FORDHAM | IPED Lectures | → The International Political Economy and Development (IPED) Program at Fordham University hosts a weekly lecture series. Guests from the non-profit, public, and private sectors present on topics of interest to both graduate students in the IPED Program as well as to students in various departments across the university. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, IPED also

The International Political Economy and Development (IPED) Program at Fordham University hosts a weekly lecture series. Guests from the non-profit, public, and private sectors present on topics of interest to both graduate students in the IPED Program as well as to students in various departments across the university. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, IPED also hosted Virtual Career Sessions to connect current students with alumni working in various sectors across the globe.

February 22nd, 2024

Decoding Pakistan: Elections 2024

2024 IPED alumni Aliyah Sahqani gave a wonderful and engaging presentation about the elections in Pakistan and populist leader Imran Khan. During his time in power, Khan was very pro western cooperation. However, in recent years, Pakistan has shifted its international alliances towards Russia and China. Not many people in Pakistan seek to rule the country as it is a very unstable position due to the numerous provincial conflicts in language, rights, and wealth distribution. The establishment, which is composed primarily of Pakistani military forces, is consolidated in the northeastern province, and holds the majority of centralized political power. Only the future can tell how the political situation in Pakistan will unwind.

February 15th, 2024

Transitioning to the International Development Sector as a Young Professional

IPED welcomed 2015 IPED alumni Gabriel Rossi. He currently works with Catholic Relief Services within the business development team and designs development projects that eventually get implemented in developing countries all over the world. Catholic Relief Services is one of the most well-known US and international humanitarian aid and development organizations. Rossi discussed the career preparation and transition process that young professionals go to as well as the application process for the CRS International Development Fellowship Program. He also discussed internal structure and career opportunities within CRS.

February 1st, 2024

Project Assessments in the Philippines

This week, the IPED cohort learned about what their fellow classmates were up to in the Philippines. Ginny, Angel, Siphesihle, Thabiso, Amanda, Fatema, and Genevieve spent a 4 day immersion in Calawis, a rural farming village in Antipolo, Rizal Province of the Philippines where they met, spent time with, and learned about the local community. The community is also home to a small non-profit organization called Tulungan sa Kabuhayan ng Calawis (TSKC) dedicated to environmental protection and conservation through various programs. The IPED group split into two teams; one worked on the TSKC reforestation project and one worked on the business and enterprise development program involving ginger turmeric tea production. While conducting interviews, participating in reforestation and tea production activities, and getting to experience the daily lives of the locals, the two teams were able to conduct an evaluation assessment on the current situation of the two TSKC projects.

January 25th, 2024

Edible Economics

For the first IPED lecture of the 2024 year, Dr. Ha-Joon Chang joined us and presented his most recent book, Edible Economics. Each chapter features a different food item either relating to the content of that chapter or simply because it is a Dr. Chang favorite. His philosophy for his book is that the recipe for a more democratic brand of capitalism is incomplete without understanding economics. However, as economics can be a highly technical subject, Dr. Chang introduces us to it in the same way that we would be drawn to a particular dish on a menu that might pique our interest.

Globally recognized author and advisor to various international organizations and governments, Ha-Joon Chang has worked on a wide range of issues related to economic development, especially trade and industrial policies, productive capabilities development, institutions and development, global economic system, the history of economic development in today’s rich countries, and the political economy of development.

December 7th, 2023

Economics in Forecasting and National Security

Michael Gordon is Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Economics on the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in Washington, DC. The NIC is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and produces strategic assessments for policymakers. A few years back, Michael was a national security fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, and prior to his intelligence work, he worked in New York as an editor with the Economist Intelligence Unit, specializing in commercial and financial topics of the Middle East, and lectured at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. He is an IPED class of 1998, and holds several professional certificates in financial markets.

His lecture elaborated on the necessity to bridge together knowledge bases from a variety of different subjects and unlikely disciplines as a means of producing creative and detailed solutions and explanations for current economic problems as well as how to approach forecasting future potential problems and challenges.

November 16th, 2023

Integral Human Evaluation: Enacting Dignity in Policy and Practice

Flying in all the way from Notre Dame, the IPED program welcomed Paul Perrin, an expert in development research and leader of Pulte Institute’s Evidence and Learning Division. He led an engaging discussion about the gap between development projects based on material needs for survival and the intangible aspects of what makes someone feel human. For many development organizations and aid efforts, there is less of an emphasis on providing people in need with the space and agency for growth and making their own decisions about how to take control of their own lives in a dignified and respected manner. Paul went on to elaborate the underlying issues associated with aid efforts, including but not limited to infantilization and saviorism.

Paul is a jack of all trades with extensive experience and over a decade’s worth of expertise working in the public, private, and non-profit sectors with organizations such as the US Agency for International Development, Catholic Relief Services, and in academia.

October 26th, 2023

The World’s Wicked Problems

This week, IPED welcomed Gabelli School of Business alumni Peter Lupoff. His presentation took us on a deep dive into the various global problems that plague our world today, such as environmental degradation, climate change, etc. and how the intersections of all these problems create a space for impact investing to contribute towards developmental solutions.

Peter is the Founder and Principal of Lupoff/Stevens Family Office, his family’s vehicle for direct and third party impact investments, as well as other grant-making, advisory, research, teaching and writing activities. Formerly, he was the CEO of both Net Impact (2019-2022) and GOOD Institute (2021-2022). Peter is a Gabelli Fellow at Fordham University. He was Fordham Gabelli School of Business, Executive in Residence (2018-19). Today, he continues to teach impact investing at Fordham and is a Member of the Impact Investing & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium.

October 19th, 2023

Health and Development: A Functional Approach

This week, IPED welcomed one of Fordham’s very own beloved faculty members of the Economics Department, Dr. Sophie Mitra. Dr. Mitra is an expert professor and researcher on disabilities, ageism, and discrimination, and how various health measures correlate to poverty indicators. Her lecture featured functional disabilities, the distribution of them alongside the distribution of poverty and inequality, and the issues that individuals and countries face in approaching development. There is a long-standing trend where those with disabilities often get overlooked or left out in not only everyday life, but in development policy and infrastructural and social welfare development.

October 18th, 2023

Ukraine at the United Nations

IPED hosted a very special visitor on a Wednesday afternoon. The UN ambassador for Ukraine Sergiy Kyslytsya came for a lunch followed by a moderated discussion covering a variety of relevant past and present topics. He discussed Ukrainian and Russian relations within the UN as well as the functioning of multilateral government organizations such as the UN and how they fit into peace building, diplomacy, and global security. Ambassador Kyslytsya also told stories of his own life and the process of eventually making a career in foreign service. The audience consisted of undergraduate students, graduate students, and Fordham faculty.

October 12th, 2023

Saviors vs. Liberators: The Historical Debate

The IPED program was joined by the renowned Dr. William Easterly for a special guest lecture on the ideologies surrounding neo-colonial approaches to development through aid. He gave a brief timeline on various instances of saviorism propaganda and how it intentionally elicits an emotional reaction to images of poverty. He touched on the inefficiency of such attitudes and how in these cases, aid and the imagery through which it is marketed can deter development. Countries that have no control over how they are presented in the global media and in the development narrative lose an important aspect of development itself, which would be the power to emphasize not only sources of pity but of where there has been success and meaningful progress. Dr. Easterly argued the importance of dignity and the imperative need for each country to have autonomy over it so that it can be taken seriously and respectfully as a global competitor with something to bring to the table. Wrapping it all together, Dr. Easterly reiterated his long standing theory of how markets and trade hold a higher significance in growth than aid, especially ineffective and wasteful aid, does.

