work, he is responsible for a project creating more efficient, more inclusive and scalable ways to finance language learning between India and Germany. Before joining LaMP, Benedikt collected ample experience implementing large scale ODA programs on behalf of the European Commission, national and international development banks and several German ministries. He worked for the German Development Agency (GIZ), for one of Europe’s leading development consultancies and as an independent advisor, where he specialized in promoting training and job opportunities for refugees, IDPs and returnees in 10+ countries in the MENA region, Central Asia and Southeast Europe. At GIZ, Benedikt managed a major mobility scheme for apprentices and mid-skilled workers between North Africa and Germany, jointly implemented with ILO and IOM.

Benedikt speaks German, English, Spanish and French. He is a qualified journalist and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy & Economics from the University of Bayreuth (Germany) and a masters in Decision Science from Maastricht University (Netherlands). Benedikt is based in Berlin, Germany.

Borja Monreal Gainza

Public Policy Director

Prime Minister's Office (Spain)

Borja Monreal is Director of Public Policy at the Spanish Prime Minister's Office, where he works on the design and coordination of public policies across government. His main areas of expertise are migration, international development and poverty. He previously co-founded and led SIC4Change, a social innovation organisation using technology to address social challenges and expand economic opportunities. Over the course of his career, he has worked with UN agencies including FAO, ILO and UNDP across Africa and Latin America, with experience in countries such as Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Malawi and Kenya.

Brian Gannon

VP of Strategic Partnerships and Government Relations

LaborMex

Brian Gannon is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Government Relations at LaborMex, where he works in global labor mobility, government policy, ethical recruitment, and workforce technology. He has more than 25 years of experience developing and managing international workforce programs, and has helped facilitate legal employment opportunities in the United States for tens of thousands of international workers, engaging extensively with employers, governments, policymakers, and global recruitment partners on responsible labor-mobility pathways. Brian is also the founder and president of the Ukraine America Initiative, a US-based nonprofit supporting Ukrainians displaced by the war.

Caren Muhonja

Registered Nurse

Caren Muhonja is a Registered Nurse from Kenya with 4 years of professional experience. She is currently based in Carinthia, Austria, where she works as a Registered Nurse in the healthcare industry. She speaks Swahili, English and German. Caren is passionate about global labor and sharing her experience of transitioning from Kenya to Austria, including German language acquisition, recognition of foreign nursing qualifications (Nostrifizierung), and cultural integration into the Austrian healthcare system. She advocates for ethical recruitment and better support systems for internationally trained nurses.

Catharina Franz

Team Lead, International Partnership Management

Lingoda

Catharina Franz has 11 years of experience in international contexts, specializing in international recruitment, consulting, and educational initiatives for skilled labor migration. She is currently Team Lead for International Partnership Management at Lingoda GmbH, where she guides and advises international stakeholders involved in recruiting foreign skilled professionals and apprentices, and drives business development by establishing new strategic fields such as direct language education partnerships in source countries. Catharina holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a focus on Controlling and Finance. Prior to her current role, she was with WBS Training, where she helped build up WBS International Recruiting and managed the EU-funded project "MobiPro," which aimed at reducing youth unemployment across Europe.

Chad Sterbenz

Chief Executive Officer

Malengo

Chad Sterbenz is Chief Investment Officer at Malengo. He brings more than 20 years of experience in impact investing, financial inclusion, organizational leadership, and international development, including serving as Chief Investment Officer at Kiva.org and launching or managing impact investment funds for SEAF in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Peru. He began his international development career as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching social sciences at a university in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.

Daniel Yu

Founding Partner

Africa Jobs Fund (AJF)

Daniel Yu is the Founding Partner of Africa Jobs Fund, a philanthropic investment fund backing startups in international labor mobility and export manufacturing to maximally increase African worker incomes. Previously, Daniel founded and led Wasoko, an e-commerce platform supplying goods and financing to over 200,000 informal retail stores across Africa, recognized as the fastest growing company in Africa by the Financial Times in 2022 before completing Africa's largest ever tech merger with Egypt-based MaxAB in 2024. He currently serves as board chair of Malengo. Originally trained as a software developer, Daniel has worked in or traveled to over 75 countries and speaks Mandarin, Swahili, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, and French.

Deborah Drake

Director

Financial Inclusion Equity Council

Deborah Drake is an independent consultant who has worked in financial inclusion for over 30 years. Her experience reaches across investments and corporate governance, assessments and ratings, investor engagement, capacity building, and research in the areas of inclusive financial services. She currently serves on several boards of directors.

She directs the Financial Inclusion Equity Council (FIEC), a member forum of private entities that make equity investments in financial inclusion in emerging markets. Hosted by Cerise+SPTF, FIEC collaborates with the Social Investor Working Group, comprised primarily of debt investors.

Spending most of her career at Accion, a nonprofit organization on a mission to create a fair and inclusive economy, she managed teams carrying out investor engagement, research, and governance efforts to strengthen the inclusive finance ecosystem. She created and directed the Africa Board Fellowship Program dedicated to strengthening governance for more than 300 board directors of financial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Deepak Soni

Chief Executive Officer

AthariPeople – Global Workforce Solutions (AP)

Deepak Soni is a Canadian-Kenyan social entrepreneur whose work spans disability inclusion, employment, social enterprise and global workforce development. He founded AthariPeople – Global Workforce Solutions to build an ethical, sustainable pathway connecting talented Kenyans with jobs in Canada. Athari combines Canadian curriculum-based training in Kenya with career preparation and links to Canadian employers in the developmental services sector, where graduates support people with developmental disabilities. The model puts the principles of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration into practice by investing in skills before migration. Deepak is also CEO of Corbrook – Awakening Abilities, which supports people with disabilities into meaningful employment, and the driving force behind Out of the Box, a social enterprise creating jobs for people facing barriers to work.

