European Young Leaders

Wajahat is an award-winning playwright and TV host of Pakistani descent. At Affinis Labs, he works to create social entrepreneurship initiatives that have a positive impact for marginalised communities and to empower social entrepreneurs and communities to come up with innovative solutions to tackle the world problems. Wajahat is the author of The domestic Crusaders, which was the first major play about Muslim Americans published after 9/11. He is also the lead author of the investigative report about anti-Muslim discrimination Fear Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America from the Center for American Progress. He also previously worked as the co-host of the Al Jazeera American Network.

Terry is an accomplished and experienced entrepreneur and advocate for access to education and the expansion of entrepreneurship. He entered public service in 1999 when he was elected to the Nanaimo City Council, becoming British Columbia’s youngest-ever elected official. A former Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia, Terry is the author of The In-Credibility Factor, which highlights his desire for Canada to become a global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship. Terry was the founder and CEO of HiretheWorld.com and of Twinbro, a non-profit organisation that has helped over 25,000 students obtain millions of dollars in scholarships and financial aid. He is a past board member of Lift Philanthropy and worked with entrepreneurs to launch and grow businesses at Beech Partners.

Ruth Ellen is a Member of Parliament in Canada. Since her surprise election, she has quietly evolved into an effective and highly regarded politician. During the 42st Canadian Parliament, she was the Deputy agriculture critic in Thomas Muclair’s shadow cabinet and the New Democrat Party’s Vice-Chair. She has extraordinary grit and determination, ferocious work ethic and humility. At 16, she got pregnant, continued to attend school, earned her high school diploma and went to college in Kingston Out. Always considered as the ultimate black horse, she is a feminist, and an advocate for reproductive choice and affordable day care. Since the 2011 federal election, she represented the riding of Berthier-Maskinonge in the Canadian House of Commons. She became a popular local MP and won re-election in the 2015 federal election. She thought of becoming the lead of the NPD but during the summer of 2016, she finally decided to give more care to her family life and defend the interest of her riding.

Alex Budak is a serial social entrepreneur and faculty member at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He created and teaches one of the university’s most popular courses, which equips and inspires students on how to become changemakers. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, he co-founded StartSomeGood, a leading social impact crowdfunding platform which has helped over 1,000 changemakers in 50 countries raise over $10mn altogether. Alex is also the former country director of Reach for Change, Scandinavia’s leading social impact incubator, in Stockholm. A mentor, coach and advisor to social entrepreneurs around the world, Alex has delivered keynote speeches and lectures on leadership and social innovation in venues from the White House to the World Bank, from Cambodia to the Arctic Circle. His work has been featured in various publications, including Forbes, The Guardian and The Washington Post.

“Victoria Herrmann is the President and Managing Director of the Arctic Institute. Her
research and writing focus on climate change, community adaptation, human
development, and resource economies, with a particular focus on Arctic oil and gas.
Herrmann previously worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s
Energy and Climate Program. She was awarded a Eureka! Prize from the Baker
Institute for Entrepreneurship in 2012 and a Fulbright Scholarship to Canada to
pursue Arctic research in 2013. She is the author of Arctic Melt: Turning Resource
Extraction into Human Development (2015). She has been published in many peerreview
journals and appeared on BBC and CNN, among others. In 2016, Herrmann
travelled across the United States for the National Geographic-funded book on
climate change stories America’s Eroding Edges. She is a Gates Scholar at the
Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, where she is pursuing
a PhD in Political Geography of the Arctic.”

Sabrina Hersi Issa is the CEO of Be Bold Media, a digital agency for global advocacy that notably produces a hackathon series to build and improve technology tools used for humanitarian relief and refugee services. She is the co-founder of End Famine, a campaign dedicated to developing sustainable solutions to hunger, food security and humanitarian assistance. Hersi Issa organises Rights x Tech, a gathering for technologists and activists, and runs Survivor Fund, a political fund dedicated to supporting the rights of survivors of sexualised violence. She currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, where she leads research on journalism ecosystems and how philanthropy can support efforts to build diverse, inclusive media ecosystems. In addition, she curates New/s Disruptors, a project working to re-frame the narrative of digital disruption in journalism to champion the experiences and contributions of diverse voices. Sabrina is a former fellow of the Roosevelt Institute where she worked on issues related to technology, human rights and humanitarian disasters. She has also worked for Afghans for Civil Society, Oxfam America, NBC News and National Public Radio.

