Wemimo Abbey grew up in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria. Struggling to secure a loan without a credit score, his mother borrowed money from a predatory lender at an exorbitant 400% interest rate. These challenges inspired Abbey and his Co-Founder, Samir, to launch Esusu. Esusu’s platform empowers renters to build credit through rent payments, offers property management analytics and provides rental assistance for financial stability. Recently valued at $1 billion in a $130 million Series B fundraising round. Abbey currently serves on the SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee and Fannie Mae Affordable Housing Advisory Council, is a Commissioner and Executive Member on the Board of The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and is Co-Chair of The Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) Director Circle. Before Esusu, Abbey founded Clean Water for Everyone, delivering affordable clean water access to over 250,000 people in six countries. He also founded a data analytics company, which was acquired in 2014. In his early career, Abbey was a mergers and acquisitions consultant at PwC, working on deals valued at over $50 billion, and gaining experience with Accenture and Goldman Sachs. He was named to the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, TIME100 NEXT List in 2023 and awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year nationally. In 2021 and 2022, Goldman Sachs recognized him as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs”. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a BSc in Business Management and earned an MPA from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Joud Abdel Majeid, Senior Managing Director, is the Global Head of Investment Stewardship for BlackRock and a member of the firm’s Global Executive Committee. She is responsible for leading the stewardship team and all its activities as it engages with companies to promote effective governance and create long-term value for clients.

Prior to stewardship, Ms. Abdel Majeid was Deputy Chief Financial Officer for BlackRock where she led the Investor Relations, Corporate Development, Financial Planning and Analysis, and Management Information Initiatives functions within BlackRock’s Finance Department.

She previously served as Chief of Staff to the CEO and was responsible for oversight of the Executive Office of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and oversaw engagements with clients, policymakers, public officials, and BlackRock’s Board of Directors.

Ms. Abdel Majeid joined BlackRock in September 2017 as Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock Solutions, which delivers the firm’s Aladdin technology. In this role, she was responsible for the commercial strategy and day-to-day operations of the business.

Senior Advisor on Security and Geopolitics. Senior Fellow Millennium Project Washington DC.
Advisor International Monetary Fund(IMF).
Former founding Director General of National Security Think Tank Sri Lanka(INSSSL); BSc in Computer Science; MBA; Counter Terrorism at Harvard University under South Asia Leadership Program(NDU NESA). Visiting Professor for Geopolitics and Global Leadership(Northern Kentucky University(USA) Author: Teardrop Diplomacy(Bloomsbury, 2023), Conundrum of an Island(2021), Sri Lanka at Crossroads (World Scientific,Singapore 2019), Towards a better world order(2015), Formerly: Adviser to the Minister of External Affairs and Executive Director, Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (National Think Tank); Director-General, BIDTI, a diplomatic training institute; Chairman, Foreign Employment Agency and Fishery Harbours Corporation; worked in the private sector with Sri Lanka Telecom and Hutchison. Founding Curator, Global Shapers Colombo Hub. Country Chair, Global Dignity. Alumni APCSS(Hawaii).

E. Tendayi Achiume is Professor of Law at the at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, and a research associate of the African Center for Migration and Society at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and the Refugee Studies Center at Oxford University. She is also the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and is the first woman to serve in this role since its creation in 1994. She was appointed to this position by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2017. The current focus of her scholarship is the global governance of racism and xenophobia; and the legal and ethical implications of colonialism for contemporary international migration law. Her UN reports have addressed issues ranging from international human rights obligations requiring reparations for racial discrimination rooted in colonialism and slavery, to racial discrimination resulting from emerging digital technologies, among others. She is also a recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award—the highest university-wide honor for excellence in teaching. Professor Achiume is a graduate of the Yale Law School, Yale University, and the United World College of the Atlantic. She is also a former law clerk of Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke and Justice Yvonne Mokgoro of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

Fadel Adib, a Lebanese-American professor at MIT and Founder/CEO of Cartesian Systems, has made significant contributions to technology and research. As Founding Director of the MIT Signal Kinetics Lab, he has pioneered advances in sensing technology that have revolutionized the ability to understand the world, in ocean monitoring, medicine, human-computer interaction and robotics. His research has led to the creation of multiple start-ups, including Cartesian Systems, which focuses on mapping the physical world on an unprecedented scale. Adib has 80 peer-reviewed papers and patents to his name. He was named one of the world's top innovators aged under 35 by Technology Review in 2014 and recognized as an ACM SIGMOBILE Rockstar in 2023. His research has been featured worldwide and he has presented his work to notable figures such as President Barack Obama at the White House.

He holds a Bachelor's degree from the American University of Beirut and a PhD from MIT.

Roshan Ahmad heads JPMorgan’s Global Sovereign Advisory Group offering strategic and broad-based expertise to governments, focusing on sovereign ratings, public debt and fiscal policy optimization, market communication, multilateral discussions and environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations. Her team has advised more than 35 sovereigns across developed and emerging markets, together covering over 25% of global GDP across Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Ahmad has been at JPMorgan for over 15 years and is passionate about promoting women's representation in finance. She is actively involved in diversity and inclusiveness initiatives. She serves as a sub-committee member for JPMorgan's Women on the Move initiative, and is a board member of NMIC, a non-profit based in New York City catering to immigrant under-served communities. She also serves on the Board of JPMorgan Pakistan.