Deepanshu Singh

Director General

Global Skills Mobility Association of India (GSMAI)

Deepanshu is a public policy strategist and EdTech leader with over 11 years of cross-sector experience spanning government affairs, digital transformation, partnerships, and institutional strategy across the public and private sectors. He began his professional journey with multinational firms before qualifying for India’s Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission in the reserved list. Choosing to pursue entrepreneurship, he joined Unacademy as part of its founding team, where he spent seven years driving growth and outreach as Director for UPSC and Outreach Initiatives, contributing to the platform’s rise as a unicorn in India’s EdTech ecosystem. He later served as Senior Director – Strategy, Business, and Government Relations at StudyIQ Education, a Google-backed EdTech platform, further strengthening his engagement with India’s education and skilling ecosystem. Deepanshu has since played a foundational role in building India’s global skills mobility ecosystem, playing an instrumental role in establishing both the Global Access to Talent from India (GATI) initiative and the Global Skills Mobility Association of India (GSMAI), helping shape their institutional strategy, partnerships, and ecosystem-building efforts. He has also worked closely with government institutions. During India’s G20 Presidency, he contributed to shaping aspects of India’s digital trade strategy while working with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, including strategic inputs linked to PM Gati Shakti, some of which were reflected in the New Delhi Declaration. At the state level, he has supported education and skilling initiatives under the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Deepanshu serves on the advisory board of the Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law and mentors startups working in artificial intelligence, education, and public governance. He is also the author of two bestselling books on international relations and is an avid public speaker, traveller, and football enthusiast. He holds a B.Tech in Computer Science from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.

Diana Akatwijuka

Founder / CEO

TokyoLingo

Diana Akatwijuka is CEO and Founder of Tokyo Lingo, an education and talent mobility organization building pathways between Africa and Japan. A Kenyan by birth and a naturalized Japanese citizen, she brings a unique perspective shaped by more than 15 years of living, studying, and working in Japan, connecting African talent with educational and professional opportunities while helping candidates and Japanese organizations navigate the cultural, linguistic, and practical aspects of international mobility. Through Tokyo Lingo, she works closely with Japanese language schools, companies, and institutions to create structured pathways for international students and professionals from Kenya and other African countries, supporting candidates through language and JLPT preparation, employer connections, visa processes, and relocation. She founded Tokyo Lingo in 2021 and is particularly passionate about developing Kenya–Japan talent mobility in a way that goes beyond recruitment.

Ed Shapiro

Managing Trustee

The Shapiro Foundation

Edward Shapiro is the Managing Trustee of The Shapiro Foundation, which he founded with his wife Barbara in 2000. From 1997 to 2016 he was a Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at PAR Capital Management, a Boston-based investment management firm, after which he retired to focus on his family's charitable foundation and philanthropic activities, with an emphasis on refugee relief and resettlement/sponsorship. He previously held roles at Wellington Management Company, Morgan Stanley, and Kayne Anderson Investment Management. Ed has served on the board of United Airlines since 2016 and chairs its Finance Committee, and is board chair of The Welcoming Initiative for Newcomers (WIN) and The Community Sponsorship Hub. He earned his BS in Economics from Wharton and an MBA from UCLA Anderson.

Elicia Carmichael

Director of Financial Solutions and Corporate Partnerships

Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP)

As Financial Solutions team lead, Elicia Carmichael designs financial approaches to help make labor migration pathways sustainable at scale. In 2024 she founded the Mobility Finance Network (MFN), a LaMP initiative that convenes finance, recruitment, training, policy, and technology leaders to deploy better solutions for people on the move. She leads LaMP’s venture prize for mobility businesses and its corporate consultancy services, and advises and trains development agencies, development banks, and corporate foundations on mobility financing models, risk-sharing mechanisms, and worker finance products. She also leads global, multi-stakeholder conversations on ethical migrant finance and consumer protection.

Previously VP of Strategy at Root Capital, Elicia led innovation and business development for its $100M impact investment portfolio. She holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BA from Colby College, and migrates between Northeast USA and Central America.

Estefania Pineda

Founding Member

ComuGuate/GAREX

Estefania Pineda is a Guatemalan professional with more than a decade of experience in international recruitment, labor mobility, government affairs and public policy, with a particular focus on the relationship between Guatemala and Canada. She is a co-founder of ComuGuate, a Guatemalan organization that recruits temporary workers for employment opportunities in Canada, promoting professional, transparent and responsible approaches to labor mobility. Her background includes work with the Guatemalan government and in the diplomatic field in Montreal. She is fluent in Spanish, English and French.

Faith Nawagi

Chief, Global Health Workforce Development Institute

TruMerit

As Chief of TruMerit’s Global Health Workforce Development Institute, Nawagi leads efforts to strengthen health professions education and build sustainable health workforce capacity globally.

She brings more than a decade of experience in health workforce development, education, accreditation, and research. Most recently, Nawagi served as Africa Regional Representative for Intealth, including ECFMG and FAIMER, where she led and supported health professions education, accreditation, and workforce development.