A values-driven leader, working at the crossroads of advocacy, foreign policy and social change, Derek has spent the last decade working at Global Zero, the international movement for nuclear disarmament. Prior to his role as CEO, Derek served as Global Zero’s chief of staff and program director. His work has helped position the organisation as a trusted intermediary and a highly credible source of policy analysis, thought leadership and advocacy. Committed to breaking down gender and racial barriers in the nuclear policy and advocacy field, Derek co-founded Beyond the Bomb, a US-based grassroots advocacy organisation focused on organising young people, women and people of colour against nuclear weapons. He is also a member of the Munich Young Leaders, a group of rising experts in foreign and security policy, and a Nuclear Innovation Fellow with N Square Collaborative. Derek has previously worked to promote interfaith dialogue and cooperation at the Parliament of the World’s Religions and access to human rights and rule of law at JUSTICE.

Sarah Jones is an award-winning all platform journalist with a passion for attracting
young audiences to hard news. Over 67,000 people are supporters of her Sarah
Jones Reports on social media. In 2013, she moved to New York for a full-time
news gathering position with Al Jazeera America. She left her job two years later to
pursue a fellowship with the International Reporting Project where she was given
the opportunity to report on health and development in the Philippines. In 2016, she
was selected as one of the top one thousand most influential Twitter profiles from
across the worlds of marketing, advertising, digital and media. Prior to joining Al
Jazeera America, Jones was freelancing as an International Assignment Editor for
CNN at its headquarters in Atlanta; as an online and print journalist for Gulf News
(Dubai); and as an online journalist for ITN’s Channel 4 (UK).”

Adele is an expert in strategic cognitive skills, advanced theory of mind, and applied physics. Her research focuses on operators in time-limited, life-critical, restricted communication environments and how they employ Theory of Mind (ToM) in their mission. Adele’s previous experience includes working as a NASA Flight Controller/Astronaut Instructor, in which role she provided support for over 90 US Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), and Russian spacewalks, and trained five Shuttle crews and two ISS increments in Extra Vehicle Activity (EVA). In addition to her current work as a Research Affiliate at MIT, she has also recently been appointed by the United States of America as a technical team member to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Science and Technology Organization through its Collaborative Support Office.

Meghan Milloy is the Co-Founder of Republican Women for Progress (RWFP) and the Director of Strategic Communications at the Institute for International Bankers. Prior to this, she was a fellow at the Robert Bosch Foundation, where her work focused on trade issues in the German public and private sectors. Meghan previously served as the chair of Republican Women for Hillary (RWFH) and director of financial services policy at the American Action Forum (AAF). During the Obama administration, Meghan worked as a presidential management fellow at the Small Business Administration on matters of financial inclusion and as a counsel with the House Financial Services Committee. She was an intern at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the George W. Bush White House. Meghan has also worked in the office of former Senate majority leader Trent Lott and has volunteered for the campaigns of Haley Barbour, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton.

Ilhan Omar is the first Somali-American Member of Congress, the first woman of colour to represent Minnesota, and one of the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress. Since she arrived in Washington, she has been a champion of progressive politics, making her hugely popular amongst her constituents whilst also drawing the ire of notable figures. Prior to her current position, she served in the Minnesota House of Representatives as the Assistant Minority Leader.

Sam Rasoul is the Democratic Party Member of the Virginia House of Delegates for the 11th district. He was born in Ohio to a Palestinian immigrant family. After college, he became the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of a non-profit healthcare firm. He channelled his passion for healthcare reform into finding more compassionate ways to care for seniors and helping with maternal and child health in East Africa. Rasoul currently has his own small business which helps organisations become more successful through developing better business plans and through investing in their employees. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2014. He is the only Muslim member of the Virginia General Assembly.

Anita Sarkeesian is an award-winning media critic and the founder of Feminist Frequency, an educational non-profit that explores the representations of women in pop culture narratives. Her work focuses on deconstructing the stereotypes and tropes associated with women in popular culture as well as highlighting issues surrounding the targeted harassment of women in online and gaming spaces. Sarkeesian has featured in publications such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and The Wall Street Journal. She was named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in 2015 and was the recipient of the 2014 Game Developers Choice Ambassador Award. Sarkeesian has spoken to TEDxWomen, XOXO Festival and the UN Broadband Working Group on Gender. She also appeared on The Colbert Report discussing her experiences of harassment and improving gender inclusivity in gaming culture and the media.

Robert Shirkey is the Founder of Our Horizon, a non-profit organization which campaigns for laws to require climate change and air pollution risk disclosures or ‘warning labels’ on gas pumps. His work has been used by advocates around the world to advance the ground-breaking concept in their own communities. A lawyer by trade, Rob previously operated a private practice in downtown Toronto and also has experience as an assistant city solicitor and prosecutor. Robert has given lectures on the subject across North America, as well as Europe, and has featured in media all over the world. He is a recipient of Canada’s 2017 Clean50 Award and was also named a 2016 Agent of Change by the Centre for Social Innovation and Green Shield Canada Foundation. His book, “The Banality of Oil” is to published in 2021.