Summit Speakers
Meet our preliminary list of Global Summit speakers! More speakers will be announced soon!
Manail Anis Ahmed
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Johns Hopkins University
Manail Anis Ahmed is an educator and convener on AI, emerging technologies and global entrepreneurship with extensive educational administration and management experience. She has led the establishment of organizations and institutions for learning, research and scholarship in South Asia and the...
Dorothea Antonio
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NAFSA: Association of International Educators
Dorothea Antonio serves as NAFSA's deputy executive director for knowledge development. She leads NAFSA’s contribution to thought leadership in international education and provides executive oversight on internationalization and global engagement, conference programming, and publications. She joined...
Fanta Aw, PhD
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Ex-Officio
NAFSA Executive Director and CEO
Fanta Aw, PhD, currently serves as the executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, having previously held its presidency from 2013 to 2016. NAFSA is the world’s largest and most comprehensive international education association, with more than 10,000 members at more...
Courtney Brown, PhD
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Lumina Foundation
Member-at-Large, NAFSA Board of Directors
Courtney Brown is the vice president of strategic impact and planning at the Lumina Foundation, the nation’s largest private foundation focused specifically on increasing U.S. citizens’ postsecondary success. As the foundation’s chief data and research officer, Brown oversees its efforts in the...
Samiha Chemli, PhD
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University of Deusto
Dr. Samiha Chemli is an Associate Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Coordinator of University Relations (CIDE) at the University of Deusto. She has extensive expertise in hospitality and tourism management, in leading companies, managing cross-functional teams, and providing...
Ketevan Darakvelidze, MPhil
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Ilia State University
Ketevan Darakhvelidze is chancellor of Ilia State University (ISU), one of Georgia’s most dynamic, research-intensive universities. Since 2011, she has served multiple university leadership roles and has advanced ISU’s global engagement, institutional development, and innovation ecosystem, securing...
Melissa Deschamps, EdD
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EducationUSA
Dr. Melissa Deschamps is a Regional Manager with EducationUSA, based in Doha, Qatar. She manages a dynamic portfolio of centers covering 13 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. With 25 years of international education experience, she has worked in non-profit, university, and governmental...
Farah Cherif D’Ouezzan, PhD
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Center for Cross Cultural Learning
Farah Cherif D’ouezzan is an educator in the field of intercultural education. As the Center for Cross Cultural Learning (CCCL) Founder, she develops, designs and runs, with her team, educational study abroad programs, such as faculty-led, semester abroad, internships and provides logistical support...
Rebecca Geffner, DBA
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Moroccan-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange
Dr. Rebecca Geffner has been working in international business and education for almost 20 years. She has served as the Executive Director of the Moroccan-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (MACECE) which oversees the Fulbright programs between Morocco and the United States...
Ambassador (ret.) Greta C. Holtz
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Amideast
Ambassador (ret.) Greta C. Holtz is the President and CEO of Amideast, a leading non-profit organization which works to provide live-changing educational and exchange programs in the Middle East and North Africa and for U.S. students and faculty. Ambassador Holtz served as a career diplomat with...
John K. Hudzik, PhD
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John K. Hudzik, PhD, retired from Michigan State University (MSU) in January 2021. He was MSU dean and vice president of international programs from 1995 to 2010 and acting university provost in 2005. He is a past president and chair of the NAFSA Board of Directors, past president of the Association...
Carl Jubran, PhD
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The American College of the Mediterranean
Dr. Carl Jubran, a 1992 alumnus of ACM's study abroad institute, the Institute for American Universities (IAU), and previous member of the Council of Academic Advisors, became ACM's 5th President in May 2011. He completed his undergraduate education in linguistics, participated in a Master's program...
Pradeep Khosla, PhD
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University of California San Diego
As UC San Diego’s chief executive officer, Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla provides vision and strategy, leading a campus of more than 45,000 students within 11 academic, professional and graduate schools and eight undergraduate residential colleges; a preeminent health system; and the prestigious...
MJ Knoll-Finn, EdD
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New York University
Dr. MJ Knoll-Finn is the Senior Vice President for Global Enrollment Management and Student Success at NYU, where she leads institution-wide strategies that have delivered measurable, high-impact outcomes across enrollment, access, and student success. Under her leadership, NYU has eliminated...
Renee Lamb, MA
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Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts
Renée Lamb is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, a recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Scholars award, and the founder of Soulié, an artisan-based social enterprise. Her work focuses on identifying opportunities to increase personal capacity, foster poverty reduction, and...
Fernando Léon-García, PhD
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Centro de Enseñanza Técnica Y Superior (CETYS) University
Dr. León-Garcia is Chair of the Board of Directors of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) for 2024-2027. He has been President of CETYS University since 2010, leading the institution to institutional and program accreditation in the USA (WASC, ACBSP, ABET) and one of the...
Francisco Marmolejo
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Qatar Foundation
Francisco Marmolejo serves as the president of higher education at the Qatar Foundation. From 2012 to 2020, he worked at the World Bank as a global higher education coordinator, based in Washington, DC, and more recently he served as lead higher education specialist for India and South Asia, in...
Dan Munnerley
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Next Lab
Dan is Founder and Executive Director of Next Lab at Arizona State University in Phoenix. He authored digital media curriculum for HNDs, BTEC, and Edexcel in the UK, developed a new university campus for Emirati women in Dubai, researched AR/VR in Australia, and builds models of self-determined...
Tonee Ndungu
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Tonee Ndungu is a Kenyan serial entrepreneur and thought leader driving Africa’s tech renaissance. A self-described “systems thinker,” he has built foundational platforms that lift communities. Born and raised in Nairobi and overcoming dyslexia, Tonee co-founded Nairobi’s NAILAB startup incubator...
Lesley F. Nesbitt, EdM
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Dartmouth College
Lesley is the Program Director for the EDGE Consortium and has more than 20 years of experience at all levels of education, from pre-K to graduate level work. She spent many of her years in mission-driven independent schools that sought to improve access for all students, regardless of socioeconomic...
Jen Rasamimanana
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Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM)
Jen Rasamimanana is the Executive Director of TALIM, also known as the Tangier American Legation, which is a museum, research library, and cultural center located in the Medina of Tangier. A gift of the Sultan of Morocco to the United States in 1821, the Legation is the only U.S. National Landmark...
Christine Shiau, MBA
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Stevens Initiative at the Aspen Institute
Christine Shiau is the Executive Director of the Stevens Initiative at the Aspen Institute, where she leads efforts to empower young people and foster cross-cultural understanding through virtual exchange. She spearheads the Initiative’s vision to drive transformative change, preparing a new...
Mwangi Peter Wanderi, PhD
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Mount Kenya University
2025 WES-NAFSA Fellow
Prof. Mwangi Peter Wanderi is the Principal Corporate Services, Communication and Alumni Relation and the Director Partnerships and Linkages, and an Associate Professor at Mount Kenya University (MKU). He has close to 40 years of research, teaching/ training and community engagement both in...