George Muturi

Interim International Coordinator

Global Migrant Workers Network

George Muturi is the Interim International Coordinator of the Global Migrant Workers Network (GMWN). He spent 18 years in Bahrain as a migrant worker and pastor and is now based in Kenya. His work centres on protecting the dignity, rights, and welfare of migrant workers through advocacy, leadership development, and community empowerment. Over the years, he has worked closely with grassroots organisations, embassies, faith-based organisations, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders to promote fair labour practices, provide humanitarian support, and strengthen networks that respond to the challenges faced by migrant workers and returnees around the world. Through his leadership at GMWN, he continues to champion justice, unity, and hope for vulnerable migrant workers while creating platforms for collaboration, awareness, and support. He is passionate about building strong partnerships, empowering individuals through mentorship, and inspiring positive change within migration pathways and diaspora communities. His mission is to see every migrant worker treated with dignity, protected from exploitation, and empowered to reach their full potential.

Gonzalo Fanjul

Co-Founder and Head of Research

porCausa Foundation

Gonzalo Fanjul is a researcher and anti-poverty activist. He is co-founder and Head of Research at the porCausa Foundation, which carries out journalism and research on migration, and leads the Policy, Advocacy and Development team at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). He is also a research associate for migration at ODI in London. In 2018, he joined Ashoka's global network as a social innovation fellow for his work on generating alternatives in the field of migration. He is a regular contributor to El País and other print and broadcast media.

Hafeez-Ur Rehman Hadi

Lead, International Coordination

Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development - Pakistan

Hafeez-Ur Rehman Hadi is a development economist and career civil servant at Pakistan's Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development. He is the Ministry's focal person for the Pakistan-EU Talent Partnership and for the Budapest Process, the Colombo Process and the Abu Dhabi Dialogue. He has negotiated bilateral labor agreements with Saudi Arabia, Italy and Belarus, and wrote the Ministry's Human Resource Deployment Plan, including the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Human Resource Corridor. Earlier, at the Ministry of Finance, he ran Pakistan's remittance schemes, which shaped his view of migration as national economic infrastructure. He is now building a tech-enabled platform to connect aspiring migrants, institutions and international partners.

Handirk von Ungern-Sternberg

Founder / CEO

IndiaWorks GmbH

Handirk von Ungern-Sternberg holds a doctorate in economics from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and the University of Tübingen and has extensive experience in the public sector. As a manager in a chamber of commerce, he has promoted the recruitment of skilled workers in the skilled trades sector through recruitment programs for trainees from India. Handirk was also responsible for recognition procedures for academic achievements and foreign qualifications in various public institutions.

Helen Dempster

Policy Fellow and Co-Director, Migration and Displacement

Center for Global Development (CGD)

Helen Dempster is a programme co-director and policy fellow for the Migration and Displacement Program at the Center for Global Development. She has two key focuses: building partnerships which link training and mobility to support economic development in countries of migrant origin; and facilitating the economic inclusion of refugees in hosting countries. Prior to joining CGD, she worked for five years in research communications at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the International Growth Centre (IGC). Dempster holds a MicroMasters in Data, Economics and Development Policy from MIT, a master's in Africa and International Development from the University of Edinburgh, and undergraduate degrees in Law, Public Policy and International Relations from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Hrishabh Sandilya

Co-Director

EPIM (European Philanthropic Initiative for Migration)

Hrishabh Sandilya is Co-Director of EPIM, the European Philanthropic Initiative for Migration, and Co-Founder of ReImagined Futures, a collective systems change consultancy. He previously founded and led Project Phoenix in Cyprus, working on refugee inclusion and entrepreneurship. His career spans leadership roles in European philanthropy, international non-profits, migration governance, and climate and systems-change consulting. He sits on the Advisory Board of CarbonSpace and the Democracy and Belonging Forum at the Othering and Belonging Institute, holds master's degrees in strategic leadership and sustainability, and in peace and conflict studies, along with a PhD in geopolitics, and is a Marshall Memorial Fellow, Salzburg Global Fellow, BMW Foundation Responsible Leader, and Aspen Environment Fellow.

Ishan Bista

Strategic Advisor

Global Migrant Workers Network

Ishan Bista is Strategic Advisor to the Global Migrant Workers Network (GMWN), where he supports organizational strategy, partnerships, convenings, and strategic initiatives. His work focuses on labor migration, economic inclusion, and bringing workers’ perspectives into policy and practice. His experience spans international development, philanthropy, and policy research, with previous work with the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), Boldly Go Philanthropy, and Nepal Economic Forum. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Cornell University.

James Nyoro

Telecommunications Engineer

Ulula (an Ecovadis Company)

James Kinga Nyoro is a Telecommunications Engineer at Ulula with 5+ years of experience engineering and supporting secure, high-availability IT and network infrastructure across East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda). His expertise spans 3G/4G mobile networks, SD-WAN, VoIP/SIP, cloud identity, enterprise security, and comprehensive telecom support. James’s work ranges from resolving critical network issues and optimizing cellular base stations to building bank branch networks across the telecommunications, finance, and energy sectors. He holds a B.Sc. in Telecommunication & Information Engineering from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and certifications in Cisco, Microsoft, AWS, and Oracle Cloud.