Dr. William Easterly speaking at IPED 2023-2024 Lecture Series

October 5th, 2023

Impact Investing Primer

This week, IPED welcomed Marc Wancer who gave a lecture about the fundamentals of impact investing, the industry as a newer contributor towards development in the private sector, as well as the structure and terminologies associated with it.

Marc Brings extensive experience in the impact investing and community development finance space. He is passionate about effectively deploying capital into undeserved communities and implementing lasting solutions that generate measurable and equitable social, economic, and environmental impact.

October 2nd, 2023

Corruption and Development in the Philippines – Special IPED Event

On this lovely fall day, the IPED Program had the privilege and pleasure of hosting former Senator of the Philippines, Bam Aquino. Senator Aquino presented on the compounded issues in development today in the Philippines given a complex and systemic set of socio-political problems of the past. In addition to a centralized political body that perpetuates wealth disparities, he also elaborated on the rhetoric of propaganda machines and vote buying. However, with a unified dynamism of both young generations and old who continue striving for a better future, change is possible. To succeed in positive development, it takes savvy, guts, and the unrelenting spirit of perseverance.

Paolo Benigno Aguirre “Bam” Aquino IV is the youngest former senator in Philippine history. As senator, he served on numerous congressional committees and helped pass laws uplifting youth education, microfinance, people with disabilities, and many other relevant and meaningful causes. Currently, he is a Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellow at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs.

September 29th, 2023

UNA-NYC Summer Scholars 2023 Special Panel

Sponsored by the United Nations Association, the IPED program tuned in on a Zoom event featuring 6 summer scholars who worked in United Nations Development Program (UNDP) placements all around the world. Four of our very own IPED students, Nozipho, Saujan, Mmafatse, and Lalash, spoke about their experiences in Eswatini, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Suriname respectively. The panel also welcomed two students from the Columbia SIPA program who worked in Laos and the Philippines. They all presented on the experiences and challenges of working on development projects and living overseas.

September 28th, 2023

International Political Economy and Development in the Era of Cybersecurity and AI

IPED welcomed Fr. Collins Obidiagha to discuss the potential, risk, and usages of AI on the contemporary cybersecurity landscape. He went on to describe current cybersecurity issues and how advancing technology opens the doors for more sophisticated cybercrime, touching on how AI not only affects information security and the culture of the internet, but also how it affects our everyday lives.

Fr. Collins Obidiagha entered the Jesut novitiate in Benin City in 2007, spending two years as the network administrator for the community’s computer lab. He then earned a B.A., with honors, in philosophy and humanities from the Univserity of Zimbabwe in 2013. After attending the Cisco Networking Academy, Fr. Obidiagha served as the IT administrator and head of the Information and Technology Communications department at Jesut Memorial College in Nigeria. Fr. Obidiagha is currently a Cybersecurity Master’s candidate at Fordham University.

September 14th, 2023

Summer Internships, Vol. II

This week, IPED featured 2024 cohort students Aliyah, Chileshe, Fatema, Luis, Saujan, Mmafatse, Nozipho, and Lalash. After a busy summer, the cohort returned with new cultural and social experiences, professional skills, and a wider understanding of different development solutions. They interned with a variety of organizations and programs including The World Bank, Tax Justice Network – Africa, Middle East Institute, Emerging Markets South Africa Study Tour, and the UNDP – Mongolia, Indonesia, Eswatini, and Suriname. At the end of the presentations, the entire cohort celebrated the very special birthday of the IPED Program co-director, Dr. Donna Odra.

September 7th, 2023

Summer Internships, Vol. I

IPED welcomed back the 2024 cohort after a busy summer of work, travel, and building professional development skills. Their internships brought them all around the globe and to a variety of different opportunities. Harrison worked with the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Marian interned with St. Andrew’s for Refugee Services in Cairo, Egypt. Stephanie interned with the Foreign Agricultural Service in Washington D.C. Evan worked for Purplely and got to get the most out of the bustling New York City. Last but not least, Alexander, Babalwa, and Kendall all pursued language study and were placed in various cities in France. Apart from engaging in organizations that offered insight into possible career fields, the students got to experience and enjoy the cultural communities of their respective cities.

2022-2023 Lecture Series

April 27th, 2023

IPED Reports from the Field (Democractic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Rwanda)

IPED welcomed three IPED Alumni and Travel Scholar Recipients (Sean Grossnickle, Nicole Alcantar and Maria Hincapie) who are currently on a six months internship with the Catholic Relief Services in the DRC, Tanzania, and Rwanda, respectively. The alumni provided the current IPED cohort with a detailed overview of their daily roles and responsibilities in their placement country and the overall mission of the CFR projects within the respective countries. The alumni also provided a brief overview of their adventures while serving their internships.

April 20th, 2023

Banking Crisis – Silicon Valley

Dr Mary Burke was welcomed by IPED to present on the current state and impact of banking crisis in Silicon Valley on the US economy. She provided an in-depth explanation of the cause of this crisis and the signals that were not addressed which eventually caused the crisis. She further provided an in-depth analysis of the measures undertaken by the Fed to assist in mitigating the impact of this event on the US economy.

Dr. Mary Burke is currently a lecturer in the Economics Department at Fordham University. Undergraduate classes taught include Statistics, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Math for Economists, Money and Banking, and Monetary Policy. At the graduate level, she teaches Economic Analysis and Domestic and International Banking. In the Fall of 2008, Dr. Burke developed a course in Monetary Policy designed around the Federal Reserve Bank’s Fed Challenge. This course covers the financial industry, the central bank and its role in the economy, and the application of monetary policy tools, both traditional and non-traditional. She holds a Ph.D. from Fordham.

April 13th, 2023

South Africa: Public Policy

IPED welcomed Mr Dlamini, an experience economist and advisor to business and political leaders in South Africa. He provided a detailed overview of South Africa’s economic environment. He highlighted more specifically the electricity and energy crisis, the high unemployment rate and the very apparent inequality with the society. Though South Africa’s outlook seemed gloomy from his presentation, Mr Dlamini expressed his positive outlook on the economy’s trajectory by sharing his thoughts and recommendations on how South Africa can overcome their current economic obstacles.

Mr. Khetha Dlamini is a Master’s Candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School as well as a teaching assistant, specifically in the Financial Crises: Concepts and Evidence course at Harvard University. Prior to attending Harvard, he worked in economic policy in South Africa, advising senior policymakers and business leaders. He held various positions at the National Treasury of South Africa, with his recent role being a Chief Director (Interim): Fiscal Policy. Mr. Dlamini is trained in mathematics and computer science and holds a Master of Commerce in Economics from the University of the Witwatersrand.

