About

Policy Advisory Board

  • K.Y. Amoako

    K.Y.Amoako is the President of the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), a non-profit institution based in Accra, Ghana to promote high-quality policy analysis and advisory services, driving sustained growth and development in Africa. He led the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) from 1995-2005 at the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Under his leadership the ECA was transformed to more effectively serve African policy makers, to amplify the African voice internationally, and to influence African partners.

    Dr.Amoako has served alongside leading development experts and political leaders and on high-level international commissions and task forces, including the Commission for HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, convened by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the Commission for Africa established and chaired by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, chaired by Professor Jeffrey Sachs. Prior to ECA, he was Director of Education and Social Policy at the World Bank.

    Dr. Amoako was a Distinguished African Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in 2006. He obtained his Ph.D in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa, by the Addis Ababa University in 2003, and a Doctor of Letters degree, honoris causa, by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, in 2005, in recognition of his contribution to Africa's development.

  • Paul Collier

    Paul Collier is author of the award-winning book The Bottom Billion. Mr. Collier is a professor of Economics at Oxford University. He is also director of the Centre for the Study of African Economics, a professorial fellow at St. Anthony's College, a professor associate at CERDI (Centre for Studies and Research in International Development) at l'Université d'Auvergne; and a Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London, England.

    Mr. Collier's research focuses on a wide range of macroeconomic, microeconomic and political economy topics concerned with Africa. Specifically, he researches the causes and consequences of civil war; the effects of aid; and the problems of democracy in low income and natural resource-rich societies.

    Mr. Collier has also served as senior advisor to Tony Blair's Commission for Africa. He also completed the first-ever external review of International Monetary Fund (IMF) operations for the Board of the IMF. From 1998 to 2003 he was director of the development research group at the World Bank.

    He holds a distinction award from Oxford University, and is a past winner of the Edgar Graham Book Prize, which is awarded every two years for published work of original scholarship concerning agriculture or industrial development in Africa or Asia.

  • John Githongo

    John Githongo is a former Kenyan journalist who investigated bribery and fraud in his home country and under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki was appointed to an official government position to fight corruption.

    He studied Economics and Philosophy at the University of Wales before returning to his native Kenya. In 1999 he founded and subsequently ran the Kenyan chapter of Transparency International, a non-governmental agency devoted to fighting corruption.

    In January 2003 he was appointed to the position of Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics by the incoming president Kibaki, who had been elected on an anti-corruption platform. He resigned from his position on February 7, 2005 because he felt the government lacked the commitment to truly fight for good governance. He remains a powerful advocate against corruption.

    He is currently a Senior Associate Member of St Antony's College at Oxford University.

  • Ned Jannotta

    Ned Jannotta began his career as an associate with GTCR in 1985. After spending three years with GTCR, he left to join William Blair Capital Partners, where he was a managing director for over nine years. He rejoined GTCR in 1998 and became managing principal in 2002. Mr. Jannotta holds an AB in Politics, cum laude, from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard University.

    Mr. Jannotta is a director of Chester Valley Pharmaceuticals, ForeFront Education, GeneraMedix Pharmaceuticals, Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals, Ovation Pharmaceuticals, and Trans Healthcare. In addition, Mr. Jannotta was a director and played a key role in GTCR's highly successful past investments in CuraScript and LifeCare Management Services.

  • Richard P. Kiphart

    Richard P. Kiphart is head of William Blair & Company's Corporate Finance Department, where he has served in several positions since 1965. A junior officer in the U.S. Navy, Kiphart received his B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1963 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1965.

    Kiphart serves on the board of directors of First Data Corporation and is chairman of the board of Lime Energy Company. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chairman of The Erikson Institute.

  • Youssou N'Dour

    Youssou N'Dour is one of the most celebrated African musicians in history. A renowned singer, songwriter, and composer, N'Dour's mix of traditional Senegalese mbalax with eclectic influences ranging from Cuban samba to hip hop, jazz, and soul has won him an international fan base of millions. In the West, Youssou has collaborated with musicians Peter Gabriel, Sting, Bran Van 3000, Neneh Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Branford Marsalis, and others. In his home country of Senegal, Youssou is a powerful cultural icon actively involved in social issues.

    In July 1993, an African opera composed by N'Dour premiered at the Opéra Bastille. He wrote and performed the official anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup with Axelle Red "La Cour des Grands". The New York Times most recently described his voice as an "arresting tenor, a supple weapon deployed with prophetic authority". N'Dour absorbs the entire Senegalese musical spectrum in his work, often filtering this through the lens of genre-defying rock or pop music from outside Senegalese culture.