Jane Leu

Strategic Advisor

Livelihood Impact Fund

Jane Leu leads Global Mobility and Cross-border Livelihoods for the Livelihood Impact Fund. A serial social entrepreneur and CEO with 25+ years’ experience, Jane’s ventures include Smarter Good, a professional services firm with a team of 60+ that provides critical infrastructure—HR/talent, accounting, and fundraising—to 200+ global social impact organizations and Upwardly Global that has helped more than 30,000 immigrants from 100+ countries to integrate into the US workforce. Jane has served on numerous boards of workforce and labor-related companies, taught social innovation to MBAs at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and co-authored the book Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits and Foundations can build EPIC Partnerships.

Jason Wendle

Manager-GDI Americas

Global Development Incubator

Jason comes to LaMP from the Global Development Incubator where he founded the People on the Move initiative, which spans across labor mobility, refugee economic inclusion, and combatting human trafficking; and he is strategy advisor to Malengo. Prior to LaMP, Jason was the inaugural Director of Strategy and Programs for the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS). He guided deployment of $80M to transform systems of slavery in high-prevalence sectors and grow the evidence base for the field. Previously, Jason launched and directed the Mastercard Foundation Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab, one of GDI’s efforts to shape the smallholder finance sector.

Jay Fernando

Executive Director

Prime Alliance

Jay Fernando is a seasoned executive with decades of experience in international labor mobility, recruitment, training and manpower solutions across the Philippines and Hong Kong. He was most recently Deputy Group CEO of MHI Investment Holdings, where he also led its facility management and manpower businesses. Previously, he served as President of Magsaysay Global Services and Vice President of Magsaysay Maritime Corporation, part of a group deploying over 40,000 workers a year to more than 700 companies worldwide, and was founding Institute Director of the Magsaysay Center of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. He has served as a Trustee of the Japan Employment Providers of the Philippines and Consultants Association (JEPPCA) and represented the Philippine Association of Service Exporters (PASEI). Jay serves on the Advisory Board of Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP), and holds a business degree from De La Salle University and postgraduate studies in finance from the University of the Philippines.

Joe Martinez

Executive Director, Co-Founder

CIERTO

Joe Martinez is the Executive Director, Co-Founder of CIERTO, a non-profit international recruitment and training organization that provides migrant workers to employers in the United States, Canada and Spain from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. This model offers a safe recruitment and labor compliance verification/assurance system that protects workers from fraud, trafficking, and forced labor conditions, while protecting employers from bad recruitment practices. Joe has worked closely with NGOs, the US and foreign governments to address issues related to how migrant workers are recruited and dispatched in North America.

Joseph Musgrave

CEO

Home & Community Care Ireland (HCCI)

Joseph Musgrave was appointed CEO of Home & Community Care Ireland (HCCI) in September 2018, and has served as a Director on the Global Ageing Network (GAN) Board since 2025. In Ireland, he led the home care sector through the Covid-19 pandemic, worked with the Health Service Executive (HSE) to establish a new home care Authorisation Scheme, and grew HCCI's membership from 16 to 47 providers.

Kira Gidron

Advisor & Consultant

Global ISA Alliance

Kira is currently an advisor to the Global ISA Alliance, where she supports the development of industry standards, data frameworks, and collaboration among education finance providers globally. Previously, she served as CEO of Lumni, a Latin American social enterprise financing post-secondary education for underserved youth. Earlier, she worked with Aspen Institute's Global Opportunity Youth Network and Fundación Corona in Colombia, and started her career at Accenture in the US working on projects related to technology, innovation, sustainability and social impact. She holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Engineering from Cornell University and is currently based in Madrid, Spain.

Lalit Kumar

Co-Founder and CEO

Velocity

Lalit is a Nairobi-based founder who has spent his career building organizations that deliver impact at scale across Africa. As Evidence Action's founding Africa Director, he grew the organization from a start-up to more than 350 staff, leading programs in 11 countries, including Deworm the World and Dispensers for Safe Water. He went on to serve as Africa Managing Director at the Global Innovation Fund, and founded Scale Wise, an international development advisory firm. He now leads Velocity, building an ethical, employer-paid pathway that turns Africa's unemployed nurses into Germany's missing workforce.

Lant Pritchett

Co-Founder & Research Director

Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP)

Lant Pritchett is a world-renowned development economist who has spent the last 30 years applying economic principles to complex problems of systems change. Lant worked with the World Bank from 1988 to 2007 and taught at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2000 to 2018, where he was the Faculty Chair of the MPA/ID Degree program. He has published over a hundred books, journal articles and working papers, with over 50,000 citations on development topics from education to economic growth to labor mobility. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1983 with a B.S. in Economics and from MIT in 1988 with a PhD in Economics.

Lara Dyer

Chief Solutions Officer (Americas)

Talent Beyond Boundaries

Lara Dyer is Chief Solutions Officer (Americas) at Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), the first global organization to focus on refugee labour mobility. In her role, she leads TBB's strategy to expand labour mobility to, from, and within the Americas. Lara brings deep expertise in talent acquisition, global mobility, and workforce inclusion. Prior to joining TBB, Lara served as an executive in the Government of Canada, where she spearheaded innovative national immigration programs, including the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) and the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP).

Lawrence Tobin

Director

The Shapiro Foundation

Larry Tobin joined The Shapiro Foundation in 2017 as The Director and its first employee. For the last decade, The Shapiro Foundation has worked actively with communities, employers, Governments and NGOs to open incremental lawful pathways for refugees with a particular focus on labor and education pathways.

Prior to 2017, Larry spent a decade at CJP, Boston’s Jewish Federation, where he helped to lead a successful $57M annual fundraising campaign.

