Alistair Clark

CATALYST

• Organization: Baraka Global Advisors / Jones Lang LaSalle
• Department: Renewable Energy / Distressed Debt
• Title: Director Business Development – North America / Associate

Alistair Clark works in global debt capital markets for Jones Lang LaSalle in New York and consults on renewable energy projects. He was recently an adjunct professor teaching a marketing class to undergraduates.

Previously, Alistair worked in business development for a Korea-based renewable energy investment and advisory firm. He has experience working in M&A in Hong Kong before taking a position in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs.

Alistair received an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, an MA in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University and a BA from Vanderbilt University in Economics and Political Science.

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Mike Breen

CONVENER

• Organization: Truman National Security Project
• Department: Senior Leadership
• Title: Vice President

Michael Breen is Vice President of the Truman National Security Project. A former U.S. Army officer, Breen served in tactical and operational assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He later clerked for the Office of White House Counsel, where he focused on national security issues. Mike is a founding director of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, an international organization that provides safe passage and new beginnings for Iraqi refugees. Breen has testified before Congress, regularly briefs government officials on security issues, and frequently appears in the media. A proud New Hampshire native, Mike holds a BA in Government from Dartmouth College and a JD from Yale Law School.

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Manveen Rana

SHAPER

• Organization: BBC
• Title: Senior Broadcast Journalist

Manveen Rana is a Senior Broadcast Journalist at the BBC and regularly edits The World At One and PM—two of the most influential news and current affairs programmes in the UK. Manveen has also had the opportunity to interview a number of global figures, including, Warren Buffett, and Presidents Jimmy Carter and Mikhail Gorbachev. Before joining the BBC, she worked as a journalist at the Daily Telegraph and a number of national newspapers. She was also a member of the Young Leaders Group set up by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) to shadow the national Strategic Defence and Security Review.

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Chris Altchek

INFLUENCER

• Organization: PolicyMic
• Department: Tech
• Title: Co-founder

Chris Altchek is the co-founder of PolicyMic, the fastest growing platform for Millennials to read and discuss the news. PolicyMic has writers in over 40 countries and is read by more than 1 million young people every month. His previous experiences include banking at Goldman Sachs, labor organizing for SEIU, political analysis at the White House, and campaigning for Mayor Bloomberg.

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Keith Benedict

INFLUENCER

• Organization: U.S. Military Academy at West Point
• Department: Department of Social Sciences
• Title: Instructor; Major, United States Army

Keith Benedict is an Instructor of International Relations at West Point. After graduating from West Point in 2003 and a commission in the infantry, Keith studied International Development at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He next served in the 82nd Airborne Division, deploying to eastern Baghdad, Iraq, during the surge from January 2007 to March 2008 and later to Haiti after the earthquake in January 2010. Most recently, Keith served as a strategic analyst and personal advisor for General Petraeus in Afghanistan from August 2010 to August 2011 and for General Mattis at U.S. Central Command through November 2011.

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Andrew D. Bishop

INFLUENCER

• Organization: World Economic Forum
• Department: Strategic Foresight
• Title: Project Manager

Andrew Bishop’s job and passion is to help people in government, business, and civil society better understand and manage today’s rising tide of global and political risks. This often comes through improving somewhat-distorted perceptions of risk by using such techniques as scenario-planning. He currently does so as Project Manager with the World Economic Forum’s Strategic Foresight Team, where he focuses on Russia and resource scarcity. He has worked at the U.S. Department of State, Council on Foreign Relations, and UNESCO; studied at the London School of Economics, Johns Hopkins University, and Sciences-Po; and written extensively, including for the Diplomatic Courier.

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Karma Ekmekji

INFLUENCER

• Organization: Office of Former Prime Minister of Lebanon and Opposition Leader Saad Hariri
• Department: International Affairs Unit
• Title: Head

Karma Ekmekji most recently served as the Head of International Affairs for former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Prior, she was a political officer for the Special Coordinator of UN Secretary General in Lebanon. She specialized in elections working at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

She graduated on a Fulbright scholarship from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She then joined the UN in New York as the Rick Hooper Fellow in the Department of Political Affairs. She completed her undergraduate studies at the American University of Beirut, receiving the Penrose Award. She is an alumnus of the French Foreign Ministry’s “Personalite d’avenir” and the U.S. State Department’s International Visitors programs.

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Michael Gallagher

INFLUENCER

• Organization: United States Marine Corps
• Department: Strategic Intelligence Program
• Title: Captain

Captain Mike Gallagher is a Marine Corps interagency intelligence fellow, a regional affairs officer for Middle East/North Africa, and a Ph.D. candidate in International Relations at Georgetown University. Prior to this assignment he served on General Petraeus’ CENTCOM Assessment Team and deployed twice to Al Anbar Province as a commander of intelligence teams. Mike holds a Master of Arts in Security Studies from Georgetown, a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Mike was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

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