March 23rd, 2023

Intergral Ecology for Sustainable Development: Case Studies from Kenya and Malawi

The dynamic panel provided valuable insight into the ideals of sustainable development and integral ecology based on their experiences in Kenya and Malawi. The discussion panel included Rev. Endashaw Debrework SJ, Wendy Omanga, and Tione Matthews Phwandaphwanda. The panel highlighted key projects that have been implemented in their respective countries that are key for sustainable development and stressed the importance of beneficial partnership between countries.

Rev. Endashaw Debrework SJ is a Jesuit Priest of the Eastern Africa Province. He is currently the executive deputy director at Jesuit Hakimani Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Hakimani is a Jesuit Centre for Social Transformation in Eastern Africa Province comprising of Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya and Sudan. At the social centre, Endashaw oversees policy dialogues initiatives, advocacy influencing, humanitarian efforts and supports the general implementation of projects.

Wendy Omanga is a youth activist and impact entrepreneur from Nairobi, Kenya. She is the
founder and CEO of Moonlight Initiative, a commercial forestry nonprofit that seeks to
restore riparian ecosystems while also providing an alternative income source to small-scale
farmers. Inspired by the social and environmental teachings of Pope Francis, Wendy is a
founding member of the Economy of Francesco’s Africa Hub.

Tione Phwandaphwanda is an environmental specialist and community development
worker who has been passionately working with the most vulnerable communities for over
nine years, transforming their lives in the face of the impacts of climate change. He is a
senior project officer at the Jesuit Center for Ecology and Development (JCED) in Lilongwe,
Malawi, where he works in the center’s resilience building program.

March 2nd, 2023

Making sense of the US economy amid high inflation rates

Dr. Santangelo was welcomed by IPED to present on the current state of the US economy and the anticipated recession. He provided an in-depth analysis of the economy and highlighted the impact of the increasing interest rates as a means to curb the inflation rate on the citizens.

Dr. Giacomo Santangelo is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Fordham University. He serves as the Director of the International Political Economy (IPE) undergraduate major. Giacomo is also a term Professor at the W. Paul Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University, where he lectures various courses in Economics and Quantitative Analysis.

He is a frequent contributor to multiple publications, such as Forbes, and has been featured on various news shows, such as NBC news and CBS news. In early February, he was a guest on the Indian Parliamentary News program Global Debate, discussing the recent trend in tech layoffs.

February 16th, 2023

Philippines Project Assessment Presentations

Thirteen IPED students participated in the Project Assessment course offered in Manila, Philippines in January 2023. The students analyses local community projects specifically the Pilkan Elderly Project and the Gawang Project, both based in Metro Manila. Upon return to New York City the students presented their assessment of the projects.

February 9th, 2023

Philippines Project Assessment Presentations

February 2nd, 2023

Multilateralism in the age of sovereign rule

IPED was pleased to welcome Ntombana Mbele to provide a lecture on the current role of multilateralism. She provided an overview of the concepts of multilateralism, multipolarity and hegemony. She captivated the students by providing current events that unpacked the above mentioned concepts.

Ms. Mbele currently works as an Economic Trade Advisor at the Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa. Her primary responsibilities include conducting economic research and providing strategic policy advice to the Embassy and the Swiss government in its bilateral relations with South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mauritius and Namibia.

December 8, 2022

Fazle Hassan Abed and BRAC

IPED was pleased to welcome Scott MacMillan to provide a lecture on the biography of Fazle Hassan Abed and BRAC, the charitable action organisation, which Abed founded. MacMillan shared his experience with Abed, who he mentioned was humble and a revolutionary philanthropist.

Scott MacMillan is the director of learning and innovation at BRAC USA, an affiliate organisation of BRAC, where he has worked since 2011. A former journalist, he served as the speechwriter of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of BRAC, prior to Abed’s death in 2019.

December 1, 2022

Trends in the Philanthropic Sector

IPED was pleased to welcome back Matthew Gembecki to provide a lecture on The current trends observed within the philanthropic sector. With his fundraising organisation, Global Impact, Matthew shared shared the change in trends and sectors observed in philanthropy.

Matthew Gembecki is a Managing Director leading Global Impact’s Fundraising and Partnerships team. In this capacity, he directs all business development, strategy and implementation for fundraising and partnership development efforts to help international NGOs achieve their philanthropic goals. Matt also provides strategy for private and public grant makers to maximise their impact.

November 3, 2022

The Current State of Turkey

IPED was pleased to welcome back Dr. A. Talha Yalta to provide a lecture on the current economic state of Turkey. Dr Yalta provided an overview of the history of the country (highlighting the key political events that have contributed to the current economic environment) as well as the key macroeconomic indicators of the country.

A. Talha Yalta is a professor of economics at TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey and also visiting scholar at the Department of Economics at Fordham University for the 2022 2023 academic year. He holds a BA in political science and public administration from the Middle East Technical University in 1999, and received his PhD in economics from Fordham University in 2007.

His main areas of research are macroeconomics and econometrics. His articles have been published in leading journals including International Journal of Forecasting, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Energy Economics, Computational Economics, and Real Estate Economics. He also co-authored two textbooks entitled Modern Mikroekonomiye Giriş and Modern Makroekonomiye Giriş in Turkey.

October 27, 2022

Fear and Loathing in Buenos Aires (Perspectives on a Career Spent Internationally)

IPED was pleased to welcome back Tony Zinicola (IPED ’88) to speak on his 30+ international career spent in the insurance industry. He shared stories and insights with the students and encouraged them to pursue their dreams and change the world.

Tony Zinicola is currently the founding member of Prometheus Insurance Consulting. Tony has worked in various roles in identifying and managing risks multinational companies and non profit organizations face operating in their countries. He has traveled, worked, and established companies in over 40 countries during a 30 year career. Out of many, the creation of employment is one of the most satisfying things an individual can achieve.

Tony attended Fordham and received a BA in Economics and Masters in the IPED program and graduated in 1988.

October 20, 2022

The Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program

IPED was pleased to welcome Giovanna Steel from the Carter Foundation who spoke on her contribution to the efforts to eradicate Guinea Worm Disease from the planet. She spoke of her career in development and the challenges she faces in her work. To learn more about the Carter Center’s program, visit: https://www.cartercenter.org/health/guinea_worm/index.html.

October 13, 2022

Dean Ann Gaylin

IPED was pleased to welcome the new dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) to come and meet our students and learn about our program. She was impressed by the diversity of students, especially the number of international students, and commented how the students in the program seemed to be close knit and were well prepared for careers after IPED.

Dr. Gaylin comes to Fordham from Yale University, where she serves as associate dean for Graduate Education. Before arriving at Yale in 2017, Dr. Gaylin was the associate dean of Undergraduate Education for Academic Support at Harvard University. She has also served as an associate dean at Brown University, and as a program officer at the American Council on Learned Societies.

Dr. Gaylin earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Princeton University. She joined the faculty in the Department of Literature at Yale University in 1994 and has taught a wide range of literature courses at Yale, Princeton, and Brown Universities. A scholar of English and French 19th- and 20th-century literature and culture, Dr. Gaylin is the author of Eavesdropping in the Novel from Austen to Proust (Cambridge 2002).