Larry’s family has sponsored 7 refugee families over the last 7 years and currently serves on the board of WelcomeNST & Humanity Rises.

Linda Couch

Senior Vice President, Policy & Advocacy

LeadingAge

Linda is the Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy at LeadingAge, which represents more than 5,400 nonprofit and mission-driven providers serving older adults. From its national headquarters in Washington, DC, LeadingAge uses advocacy, education, applied research, and community building to make America a better place to grow old. Our membership encompasses the entire continuum of aging services, including skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care, affordable housing, retirement communities, adult day programs, hospice, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), and home-based care. Linda oversees LeadingAge’s policy and advocacy work, which includes understanding provider needs, including for an available workforce, across the aging services continuum and seeking legislative and regulatory solutions to meet those needs to ensure providers can best meet the needs of older adults wherever they call home, including skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care, affordable housing, retirement communities, adult day programs, community-based services, hospice, and homebased care. Linda’s background is in federal affordable housing policy. She has a special interest in the federal budget and appropriations processes and has testified before House and Senate committees. Linda received her undergraduate degree in philosophy from the George Washington University, a Masters of Public Affairs from the University of Connecticut, and a graduate certificate in long-term care administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Liz Warn

Head of Labour Mobility

IOM (International Organization for Migration)

Liz Warn is Head of the Labour Mobility Unit at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva. She leads IOM's global work on labour mobility, supporting governments and partners to develop safe, regular and sustainable pathways that respond to labour market needs while protecting migrant workers. With 25 years of international experience, Liz has worked across policy, programmes and operations in Africa, Europe and Latin America. Her current work includes innovative and principled financing for labour mobility.

Lukas Trötzer

Director, Europe

Pathways International

Lukas Trötzer is a strategist and social entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience working with leading philanthropies and nonprofits on transformative change, with a special focus on migrants and refugees. Before joining Pathways International, he was a Global Program Manager at Porticus, where he led work in its "People on the Move" and "Criminal Justice" portfolios, developing programs centered on people who are marginalized and exploited as they migrate. This included designing and implementing a multi-year program on protection pathways for refugees, with grants and partnerships in more than 10 countries. Earlier, he worked at the German Bundestag and at Internationale Politik, Germany's leading foreign affairs magazine, and spent a year as a human rights observer in the Philippines. Lukas holds a master's degree in political science and is based in Germany.

Marcel Ricou

Senior Technical Advisor, Education and Skills

IREX

Marcel Ricou is a Senior Technical Advisor for Education and Skills in IREX's Global Impact Hub, where he leads IREX's work to scale its impact in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and its links to labor mobility. He previously served as acting director and deputy director of IREX's Education Practice, leading its strategy and learning agenda for expanding access to quality, relevant education and training worldwide. Before joining IREX, Marcel worked at the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), where he led teams in Morocco and Côte d'Ivoire designing education and workforce development investments, led an initiative to scale results-based financing, and co-authored an analysis of MCC's first nine TVET investments. He serves on the board of the Basic Education Coalition, holds a master's from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.

Margaret Mugwanja

CEO

Silver RayHR Co. Ltd

Margaret Mugwanja is an accomplished human resource executive and the Chief Executive Officer of Silver RayHR Co. Ltd, an international staffing firm based in Nairobi, Kenya. As a dedicated member of the Professional and Skilled Manpower Consultants Kenya (PASMCK), Margaret is a strong advocate for ethical recruitment and compliant workforce mobility. She acts as a critical link in connecting Kenyan nationals to strategic employment opportunities abroad, collaborating heavily with state and global partners to expand structured labor pathways. Margaret holds specialized credentials from the ITCILO Academy on Labour Migration in Turin, Italy, and the Sinapis Entrepreneur Academy.

Marie Minda Isabel Apostol

Executive Director and Founder

Dignity in Work for All (DIWA)

Marie Apostol is Executive Director and Founder of Dignity in Work for All. She led the development of DIWA’s Systems Approach for Social Responsibility, the Fair Hiring Toolkit, and prepared the original draft of the Manpower-Verité Ethical Framework for Cross-Border Recruitment. She has trained and consulted for companies such as Starbucks, Apple, Walmart, Dyson, Woolworth’s, Gap, Levi Strauss, HP, Hershey’s, Mars, Motorola, and many more, in the improvement of internal and supply-chain-level programs, systems and organizational competencies for managing Corporate Social Responsibility. From 2014-2019, Marie took a sabbatical from VSEA to establish The Fair Hiring Initiative (TFHI), which focuses more narrowly on issues related to recruitment-related forced labour. At TFHI, Marie developed On The Level, a verification and certification model for ethical recruitment. On The Level assesses recruitment agencies against 10 principles and 70 standards for ethical recruitment and to date has assessed over 50 recruitment agencies in Myanmar, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, and has certified 13 of them. She has led research on government recruitment licensing systems (ILO), recruitment monitoring systems (IOM) and has also conducted training for recruitment-relevant government officials in the Philippines, Qatar, Viet Nam, Thailand and Cambodia.

Marvin Kiragu

Founder & CEO

Luka

Marvin Kiragu is a visionary executive with 15 years of cross-functional leadership, expertly bridging early-stage venture building with institutional-grade global finance. Deeply passionate about entrepreneurship and job creation, Marvin is a multiple-time founder and venture builder who has successfully launched and scaled impactful ventures. He currently leads a fintech enterprise dedicated to expanding accessible financial services for blue-collar African migrant workers across the world.