    For many years, N'Dour has been committed to social justice and the fight against poverty. In 1985, he organized a concert for the release of Nelson Mandela. He was a featured performer in the 1988 worldwide Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour. He started Project Joko to open internet cafés in Africa and to connect Senegalese communities around the world. He performed at three of the Live 8 concerts on July 2, 2005.

  • Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane

    Njongonkulu Ndungane is the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. A political prisoner on Robben Island in his early 20's, Archbishop Ndungane later studied ethics at King's College, London and is leading the global Anglican Communion's response to poverty, trade, debt and HIV-AIDS.

  • Trevor Neilson

    Trevor Neilson is a senior advisor for APCO Worldwide, a global public affairs firm with offices in major cities throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

    Prior to that, Mr. Neilson was executive director of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC). During his tenure at the GBC, he helped grow corporate membership to more than 200 multinational companies who are involved in the fight against the world's deadliest diseases. He also opened and managed offices in New York, Paris, Beijing, Geneva and Johannesburg, and established partnerships in 20 countries around the world.

    Mr. Neilson served as director of public affairs and special projects at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he was responsible for grant-making, government relations and public affairs. He also was the spokesperson and managed relationships with the United Nations, governments, corporations and NGOs. In addition, he worked for Bill and Melinda Gates on personal projects and served as spokesperson for the Gates family.

    Mr. Neilson worked in the Clinton White House in the Office of Scheduling and Advance, and the White House Travel Office. He is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Wikimedia Foundation advisory board, the Genocide Intervention Network advisory board, the Business & Human Rights Resource Center and a number of other organizations. He is vice-chairman of Saflink, a technology company focused on biometric security solutions for government agencies in the United States, and is a visiting practitioner at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute in the Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership, where he lectures on the role of philanthropy and corporate responsibility in public policy and international relations.

  • Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

    Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is the former Finance Minister of Nigeria and Foreign Minister of Nigeria, notable for being the first woman to hold both of these positions.Prior to her ministerial career in Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala was vice-president and corporate secretary of the World Bank Group.

    Both during her years at the World Bank and in her service to Nigeria, she developed a reputation for hard work on democratization and debt management issues. Her leadership helped to begin the process of rebuilding in Nigeria's, battered by over 15 years of military dictatorship, prior to the restoration of democracy in 1999. In October 2005, she led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club, a group of bilateral creditors, to pay off Nigeria's external debt.

    She also introduced accountability to Nigerian government finances by publishing each state's monthly financial allocation from the federal government in the newspapers. This practice helped the Nigerian people understand exactly how much their states received and was a crucial step in the battle against corruption in Nigeria.

    Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Harvard (A.B. Magna Cum Laude 1981) and has her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from M.I.T. Dr. She is married and has four children. Her son, Uzodinma Iweala, is author of the critically acclaimed novel Beasts of No Nation.

  • Steven Radelet

    Steven Radelet is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he works on issues related to foreign aid, developing country debt, economic growth, and trade between rich and poor countries. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Africa, the Middle East, and Asia from January 2000 through June 2002. In that capacity he was responsible for developing policies on U.S. financial relations with the countries in these regions, including debt rescheduling and programs with the IMF, World Bank, and other international financial institutions. From 1990-2000 he was on the faculty of Harvard University, where he was a Fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), Director of the Institute's Macroeconomics Program, and a Lecturer on Economics and Public Policy. He currently serves as an economic advisor to the President and the Minister of Finance of Liberia.

    His research and publications have focused on foreign aid, economic growth, financial crises, and trade policy in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia. He has written numerous articles in economics journals and other publications, is co-author of a leading undergraduate textbook entitled Economics of Development and author of Challenging Foreign Aid: A Policymaker's Guide to the Millennium Challenge Account.

    Radelet has received the following degrees: PhD, Harvard University (1990); MPP, Harvard University (1986); BS, Central Michigan University (1979).

  • Amre Youness

    Amre Youness is the CEO of TMC Financial, a private investment company.

    A long-time advocate for education and human rights, Mr. Youness has served on the Board of Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, California, participated in the World Economic Forum and with his wife, Caroline, worked to bring positive changes to villages in Tanzania.

    He received his Bachelor of Science from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

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