September 30, 2022

Dr. William Easterly on Foreign Aid

IPED was pleased to welcome Dr. William Easterly from NYU to discuss the ways in which foreign aid, specifically U.S. Foreign Aid, has failed to lift people out of poverty. He spoke about the paradox of aid and how U.S. aid has gone to countries that experience high rates of violence which is where the aid is the least effective. He finished on a note of hope that aid can be targeted toward places that would put it to better use and mentioned how absolute poverty has been on the decline in recent years.

William Easterly is a professor of economics at New York University and co-director of the NYU Development Research Institute, which won the 2009 BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge in Development Cooperation Award. He is the author of three books: The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor (March 2014); The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (2006), which won the FA Hayek Award from the Manhattan Institute; and The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (2001).

He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed academic articles and has written columns and reviews for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Review of Books, and Washington Post. He has served as co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics and as director of the blog “Aid Watch.” He is a research associate of NBER and a senior fellow at BREAD. Foreign Policy Magazine named him among the Top 100 Global Public Intellectuals in 2008 and 2009, and Thomson Reuters listed him as one of the Highly Cited Researchers of 2014. He is also the 11th most-famous native of Bowling Green, Ohio.

September 29, 2022

A More Just Economic System

IPED was pleased to welcome Dr. Anthony Annett to speak on his recent book Cathonomics, a analysis of how Catholic Social Teaching compares to neoclassical economic assumptions. He explored what flaws might be made in these assumptions and how human beings tend toward a more inclusive economic outlook and how that outlook is correlated with increased human wellbeing and happiness.

Anthony M. Annett is a Gabelli Fellow at Fordham University and a senior adviser at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He has a PhD in economics from Columbia University and spent two decades at the International Monetary Fund, where he worked as a speechwriter to the managing director. He is also a member of the College of Fellows of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology.

A growing chorus of economists and politicians is demanding a new paradigm to create a global economy for the common good. In his recent book Cathonomics, Anthony M. Annett unites insights in economics with those from theology, philosophy, climate science, and psychology, exposing the failures of neoliberalism while offering us a new model rooted in the wisdom of Catholic social teaching and classical ethical traditions. Drawing from the work of Pope Leo XIII, Pope Francis, Thomas Aquinas, and Aristotle, Annett applies these teachings to discuss current economic challenges such as inequality, unemployment and underemployment, climate change, and the roles of business and finance.

September 22, 2022

Environmental Economics

IPED was pleased to welcome Dr. Marc Conte, a professor of economics at Fordham, to share some of his past and current research projects. Dr. Conte spoke on the relationship of air quality, health, and educational outcomes, research questions associated with these topics, as well as problems the topics pose to researchers.

Marc N. Conte is an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Fordham University and a faculty research fellow at New York University. He was a Visiting Associate Professor at the Yale School of the Environment in the Spring of 2020. Prior to his arrival at Fordham, he was a post-doctoral research fellow at Stanford University, where he worked with the Natural Capital Project. While finishing his graduate studies at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, as an advisee of Christopher Costello and a trainee in the NSF-funded IGERT Economics and Environmental Sciences program, he had a visiting position at Williams College.

Professor Conte is an applied microeconomist whose research agenda covers several topics at the heart of environmental economics: public good provision, natural capital, natural disasters, and air pollution. He uses applied econometric techniques, applied theory, laboratory experiments, and randomized field experiments, to explore policy-relevant questions of interest.

September 15, 2022

Summer Internships Vol. 2

IPED kicked off its yearly lecture series with an account of students’ summer internships. Today’s presenters interned with the United Nations Development Program, Spes Nova, and NYC Office of the Comptroller, as well as learned French in France and Russian in Latvia with IPED’s Language Immersion Study Award (LISA).

September 8, 2022

Summer Internships

IPED kicked off its yearly lecture series with an account of students’ summer internships. Today’s presenters interned with the International Rescue Committee, the U.S. Department of Commerce at the U.S. Embassy to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Salesian Mission to the UN, Santander, Equinor, and The Humboldt Institute.

May 5, 2022

Justice & Mercy International (JMI) in Moldova

IPED was delighted to have Dr. Chris Hardy of JMI come and speak on their work in Moldova. In order to encourage foster care, the Moldovan government shut down all orphanages in Moldova with two years of funding from UNICEF and other organizations. However, once that funding ran out the country had no budget to support the program. JMI stepped in to help meet the needs of Moldovan social and true orphans by providing basic needs via a sponsorship program, operating a transitional housing program, and helping support program graduates as they live independent lives. Dr. Hardy spoke on their programs and how they decided to make a long-term commitment to Moldova and local leadership. To learn more about their work, please visit https://justiceandmercy.org/.

April 28, 2022

Making the Most of Your Internship

IPED welcomed career services to speak on how students could make the most of their summer internships. Viviana Martinez spoke on how setting goals can give purpose to your experience and shape how you network while at the organization. She spoke on how internships can funnel into full-time jobs after graduation and how to best position yourself to get those jobs.

April 22, 2022

The ChildFund Alliance

IPED was honored to have a breakfast visit to alumna Meg Gardinier (IPED ’88) who currently serves as the Secretary General for the ChildFund Alliance. She spoke about how her organization advocates to the United Nations and European Union on behalf of 11 organizations who serve 23 million children around the world with the goal of ending violence and exploitation. She spoke on soft power and how alliances among NGOs are the best way to serve those in need. IPED students also learned about their current campaign to help countries create effective laws and educational programs to help children escape and avoid internet exploitation. To learn more about her work, please visit: https://childfundalliance.org/.

April 12, 2022

Supporting Education Frontline Workers in Afghanistan Amidst the Economic Crisis

IPED was honored to have a lunch and discussion with Bea Lumanas (IPED ’13) who helps manage emergency cash transfers (surge deployment) for UNICEF in Afghanistan. In order to help support education after the Taliban takeover, UNICEF identified payments to teachers as being integral to keeping the education system running and kids in school. Bea Lumanas led the effort to verify the list of teachers active in the country who qualify for payments and administer on-the-ground surveys for schools to gauge the situation for education in the country. She spoke on initial findings and ways the development community will use this data going forward.

March 31, 2022

The Reality of Russian Propaganda

IPED was delighted to have alumnus Michael Wasiura (IPED ’11, RPCV Ukraine ’06-’08) come and speak on his work in Russian media and how the Russian propaganda regime works. He spoke on how many people in high levels of Russian government remained oblivious to the reality of Ukraine all the way up to the invasion and how Russia successfully convinced people Ukraine was a fascist, anti-Russian state and how 70% of Ukrainian generals would defect if Russia were to invade. He spoke on the reality of support for the war in Russia and how Russian citizens are reacting to this event.

Michael Wasiura (RPCV Ukraine 2006-2008, IPED class of 2011) is a C-list celebrity in Russia. His work has appeared in Novaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda, The Baffler, n+1, The Institute of Modern Russia, and on the syllabus of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

March 10, 2022

Education in the Developing World

IPED was pleased to welcome Father Ugo Nacciarone, SJ to speak about his experience teaching in Africa for 40 years. He shared thoughts on the difference between the British and American schooling systems and the colonial legacy in schools. Father Ugo explained how funding often gets appropriated to schools and the challenges of running schools with limited funds that try to provide a great education to all.