Matthias Pries

Principal, Investments

World Education Services

Matthias Pries is Principal of Investments at WES, where he stewards the organization’s private market portfolio and leads its catalytic investing strategy, providing capital to early-stage ventures and emerging fund managers whose impact aligns with WES’ mission. Matthias has spent his career at the intersection of capital and impact, working across the private, public, and social sectors in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. He has advised investors on capital deployment, supported social enterprises to raise capital, developed impact investing strategy for government, and structured new impact funds and products. His work spans education technology and workforce development, financial inclusion, affordable housing, healthcare, and climate. Matthias also serves on the investment committees of a Canadian impact fund and a family office with a global impact portfolio, and regularly mentors young professionals entering impact investing. He holds an MSc in Climate Change Finance and Investment from the University of Edinburgh and a BES in Environment and Business from the University of Waterloo.

Mikio Oyama

East Africa & Southern Africa Representative

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL)

Mikio Oyama is the East Africa and Southern Africa Representative of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), based in Nairobi, Kenya. In addition to developing shipping and logistics businesses across the region, he is actively involved in initiatives to connect Kenyan talent with employment opportunities in Japan and to strengthen business and human connections between Kenya and Japan.

Mohamed Karaouane

CEO

Institute of Training in Transport and Logistics Professions

Mohamed Karaouane is Managing Director of IFTL (Institut de Formation aux Métiers du Transport et de la Logistique), a public vocational training institute in Nouaceur, near Casablanca, run as a public-private partnership by a company founded by Morocco’s Federation of Transport and Logistics (FTL-CGEM). He also heads Morocco’s National Certification Centre for the European Logistics Association (ELA). He is Vice-President of the Federation of Transport and Logistics and chairs the continuing education committee of the Private Education Federation of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM).

His work focuses on building skills for the transport, logistics and supply chain sectors: designing competency-based training programs, creating degree pathways in specialized niche areas of logistics, and developing international partnerships with organizations such as IRU, AFTRAL and Cnam. True to the motto “Train differently to better meet tomorrow’s challenges”, he champions training governance rooted in the realities of business. He holds a DEA (postgraduate degree) in Business Administration from the University of Perpignan.

Noah Ponton

Senior Manager

Humanity United

Noah Ponton is a Senior Manager at Humanity United, where he leads strategic partnerships and manages programs and grantmaking focused on labor rights, migration, and corporate accountability. Noah is a Non-Resident Fellow at Cornell University’s Center on Global Democracy, a Trustee of Global Dialogue, a board member of HURIDOCS, and a former advisory board member of Human Rights First

Ntwali Irenge

Co-Founder and CEO

Orbit Academy

Ntwali Irengé Bisharhwa is a technology professional, entrepreneur, and advocate for inclusive workforce opportunities, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and currently based in Italy.

Paul Breloff

Co-Founder & Chairman

Shortlist

Paul Breloff is Co-Founder and Chairman of Shortlist, a talent advisory firm that tackles human capital challenges to drive social impact and innovation across Africa. Shortlist has supported more than 1,000 companies and engaged over 2 million professionals across 30 countries. Its executive search arm, Shortlist Search, works with leading startups and impact organizations in Africa, while Shortlist Futures is a future-of-work innovation lab helping more Africans work and earn across the continent.

Peter Onguka

VP, Programs - Africa

Root Capital

Peter Onguka is Head of Lending in Africa at Root Capital, an agricultural impact investor and member of the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF). Since joining Root Capital in 2010, he has led lending, financial product innovation and regional operations across sub-Saharan Africa, bringing tailored credit to small and growing agricultural businesses. Peter started his career in microfinance and has spent more than 20 years widening access to finance for overlooked communities in his home country of Kenya and beyond. His expertise includes business analytics, risk assessment, loan structuring and portfolio management, using data to understand and serve borrowers that traditional lenders overlook. He has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences across Africa. Peter holds a BA and an MBA from the University of Nairobi.

Prapti Rajput

Chief Executive Officer

Ampersand International Mobility

Prapti Ryan Rajput is a workforce development and international recruitment leader with over 15 years of experience across skills development, education, business strategy and global partnerships. As CEO at Ampersand International Mobility (AIM), part of the Ampersand Group, an integrated education, skilling and livelihoods organisation, she leads initiatives that connect India’s skilled workforce with global employers through strategic partnerships, targeted training and ethical recruitment. Her leadership focuses on building scalable, employer-led talent pipelines by aligning skills and language training with international labour market needs. Through collaboration across employers, training institutions and recruitment partners, she works to bridge skills gaps, strengthen workforce readiness and expand access to meaningful global careers. She is passionate about positioning India as a global hub for skilled talent and demonstrating how training partnerships can drive recruitment demand and sustainable workforce growth.

Prerna Choudhury

Senior Manager

Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP)

Prerna leads a portfolio of programs at LaMP, driving innovative initiatives to scale the labor mobility industry sustainably. Her work spans leading acceleration efforts to strengthen the mobility entrepreneurship ecosystem; advancing mobility finance through thought leadership, community development, and partnerships; and providing technical expertise on financial solution design across labor mobility programs. She also leads corridor-specific initiatives at the intersection of finance and mobility, with a focus on Africa and Asia.