Usman Ahmed is the Head of Global Public Affairs and Strategic Research at PayPal Inc. Ahmed is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law School. His research has been published in the Cambridge Press World Trade Review, MIT Press Innovations Journal, as well as the Boston University International Law Journal and has also been cited in articles appearing in the NY Times, Financial Times, and Straits Times. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. He serves no the Board of the DC Economic Club, the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, and the Muslim Public Service Network. Ahmed earned his JD from University of Michigan, his MA from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and his BA from University of Maryland.

Dr. Daniel P. Ahn is the co-founder and CEO of Delfi Labs, which provides machine learning-driven financial risk management solutions for businesses. He is also a non-residential Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Previously, he was Managing Director, the Chief U.S. Economist, and Head of Markets 360 – North America at BNP Paribas in New York. From 2014 to 2018, he was the Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of State, where he advised the Secretary of State and senior principals on a wide range of international economic and security topics, including global macroeconomic growth, economic warfare and sanctions, international trade, and energy and environmental issues.

Prior to entering public service in 2014, Dr. Ahn was the chief commodities economist at Citigroup in New York and also held senior positions at Citadel, Barclays Capital, and Lehman Brothers. He has also held research and teaching positions at Harvard University, the National Bureau of Economic Research, Columbia University, the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Monetary Fund, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University, and the U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

He is the author of multiple research articles, Congressional testimony, and a textbook, Principles of Commodity Economics and Finance with MIT Press.

He was featured in Forbes Magazine as one of 30 under 30 in Finance. He is the recipient of both the Superior Honor Award and the Meritorious Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State.

He completed his A.B. in economics and finance with honors from Princeton University, and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Mr. Samuel "Sam" Alemayehu is the co-founder and General Partner at C1 Ventures (C1V). C1V exists to catalyze the emergence of carbon-negative and resource-efficient industries by investing in science and technology. Sam leads the commercialization of cutting-edge technologies and innovations that aim to reimagine large-scale industrial processes with deep decarbonization and efficiency at the core.

Sam started his entrepreneurship journey in Silicon Valley as a serial entrepreneur launching two companies while a student at Stanford University. He first got introduced to venture capital at Venrock Associates, where he focused on consumer media services. Sam has also spent significant time in Africa, founding and investing in numerous companies across the continent and in various industries. For example, he built a mobile gaming platform in 18 countries with over 50m customers before exiting the startup in 2013. In addition, Sam has partnered with leading investment banks to develop large health infrastructures in Africa. He then co-founded Cambridge Industries Ltd (CIL) to accelerate the implementation of pioneering infrastructure projects in emerging cities. As Managing Director, Sam led the development of the first municipal waste-to-energy Facility in Africa, designed as a multi-purpose plant with numerous functions, including recycling, brick production, industrial steam, and modern insect farming. Sam is currently Chairman of CIL.

Moreover, Sam is an active angel investor globally and sits on the board of numerous companies as an investor. He also sits on three non-profit boards: the Ron Brown Scholars Program, KID Museum, and VC Include. He is the World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Technology Pioneer.

MA in Journalism and MA in Political Science, Peshawar University, Pakistan. Journalist specializing in Pakistan's tribal belt along the Afghanistan border. Formerly, with English language newspapers: The News; Dawn. 2001, with Pashto Service, BBC; reported on Pakistan's military operations against al-Qaeda militants in tribal region. 2006-07, Knight Journalism Fellow, Stanford University; 2008, World Fellow, Yale University. Author.

Bachelor's in Chemistry, Tufts University; Master's in Environmental Studies, Yale; PhD in Urban Studies and Planning, MIT. Author of books, including: Earthly Order: How Natural Laws Define Human Life (Oxford, 2022). Member of United Nations International Resource Panel; Lead on Critical Minerals and Inclusive Energy Transitions at United Nations University.

Samar S. Ali is a skilled mediator, a careful listener, and a compassionate teacher. Pulling up a chair to tables around the world, Ali engages in some of the most entrenched conflicts of our time, always with the intent of finding positive resolution through common ground.

In this pursuit, Ali is a Research Professor of Political Science and Law at Vanderbilt University, the founding President and CEO of Millions of Conversations, and co-chair of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy with Jon Meacham and former Governor Bill Haslam.

Ali has nearly two decades of experience in international relations and national security. Working at the intersection of national security, human rights, and economic development, Ali served as a White House Fellow in President Obama’s administration and as Assistant Commissioner of International Affairs in Tennessee Governor Haslam’s administration. While at the White House, she worked closely with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, gaining experience in bilateral negotiations on behalf of the U.S. government. As a conflict resolution practitioner and mediator, Ali joined an international mediating team in Syria from 2013-2016.

Ali recently cowrote the opening ceremony on "Unity" for the 2022 World Cup with Laeta Kalogridis and Gregg Hurwitz, and co-produced the Heartland to Holy Land series in Bethlehem with music producer T Bone Burnett. Ali, T Bone Burnett, and Callie Khouri also co-produced “John Lewis Celebration of Life” at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in 2021.

Ali is currently working on a memoir, "Sweet Tea, Sacred Land", about one family's century-long quest for peace through belonging.