Father Ugo Nacciarone, SJ was born in Brooklyn in 1933, joined the Jesuits in 1950, and ordained in 1964. He spent 40 years teaching and mentoring in Nigeria, Zambia, and Ghana. His experiences are written down in his book Accidental African Blessings.

March 3, 2022

Innovation & International Development: Oxymoron or Opportunity for Global Impact?

IPED was excited to welcome Shaun Johnson from the Fordham Foundry to speak on his career journey and his work with entrepreneurs in the developing world. He spoke of his time at the World Bank working with a program that encouraged African investors to keep capital local and support African entrepreneurs and explained how Silicon Valley investment in the continent can be a form of talent and capital extraction. He gave students career advice and offered his support to students as they continue their graduate school journey.

Shaun Johnson is the Associate Director of Fordham Foundry & codirector of Tachyon, ConsenSys Ventures’ web3 startup accelerator. Previously, Shaun was an Entrepreneur-in- Residence (EIR) at Georgetown University, Associate at Techstars, Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Program Analyst at the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. He also serves on the boards of the New York Tech Alliance & NYC Innovation Collective.

Shaun has extensive experience in technology and global tech and VC/investing markets. Through his efforts to develop global startup ecosystems, especially at the Startup Institute, Techstars, The World Bank, and various universities, Shaun has helped hundreds of founders, startups, investors, accelerators, and governments/government institutions. He has supported entrepreneurs worldwide and helped to build a global network of business incubators and innovation hubs for technology, business, and digital economy, and connected entrepreneurs with knowledge, funding, and markets they need to grow their business, and published educational resources on topics like crowdfunding, angel investing, and business incubator management in various markets.

Shaun is also one of the most well-connected and well-respected technologists and innovators in NYC, who have helped to build its tech ecosystem. Shaun graduated from Georgetown University with a double major in Computer Science and Sociology, and graduated from The Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Science in Information Systems and Leadership Development.

February 24, 2022

Public Opinion and the Politics of Energy Infrastructure in the Developing World

Fordham Professor of political science Dr. Meir Alkon came and spoke on his research on how people in the developing world view energy infrastructure projects based on where they are located, which country is financing them, whether or not they believe the project will generate jobs for their community, and which type of energy source they would prefer to have built. The conversation with students revolved around the challenges energy projects and specifically green energy projects face in the developing world and how public sentiment might be able to shape the future of energy in their countries.

Meir Alkon is assistant professor at Fordham University, a Wilson Center China Fellow, and non-resident fellow at the Global Development Policy Center, Boston University. His research focuses on the political economy of energy, trade, and climate.

February 17, 2022

Migration and Cooperation

Fordham Professor of political science Dr. Sarah Lockhart came to share her research on global cooperation on migration and the challenges states and migrants face in our times. She discussed what topics were currently being discussed at the UN’s first revision to the Global Compact for Migration and the reality of how migration reform is funded and what those funds are utilized to do. She advocated for migration reform at the domestic level and believes countries can make meaningful progress towards helping migrants.

Sarah P. Lockhart is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Fordham University. Her research focuses on migration governance, migrant rights, human trafficking and smuggling, and civil war processes. She is the co-author of Migration Crises and the Structure of International Cooperation (University of Georgia Press 2018) and the co-editor of Introduction to International Migration: Population Movements in the 21st Century (Routledge 2021)

February 10, 2022

Dr. Jeffrey Sachs

IPED was excited to speak with Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. Dr. Sachs spoke generally on the “puzzle” of development and how he works from observations about poverty to find causes and solutions. He spoke on the history Democratic Republic of the Congo and what that can tell us about colonialism directly ties to the poverty it experiences today. He concluded with ideas on how sustainability is integrated with development and what must happen to have the two work in tandem.

Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development. https://www.jeffsachs.org/

He is widely recognized for bold and effective strategies to address complex challenges including the escape from extreme poverty, the global battle against human-induced climate change, international debt and financial crises, national economic reforms, and the control of pandemic and epidemic diseases.

Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the university’s highest academic rank. Sachs held the position of Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Chair of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, Co-Chair of the UN Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition, Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Honorary Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development at Sunway University, academician of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, and an SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General António Guterres. From 2001-18, Sachs served as Special Advisor to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan (2001-7), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and António Guterres (2017-18).

February 3, 2022

The History of USAID

IPED was excited to welcome John Norris, author of Enduring Struggle: The History of the U.S. Agency for International Development and America’s Uneasy Transformation of the World. He spoke about the mixed legacy of USAID, from its greatest achievements such as the eradication of small pox to its failures to create any meaningful change in Afghanistan and Vietnam. He also outlined how public opinion and politics was instrumental in shaping the agencies goals and spoke to where he sees the agency going in the future.

John Norris was appointed to the President’s Global Development Council in 2014 by President Barack Obama and currently works at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

January 27, 2022

M & E in the Private Sector

IPED alumna Emily Kremser came and discussed how she uses her skills of monitoring and evaluation learned while in IPED in the private sector. She discussed how she assesses demand-side energy for the Cadmus Group in Portland, OR.

January 20, 2022

Poland and the Global Scene

IPED was honored to welcome the Polish ambassador to the UN to kick off the spring’s lecture series. He spoke on how Poland has formed its identity over the centuries, choosing to align with the West and balancing the fear of survival as a nation with the conviction it is has an important global role to play. Students got perspective on current events, notably the Polish border crisis with Belarus.

December 9, 2021

Convergence and the Rich/Poor Divide

Dr. Giacomo Santangelo came and discussed the difference between growth and development, explaining current economic growth theories and whether or not the poor countries can catch up to the rich. He traced the history of these development theories and discussed how each was credible depending on what data was used. He ended by showing students how data revision makes comparing results nearly impossible from year to year.

Dr. Giacomo Santangelo is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics as well as the Director of the International Political Economy Program at Fordham University. He is an economist with training in quantitative and qualitative research and analysis with more than 20 years of teaching experience at various Universities in the New York City area. Courses taught include Statistics & Statistical Decision-Making, Applied Econometrics, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, International Economics, Development Economics, Environmental Economics, Financial Economics, Money & Banking, Corporate Finance, Public Finance, Comparative Economic Systems, Economics at the Movies, and Sports Economics.

He earned his Ph.D. and Master of Arts (M.A.) in Economics from Fordham University, as well as a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Economics from Seton Hall University. A frequent media contributor, Professor Santangelo has been seen on NBC, CBS, & FoxNews, as well as in USNews and World Report, Forbes, Monster.com, and Fortune. In 2016, he gave a TEDx talk on the unifying theory of all Disney animated films and in 2020 published Macroeconomics: Big Things Have Small Beginnings, a macroeconomics textbook geared toward the Global Business Honors class he teaches at the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham. Professor Santangelo’s research focuses on international economic growth, trade, and development.