Previously, Prerna worked at British International Investment (BII), the UK’s Development Finance Institution, where she provided transaction support, strategy development, and capacity building to scale BII’s concessional pool of capital. She also structured development impact outcomes across investments totaling over $1.2 billion in the financial services, infrastructure, and venture capital sectors. She brings cross-sectoral experience spanning investors, donor agencies, research organizations, and social enterprises across Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America.

Prerna holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and a Master of Public Policy from Duke University. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, her lived experience navigating cross-border mobility informs her commitment to LaMP’s mission to expand safe, high-quality migration opportunities for low-income workers.

Rachel Danna

Deputy Managing Editor

Project Syndicate

Rachel Danna is Deputy Managing Editor at Project Syndicate, a global media organization that provides fact-based commentary and analysis to more than 500 outlets in 157 countries on a not-for-profit basis. In this role, Rachel oversees PS’ grant and partnerships portfolio, commissions content, and reports on related outcomes. She designed, implemented, and oversees PS’ impact-tracking procedures; developed and leads Project Syndicate’s commentary writing and communications trainings; and manages the organization’s editorial calendar, relationships with leading contributors, and a number of special series. Rachel regularly lectures on issues related to journalism and the media. She is a co-founder of Press Play Film Festival.

Rebekah Smith

Executive Director

Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP)

Rebekah Smith is LaMP's co-founder and executive director, based in Washington DC. An economist and policy entrepreneur, Rebekah has spent nearly a decade leading efforts to expand the scope and quality of migration pathways. Since co-founding LaMP in 2020, she has forged new agreements with governments and industry actors to promote labor mobility, stewarding LaMP's growth from a working group based at a think tank into a fully-fledged organization with over $10 million committed from external funders and concrete proof-of-concept opportunities on the ground. Before LaMP, Rebekah was a Policy Fellow at the Center for Global Development, where she pioneered a new approach of plurilateral partnerships between national governments and industries to unlock labor mobility, and previously worked at the World Bank, where she designed the Bank's first-ever operation intended to facilitate cross-border mobility. She is now a Schmidt Futures Innovation Fellow, and holds a master's in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor's in economics and international studies from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Ms Roseline K. Njogu, CBS

Principal Secretary, State Department for Diaspora Affairs

Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Kenya

Ms Roseline K. Njogu is the inaugural Principal Secretary, State Department for Diaspora Affairs, in the Ministry of Foreign & Diaspora Affairs, charged with the promotion of continuous dialogue with Kenyans abroad; championing the protection of Kenya's Diaspora rights and the welfare of Kenyans overseas; supporting Kenyans in the Diaspora in harnessing more opportunities for employment and enterprise development; developing an incentive framework for Diaspora remittances; harnessing Diaspora savings to facilitate FDI and technology transfers; in liaison with other stakeholders, promoting the participation of Kenya's Diaspora in democratic processes; in liaison with the Ministry of Labour, implementing the Labour Migration Policy and the Global Labour Strategy; in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour, securing placement of Kenyans abroad; and mainstreaming the Kenyan Diaspora into the national development process. PS Njogu is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and brings over 15 years of legal experience advising corporations in technology, health, energy, financial services and international development. She is the co-founder and partner in charge of the commercial law practice at Lexlink Consulting and Omondi Mutava & Company Advocates. She is also the General Counsel to and co-founder of Afyakit. Roseline holds a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Harvard Law School, and a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) from the University of Nairobi.

Salvatore Petronella

Associate Director over Policy and Public Affairs

Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP)

Salvatore Petronella works as Associate Director over Policy and Public Affairs at Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP) engaging with governments, industries and international institutions to promote safe and legal mobility programs for skilled workers in the trade and services sectors. He is a migration governance specialist within the context of the EU external dimension, with a special focus on labor mobility and smuggling of migrants.

He has previously coordinated the launch of the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF) at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) facilitating employment and training opportunities to foreign workers coming from North- and Sub-Saharan Africa as well as Eastern European and South Caucasus countries. At ICF International he led evaluation and impact assessment studies and contributed as senior expert to the European Migration Network (EMN). He has also been seconded to the European Commission (DG HOME) as national expert on integration policies and supported the works of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on smuggling of migrants and of EPIM on migration systems mapping.

In early 2024, he was selected by the EU Bubble Insider as one of the key people to follow on migration and human rights. He has also relevant experience in consulting EU and UN specialized agencies and national decentralized bodies on migration policies. Italian national, he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Bari (Italy) and a specialization in EU Law and Policies on Asylum and Migration from the University of Brussels (Belgium). Salvatore is based in Stockholm (Sweden).

Sandra Vanessa Olmedo

Marketing Professional and Hospitality Specialist

Sandra Vanessa Olmedo is a marketing professional and hospitality specialist from El Salvador with 15 years of professional experience across marketing, hospitality, customer service coordination, quality assurance, and staff training. She is currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, where she works in the hospitality industry through the H-2B visa program, as part of El Salvador’s Labor Mobility Program. She has four years of international work experience in the United States. Throughout her hospitality career, Vanessa has been part of hotel pre-opening operations, contributing to the opening of a property from the ground up and supporting the coordination, organization, and preparation of operations before welcoming guests. With a background that combines marketing, hospitality, customer service, quality assurance, and team training, Vanessa is passionate about international work experiences, professional growth, and global workforce mobility. Through her own experience working abroad, she hopes to inspire other Salvadorans to pursue international opportunities, strengthen their professional skills, and recognize their potential beyond their borders.

Sarah Lince

Program Director

Verité

Sarah Lince is a seasoned human and labor rights practitioner with more than 15 years of experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder projects across the Americas, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Her work focuses on strengthening the capacity of companies, civil society organizations, and governments to advance human rights and labor standards in global supply chains, including supporting both private- and public-sector clients in strengthening human rights due diligence systems, promoting fair working conditions, and developing innovative approaches to reduce risks of forced labor, human trafficking, and debt bondage. Sarah holds an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.

Serena Hoy

Special Envoy for Regular Migration Pathways

IOM (International Organization for Migration)

Serena Hoy is the Special Envoy for Regular Migration Pathways at the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Previously, she served as Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she was the Secretary's principal advisor on international relations and led the Department's engagement with national authorities globally, including on border security and regional migration cooperation. She has also worked in the Office of Legal Affairs at INTERPOL Headquarters in Lyon, as a Senior Counselor on migration to the Deputy and Secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama Administration, and as Chief Counsel to former U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. She clerked for Judge Merrick Garland after earning her law degree from Yale, and holds a master's from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

Sharmi Surianarain

Chief Impact Officer

Harambee

Sharmi Surianarain is a systems shaper, opportunity architect, and storyteller working to expand access to opportunity and creative potential across Africa. As Chief Impact Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, she leads the organisation's impact, research and pathway intelligence agenda, with work spanning South Africa and Rwanda, where she also chairs the Rwanda Global Business Services Growth Initiative advisory board. Over the past two decades, Sharmi has worked across education, employment, leadership development and human capital systems in Africa, India and the United States, and is the founder of Making Caring Count, an initiative focused on elevating care as essential social and economic infrastructure. She is an Aspen African Leadership Initiative Fellow and moderator within the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Sheikh Muhammad Talha Bin Ali

Vice Chairman

Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters Association (POEPA)

Sheikh Muhammad Talha Bin Ali is the Managing Director of Islamabad Overseas Employment Promoter (IOEP), a premier manpower recruitment agency established in 1989. With over a decade of international experience spanning corporate banking, human capital development, and global talent mobility, he leads IOEP’s strategic expansion across GCC, European, and Eurasian markets.

Sophie van Haasen

Independent Advisor | Migration, Cities & International Policy

Independent Consultant

Sophie van Haasen is a migrant rights advocate with over 15 years of experience building partnerships across civil society, cities, the UN and Member States. She works to shift migration narratives and influence policy through dialogue, and has led coalitions such as the Local Coalition for Migrants and Refugees, the Civil Society Action Committee, and the GFMD Working Group on Migration Narratives. She led the civil society collective advocacy strategy during the UN Migration Compact negotiations, and sat on the boards of EVAM Ecuador and the Must-a-Lab Project. She is currently exploring how migration governance and new democratic tools can intersect, and has worked in Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador and the United States.

Steffen Kaupp

Head of Teaching

Lingoda

Steffen Kaupp has nearly a decade of experience in international language education and skilled labor migration, having held positions in academia, the non-profit sector, and the private sector across the United States and Vietnam; he is now based in Germany. He is currently Head of Teaching at Lingoda, responsible for the overall planning and management of teachers and medical educators across Lingoda's B2C and B2B businesses. Steffen holds a PhD in German Studies from the joint graduate program at Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill, and has co-authored the German language textbook "Impuls Deutsch." Prior to Lingoda, he was Head of the Language Department at Goethe-Institut Hanoi, and before that taught German as a Foreign Language at the University of Notre Dame.

Susan Kimani

Assistant Director, Youth

Nairobi City Council

Susan Kimani is a Community Development Worker serving young people in Nairobi County, with a passion for making a positive impact in her community. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Development Studies and a Diploma in Community Organization.

Since 2011, Susan has been actively engaged in grassroots initiatives to improve the lives of residents in informal settlements across Nairobi County. Drawing on her expertise in community organizing and capacity building, she has spearheaded programs designed to equip youth with the skills, resources, and opportunities they need for personal and professional development.

One of Susan's notable contributions is her advocacy for the inclusion of urban refugees in Nairobi's social and economic fabric. She has been instrumental in promoting policies and interventions that protect their rights, dignity, and access to essential services, and is part of the pioneering team that developed the Nairobi County Refugee Integration and Community Building Strategy (NCRIS).

Susan is deeply committed to mentorship and leadership development, actively mentoring individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Dr. Tilman Frank

President

German Bundesverband internationale Fachkräftegewinnung e.V.

Dr. Tilman Frank is founding President of the Bundesverband internationale Fachkräftegewinnung (BVIFG), Germany's federal association for the recruitment of international professionals, set up in 2024. A physician by training, he left specialist medical training to join McKinsey in 1995, and in 1999 founded a web-based procurement platform for hospitals. He moved into executive search in 2002 and co-founded Frankfurt-based search firm Capitalent in 2008. Since 2012 he has focused on recruiting international healthcare professionals, founding TalentOrange. He brings more than 20 years of executive search experience.

Dr. Žilvinas Švedkauskas

Managing Director

OSMOS

Dr. Žilvinas Švedkauskas is Managing Director of OSMOS, a think-and-do tank leading the Digital Explorers initiative, which connects the Baltics with like-minded partner countries to develop digital talent and support its mobility. He is also an Assistant Professor at Vilnius University, focusing on migration, democratization and digitalization. He completed his PhD at the University of Tübingen in 2024 and has published with Freedom House, the Washington Post and Amsterdam University Press.