December 2, 2021

National Identity in China

Dr. Grace Shen came and spoke on how modern ideas of a unified national identity were shaped by both China’s imperial past and colonial history. She traced how ethnic identities came to be defined and discussed in political discourse, pointing to specific definitions that were used among various groups to promote unity during the 20th century. These definitions were then discussed in light of current tensions in Tibet, Taiwan, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Grace Shen is Associate Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies in the History Department. Her work centers on questions of identity as well as aspirations of modernity, change and self-fulfillment in late 19th C to late 20th C China. As a historian of science, she has primarily explored this through the lens of knowledge production. Her first book, Unearthing the Nation: Modern Geology and National Identity in Republican China, traces the complex (and often surprising) ways that interactions with “modern science” helped Chinese articulate what they wanted, how they saw themselves, who they wanted to be, and why. Her present book project “Raising the Nation” examines technologies of infant and child care to probe the ways that choices about children shaped China’s understanding of its place in the modern world and the potential of its nation-building project.

November 22, 2021

St. Gallen Symposium Info Session

The IPED program got to hear from a representative of the St. Gallen Symposium, a premiere event for leaders of tomorrow. Each year in Switzerland, young leaders, selected from an essay contest, are invited into an inter-generational dialogue with current business and political leaders on a variety of topics. IPED students have had great success at this symposium, including a grand-prize winner, and a student won a trip to participate in 2020.

The St. Gallen Symposium is the world’s leading initiative for cross generational debates on economic, political, and social developments – completely organised by students. Our Global Essay Competition provides your graduate and post-graduate students with an outstanding opportunity to share their points of view at this year’s conference. Of the 100 selected participants, who all are invited to an all–expenses covered trip to Switzerland, the top three entrants from the essay competition have the unique opportunity of presenting their ideas in front of a world-renowned audience and to share the grand prize of CHF 20’000.– (equivalent to $21’400). The 51st St. Gallen Symposium will be held under the topic “Collaborative Advantage” from 5–6 May 2022 at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

We are proud to have welcomed distinguished participants over the years including Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group and, most recently, Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft.

November 18, 2021

Local Business Alliances

The President and CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance spoke about their work to create thriving local businesses and bring a revival to the New Orleans area. Topics covered included tax distribution from the state, how federal grants can be used for local development, and what small business require to thrive.

Norman Barnum serves as Interim President and CEO at the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA), an economic development organization that partners with City government to attract and support businesses, develop talent and workforce, and strengthen sense of place. He is a finance expert with over 30 years of community and economic development leadership experience in cities in the Northeast and Gulf South.

Before becoming the Interim President and CEO, Barnum joined NOLABA as Chief Financial Officer where he developed the overall financial strategy and implementation of data systems. He managed the finance team, treasury, shareholder relations, accounting, tax, external audit, and risk management. Barnum also led the development and implementation of strategic initiatives that increased the organization’s self-sustainability and minimized dependence on public funding. To do so, he served as a liaison between leaders in the public and private sectors and community members to generate outcomes that drive prosperity for all citizens of New Orleans.

November 11, 2021

The Future of Aid in Afghanistan

Fordham IPED was excited to welcome back two alumni who spoke about their work with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Afghanistan and gave insight into how both the new political climate and drought were affecting the people in the country. They discussed how CRS was working to promote education even among the most rural villages, including how their relationship with both local and Taliban officials allowed their women teachers to continue to work. Other topics discussed include the effects of COVID, the freezing of currency reserves, and what CRS’s strategy might look like going forward.

November 4, 2021

Career Development and Prestigious Awards

Members of Fordham’s career services team came down and presented on the many resources students can take advantage of to give them an edge in the job market. This was followed by a presentation from the office of prestigious awards about all they do to help students create applications that get noticed.

October 28, 2021

Federal Energy Policy

Paul Wilkins (IPED ’05) came to share his work in renewable energy at Bloom Energy as Vice President for federal policy. He discussed themes of the energy transition and what it will take for the US to reach its renewable energy goals. He ended by discussing President Biden’s Build Back Better bill and what it means in light of the upcoming UN summits.

Paul Wilkins joined Bloom Energy in 2016 and serves as Vice President for Federal Policy. In this role,
Paul manages Bloom’s relationships with federal policy makers and represents Bloom before federal
agencies as well as members of Congress and their staff. Before joining Bloom Paul spent nearly a
decade working on federal tax, energy, and environmental policy as Legislative Assistant, Legislative
Director, and then Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Max Baucus
(D-MT). Paul lives in Washington, DC with his wife and three daughters.

October 21, 2021

The New Economy Project

Will Spisak (IPED ’14) came and spoke about his work with New Economy Project, a NYC-based organization fighting for a more equitable economy. He spoke in depth about the benefits of a public bank and how his organization is fighting to ensure there are no banking deserts in NYC. He also discussed how community land trusts can be a way to ensure affordable housing for all. https://www.neweconomynyc.org/

Will Spisak is the Senior Program Strategist at New Economy Project, a New York-based nonprofit organization that seeks to build an economy that works for all, based on cooperation, equity, social and racial justice, and ecological sustainability. At New Economy Project, Will works on policy advocacy campaigns and supports grassroots organizations working to implement new models of economic cooperation in their communities. His work focuses primarily on supporting the development of community land trusts and establishing a municipally-owned public bank in New York City.

Will is a lifelong New Yorker from Queens and has over a decade of experience working as an organizer, advocate, and project manager in the city. In addition to his work in the nonprofit sector, Will is an adjunct instructor teaching in the Urban Studies departments at Hunter College and Queens College. He holds a master’s degree in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University and a bachelor’s degree from Queens College.

October 14, 2021

Al Bartosic: International Private Equity

Mr. Bartosic came to share his career journey with current IPED students, specifically his work in international private equity. He discussed various mergers and acquisitions he helped lead, including investments made in South Africa right after the end of the apartheid. Students got to benefit from Mr. Bartosic’s life lessons and find out how Fordham supports budding entrepreneurs.

Albert J. Bartosic is the Executive Director of the Fordham Foundry. He is a serial entrepreneur who has extensive experience with fundraising, management, finance and operations. He was the CEO of Standing Stone, (a startup he co-founded) which is a medical software company focused on subspecialty clinical decision support, now part of Abbott. Al has worked across diverse industries, including international private equity (South Africa, Korea, Mexico and India), financial services, consumer products, technology, entertainment, and public accounting. He advises startups, is an angel investor, is an independent board member of Clearstead Trust, and is a director of Zoomph, a social media analytics company.

A certified public accountant, Al holds an MBA in Finance from New York University and a BS in Public Accounting from Fordham.

October 7, 2021

Dr. Michael E. Lee: Liberation Theology and Development

Dr. Michael E. Lee of the department of theology came and spoke about how Catholic social teaching and on the ground experiences led to the formation of liberation theology in Latin America. He discussed how personal and political observations led to the idea that the Church should be very much in the world but not of it, helping fight for liberation and justice for the oppressed.

Michael E. Lee, PhD is Professor of Theology and Director of the Francis & Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University, where he is also affiliated with the Latin American and Latinx Studies Institute. Born in Miami, FL of Puerto Rican parents, he holds graduate degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Lee joined the Fordham faculty in 2004 and teaches courses in Roman Catholic theology, liberation theologies, Latin American and Latinx theologies, Christology, and spirituality. He has served as President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS) and on the governing board of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA). His books include: Revolutionary Saint: The Theological Legacy of Óscar Romero (a Catholic Press Award winner), Ignacio Ellacuría: Essays on History, Liberation, and Salvation, and Bearing the Weight of Salvation: The Soteriology of Ignacio Ellacuría (winner of the 2010 Hispanic Theological Initiative Book Prize).

September 30, 2021

Matthew Jacobs, Forecasting NY and NJ Transportation during Covid-19

Matthew Jacobs returned to his Alma mater to discuss his work in forecasting transportation during Covid-19 in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas. He talked about various economic models, the difficulty in forecasting during turbulent times, and his career development that led to transportation economics.

Matthew has been with the current firm, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, for more than five years now as an senior economic analyst. An economist for more than 20 years, he has had previous stints with the Asian Development Bank, A. Gary Shilling & Co., Inc., the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and the Louis Berger Group. Experienced in both quantitative and qualitative analysis, he specializes in transportation economics and finance. He holds an MA in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University.

The weekly IPED Lecture Series hosts speakers from the non-profit, public, and private sectors who present on a wide variety of topics that are of interest to graduate students in the IPED Program as well as undergraduates in IPE and other interested students.

September 23, 2021

Amanda Larson, The Carter Center

Amanda discussed the Carter Center’s ongoing advocacy to completely eradicate the Guinea Worm disease. Its Guinea Worm Eradication Program has done tremendous strides since it was first tackled in 1986 by the non-profit. Amanda lectured the community on the science, methods to eradicate, and the reinvigorated transmission through animals.

Amanda Larson has been with the orgnanization as both a technical advisor and recruitment consultant since 2019. She has over 7+ years experience in project and program management, and M&E systems with previous stints in Malawi, and Chad. She has an MA in International Policy and Development from Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a BA in Sociology from UC Santa Barbara.

September 9 & 16, 2021

Second Year Summer Presentations

The IPED program’s second years presented to the community regarding their summer presentations. We had a rich discussion in the internship experience within the private sector, governmental work, and non-profits. Our second years included internships from the United States Department of State, a foreign investment bank, Catholic Relief Services, and the International Rescue Committee.

Aside from their internships, they also shared their language immersion experiences in French, Mandarin and Arabic. The immersions and internships would have not been possible without the generous support and guidance by the program, the alumni, and the school.

April 30, 2021

Kari Nelson, Social Impact

Dr. Kari Nelson is a Technical Director with Social Impact (SI) in their Strategy, Performance, and Learning division. In her role at SI, she typically leads the technical design, implementation, and analysis of independent evaluations of development programs, helping clients figure out what they’ve achieved as well as what is working well in their programs and what could be done better in the future, with the ultimate aim of improving development effectiveness. While at SI, Kari has led evaluations in the health, WASH, infrastructure, and education sectors and her clients have included USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Department of State, the Mastercard Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dr. Nelson spoke with students about innovations in evaluation processes and gave professional advice to students considering a career in Monitoring and Evaluation.

IPED Virtual Career Sessions occurred bi-weekly during the 2020-2021 academic year due to restrictions from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Students and alumni connected virtually, sharing insights and experiences in work across all sectors and providing professional networking opportunities for students.

April 16, 2021

Maria Casa, Council on Foreign Relations

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. Founded in 1921, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Their goal is to start a conversation in this country about the need for Americans to better understand the world.

Maria Casa, National Program and Outreach Administrator, spoke with students in an extended Q&A, exploring the history and purpose of CRF and how the opportunities for careers within the organization.

April 14, 2021

Tom Slaymaker, UNICEF

Tom discussed his current projects in monitoring drinking water, general sanitation, and hygiene practices in developing areas. He talked about UNICEF’s joint programme with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint Program for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP). He lectured on current trends and ongoing difficulties with monitoring and gathering data.

Tom has had more than 18 years of experience working in the field of international development in numerous countries in Asia and Africa. He has been with UNICEF for more than 6 years now with previous stints at WaterAid, and the Overseas Development Institute. He holds an MA in Environment & Development from SOAS University of London.

April 9, 2021

Mario Carias, CFA Society of New York

CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Society New York—formerly New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA)—is a financial services forum and provider of professional education and career development to Wall Street. Mario E. Carias is currently the Managing Director of Content and Member Services at CFA Society New York, where he oversees the development of content and the member journey. Mario has over 12 years of work experience on Wall Street in institutional equity research sales, he worked in institutions such as CLSA, Unibanco, ABN-Amro and ING-Barings covering European and Latin American equities from 1992 to 2005. Most recently, he migrated into financial education, writing and teaching various investment analysis courses, corporate finance, and econometrics courses for T3 Live and Hunter College. Mario attended New York University, where he received a Masters in Economics in 1992, and earned his BSc in Economics from the University of Buckingham in the UK in 1990. Mario was awarded his CFA charter in 2004 and is a member of the CFA Society New York and CFA Institute.

April 7, 2021

Josh Kyller, Catholic Relief Service (CRS)

Josh reached out and lectured on the current state of international rescue efforts. He talked about his own on-the-ground experience in Greece. He discussed the various logistical difficulties related to the multiple steps in admitting refugees into formal institutions such as housing, cash transfers and finances, and on-the-job training.

Josh has worked in various non-profits and multilateral organizations such as the Catholic Relief Service and the Peace Corps. He graduated from Fordham University with an MA in IPED.

March 19, 2021

Sara Lane, Millennium Challenge Corporation

Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an independent U.S. foreign aid agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty. MCC provides time-limited grants to other nations to promote economic growth, reduce poverty, and strengthen institutions. IPED Alumna Sara Lane (IPED 2005) talks about the work the work they do at MCC and shares useful advice for students in the program thinking of pursuing a career with the MCC and in foreign aid work in general.

March 17, 2021

Alyssa Campbell, International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Alyssa talked about her work in the IRC. She delved into the different departments in the organization such as the strategy, research, and evidence to action teams. In this endeavor, she traced how research on numerous international development issues starts from the idea-phase all the way until the implementation stage.

Alyssa Campbell works as an evidence to action manager in the Airbel Impact Lab, a research and innovation department at the IRC. Her work involves articulating copious amounts of evidence amongst the IRC’s research areas. She holds a BA in Law, Politics, and History from Sciences Po Paris and an MSc in Urban Planning from the London School of Economics.

March 11, 2021

Marie Claire Vasquez and Maria Victoria Abreu, Dutidú

Marie and Maria (IPED 2006) are co-founders of Dutidú. They talked about their advocacy in promoting Latin-American culture in the United States. Both moms, they realized the importance of acknowledging one’s roots as they impart their values and culture to their kids.

Marie Claire has dedicated her life to researching Latin American democracy and development. She has had previous stints with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, and the Brookings Institution. She earned her MA and a Ph.D. in International Policy Studies from Stanford University and the University of Maryland, respectively.

Prior to Dutidú, Maria Victoria served as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, and the IDB. She holds two MAs one from Complutense University of Madrid and from Fordham University, wherein the latter, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study International Political Economy and Development at Fordham University.

March 3, 2021

Dr, Nigel Gould-Davies, IISS

Dr. Gould-Davies talked about Alexei Navalny’s arrest and its political risk implications. He used a political risk framework he devised in his book Tectonic Politics: Global Risk in an Age of Transformation. He argued that the 21st-century world faces a new kind of political risk, a risk that more companies should not underestimate.

Dr. Nigel Gould-Davies is an editor for Strategic Survey: The Annual Assessment of Geopolitics in the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is also a notable expert on the politics, economics, and security of Russia and the former Soviet Union. He holds a BA and M.Phil from the University of Oxford and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

February 24, 2021

Eric Carroll, Acceso

Eric Carroll (IPED 2015) talked about his experiences and the value-proposition of his non-profit organization, Acceso. Acceso aims to be a social business builder by providing capital, training, and access to farmers and fishers in Latin America. Through this initiative, their stakeholders are able to increase their incomes while lowering overall costs in their business model.

Eric has been with Acceso ever since he graduated from the IPED program where he has primarily worked as an operations manager and then an associate director in its agribusiness division.

February 17, 2021

Matthew Gembecki, Global Impact

Matthew (IPED 2016) talked about nuances in domestic and international fundraising. With his fundraising organization, Global Impact, Matthew shared his unique view on its challenges, especially during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Matthew has been a managing director of Global impact as he has been with the organization for three years now.

February 12, 2021

Joseph Quinlan, Bank of America

Joseph Quinlan (IPED 1984) is Managing Director and Head of Market Strategy supporting Bank of America Private Bank and Merrill for the Chief Investment Ofce within Bank of America Corporation. In this role, Joe leads a team responsible for global market and thematic analysis in support of the asset allocation and portfolio construction across the wealth management businesses. Joe provides economic and market insights, guiding overall investment strategy, both domestically and globally. He is an author, co-author, or contributor to over twenty books and has published more than 125 articles on economics, trade and finance.

Mr. Quinlan engaged with students in discussion about his work, exploring the intersection of global politics and economics, touching on themes such as immigration movements and climate change.

February 10, 2021

Alex Strzempko, Village Enterprise

Alex Strzempko (IPED 2016) gave a lecture on her non-profit organization, Village Enterprise. Village Enterprise hopes to alleviate poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship and innovation. She talked about how they are able to do this by training, investing, and scaling entrepreneurs and their operations.

Alex is the senior manager of institutional partnerships for the organization. Her professional career has been centered in international development with experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Albania and Concern Worldwide.

February 5, 2021

International Trade Administration

IPED Alumni at the U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA) of the US Department of Commerce spoke about the work the work they do for ITA, their career journeys, and useful advice for students in the program thinking of pursuing a career with the ITA, and the US government in general.

Speakers:
Constance Handley (not pictured), IPED 1997, Senior Advisor for Policy and Negotiations; Enforcement & Compliance
Israly Echegaray-Garcia, IPED 2002, Senior International Trade Specialist

February 3, 2021

Greg Nasif, Humanity Forward

Greg Nasif talked about the urgency to implement Universal Basic Income (UBI) to mitigate the economic fallout effects from the Covid-19 pandemic. Humanity Forward continuously advocates for UBI to uplift millions of Americans out of poverty and aid small businesses to survive until the vaccine arrives and beyond with continuous direct cash relief payments.

Greg is the chief spokesperson for Humanity Forward. Previously, he has worked for various Democratic primary candidates as a communication director.

December 2, 2020

Grace Avila, The Clinton Foundation

Grace Avila (IPED 2017) talked about the Clinton Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by President Bill Clinton in 1997. The foundation’s main goals are to develop and implement programs that create economic opportunities, improve public health, and inspire civic engagement and service.

Grace is a foreign policy manager from the Clinton Foundation. Prior to her current role, she previously worked for the State Department and the United Nations. She holds a Master’s Degree in IPED from Fordham University.

November 18, 2020

The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict with Lusine Khachatryan

Lusine Khachatryan (IPED 2021) talked about the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. She provided a historical background on the conflict and discusses the impact so far of the conflict on affected communities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Lusine is a Fulbright Scholar from Armenia. She holds a Master’s Degree in IPED from Fordham University.

November 11, 2020

Danielle Provo, Bridges Fund Management

Danielle Provo (IPED 2015) has been with Bridges Fund Management for more than a year as a private equity analyst specializing in sustainable growth. She shared her expertise in impact investing and it’s capacity to better livelihoods through private funding.

Danielle Provo holds a master’s degree in IPED from Fordham University. Prior to her current role, she served as a consultant and Peace Corps officer in Guinea.

November 4, 2020

Sean Cox, US Foreign Service, and the USDA

Sean Cox of the USDA talked about his career path into the US foreign service, the USDA, and the unprecedented difficulties presented to the aspiring civil servants from the 2020 elections to the ongoing pandemic.

Mr. Cox holds a dual master’s degree in IPED and Economics and was a recipient of the Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship prior to his current role in the USDA.

October 28, 2020

Brittany Borg, US Small Business Administration

Brittany Borg of the US Small Business Administration talked about the agency’s role, her work, and the agency’s response during the Coranavirus pandemic.

Brittany holds a dual MA in Economics and International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University. She has been working in the SBA for more than seven years.

October 23, 2020

Virtual Career Session with UNICEF Members

Fordham IPED welcomed UNICEF members Bea Lumanas (IPED 2013, Programme Officer – Data and Analytics, UNICEF HQ New York) and Elly Reserva (IPED 2019, Health Officer – Data Management, UNICEF West and Central Africa Regional Office, Senegal). Bea and Elly shared about their work in international development and shared advice with students on how to pursue a career in development.

October 16, 2020

Timothy Sullivan, Municipal Strategies & Solutions

Timothy Sullivan, IPED Class of 1985, talked about his financial consultancy practice. He specializes in aiding local governments in a vast range of problems from financing to staffing. He primarily focused on the effects of the Coronavirus on local governments in the New York state.

October 9, 2020

Virtual Career Session with USDA Members

Fordham IPED welcomed United States Department of Agriculture members Matthew Pavone (Branch Chief, Agricultural Marketing Service), Sean Cox (Agricultural Attaché U.S. Mission to the UN), Stephanie Swinehart (International Economist), Brian Dutoi (Director of Executive Support) and Bill Verzani (Agricultural Attaché Malaysia). The guests spoke about the USDA , their work with the organization, and the paths they took to arrive there.

October 7, 2020

Elizabeth Mahoney, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Elizabeth Mahoney of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York presented on multiple topics about the bank. The interdisciplinary nature of the IPED program allowed Elizabeth to focus more on the bank’s international work and the interconnectedness of central banks around the world.

The lecture focused on:

The Global, national, and regional economic outlook;
The roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve and its respective departments;
What it’s like working at the Federal Reserve of New York.

Mahoney has held her current position for more than five years. She received her M.A. from Columbia University.

September 30, 2020

Bizu Solomon, Office of Career Services

Bizu Solomon of the Office of Career Services dropped by to present on the new challenges in the internship and job hunt. Affected by the pandemic, she shared her insights on new strategies to better position IPED students in their employment prospects.

Bizu has been with the Office of Career Services for almost two years now. She is also a Fordham alumna.

September 25, 2020

Virtual Career Session with Catholic Relief Services

IPED students spoke with Neda Sobhani (below) and Valarie Barksdale (above) of Catholic Relief Services. Neda is the International Development Fellows Program Manager and Valarie works as an HR Specialist with Interns and Fellows Support. They will discussed with students the careers available with Catholic Relief Services as well as providing insight into the International Development Fellows Program of CRS.