CENTER FOR - Key Persons

Aarya Nijat

Job Titles:

Senior Program Officer, Asia & the Pacific

Aarya Nijat manages CIPE's programs in South Asia. In this role, she is responsible for the overall program design, partnership development and program management throughout South Asia, with a thematic focus on democratic governance, enterprise eco systems, anti-corruption and business advocacy. Nijat's portfolio projects are mostly implemented through partnering with business associations, civil society organizations and think tanks to strengthen the role of the private sector and non-governmental organizations and mobilize local networks of small and medium enterprises, civil society and policy think tanks for constructive policy reform in South Asia. She works closely with local program partners to ensure progress towards stated results, and travels throughout the region to monitor outcomes and meet with partners, stakeholders and beneficiaries. Nijat is a skilled international development professional with over a decade of experience in developing national policies and conceiving, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programs in South Asia. Previously, Nijat was the Executive Director for the University of California San Diego, where she provided technical assistance to financial digitization reform in the civil service sector. Nijat is a published policy author on governance and women's leadership and has a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a Master's degree in International Relations from Quaid-i-Azam University and double bachelors in Law and Political Science from Punjab University.

Abby Guen

Job Titles:

Associate
Program Officer
Associate Program Officer, Latin America and Caribbean

Abby Guen is an Associate Program Officer for Latin America & the Caribbean at CIPE, where she works on corrosive capital and enterprise ecosystems programs in the Southern Cone. Prior to joining CIPE, she has worked on issues of financial integrity, sustainable agriculture, and economic development in Washington, D.C. and public security in Santiago, Chile. She holds a B.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University.

Abdulwahab Alkebsi

Job Titles:

Member of the Department Experts & Staff
Managing Director for Programs at the Center for International Private Enterprise
Managing Director, Programs

Abdulwahab Alkebsi is the Managing Director for Programs at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), a non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Alkebsi oversees almost 200 programs in more than 80 countries and supervises staff and representatives in more than two dozen countries as CIPE expands. They include Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Tunisia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Slovakia, Philippines, Cambodia, Colombia, and Guatemala and at CIPE's head office in Washington, DC. In his role at CIPE, Alkebsi oversees democracy and market-reform initiatives that combat corruption, build the capacity of business associations to represent private sector voices, strengthen entrepreneurship skills and ecosystems, empower women, organize the informal sector and strengthen property rights, enable access to information, and improve corporate and democratic governance. Prior to joining CIPE, Alkebsi served as the Director of the Middle East and North Africa division at the NED, and prior to that, Alkebsi served as Executive Director at the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), a non-profit think tank, based in Washington, DC, dedicated to studying Islamic and democratic political thought and merging them into a modern Islamic democratic discourse. A renowned expert on democracy and market reforms as well as on Middle East politics, Alkebsi has been interviewed or quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, U.S. News & World Report, United Press International, PBS, CNN, CNBC, BBC, Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabia, Al-Hurra, MBC, Abu Dhabi TV, ANA, Nile TV, and many others. Follow Abdu on Twitter.

Abigail Mengistu

Job Titles:

Program Associate

Abigail works on themes of peacebuilding, business advocacy, and the empowerment of marginalized economic actors under the Ethiopia portfolio. Prior to her work at CIPE, Abigail was a training intern at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems Country Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Abigail received her Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs at Northeastern University. She also participated in a summer study focused on urban justice in post-apartheid South Africa. Abigail will soon be working on a Program Management for Development Professionals certificate. Additionally, Abigail has also interned as an analyst at Associates for International Research, Inc., and worked as a research analyst at the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG) in Kigali, Rwanda.

Ahmed Mohammed Awel

Job Titles:

Deputy Country Director for the CIPE East Africa Regional Office
Deputy Country Director, Ethiopia

Ahmed Mohammed Awel is the Deputy Country Director for the CIPE East Africa Regional Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is responsible for overall program management, performance reporting, donor communication, and partnership management. Ahmed is a seasoned development professional with a decade-long experience conceiving, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs in Ethiopia. Ahmed specializes in process and program evaluation, business advocacy, public policy reform, and private sector development. Ahmed previously served as Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for CIPE East Africa Regional Office where he managed monitoring and evaluation activities of program portfolios in Ethiopia. Prior to joining CIPE in 2018, he worked for the Ethiopian Economics Association as Research and Training Coordinator, and for Westat Inc. as an Evaluation and Survey Specialist. In addition, he has experience in teaching Economics courses at different public universities in Ethiopia. Ahmed holds BA degree in Economics from Arba Minch University, MA degree in Urban Management from Ethiopian Civil Service University, MSc degree in Economics from the University of Warwick (UK) and MSc degree in Economic Development and Growth from Lund University (Sweden).

Alaa Abdurahman

Job Titles:

Department Staff Member
Program Coordinator

Alaa Abdurahman is a Program Coordinator in the CIPE East Africa Regional Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Alaa works on evidence-based advocacy and issues of empowering marginal economic actors specifically women, youth, and informal businesses. Prior to her work at CIPE, Alaa worked as an Office Manager for GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and as a Junior Event Manager for Blueberry Events. Alaa received her Bachelor of Business Administration and Information System from the Addis Ababa University, School of Commerce, and a Master of Organizational Leadership from Unity University. Additionally, Alaa has successfully completed the workshop on Project Management for Development Professionals (Project D Pro) and is currently working on earning her Project D Pro certificate. Alaa speaks Arabic, English, and Amharic.

Alan Chen

Job Titles:

Program Associate, Asia and the Pacific

Alan Chen is a Program Associate for Asia at CIPE. In his current role, he provides programmatic, administrative, and research support for several projects and country portfolios across the East and Southeast Asia region. He holds a MA in International Affairs from Texas A&M University, specializing in International Development and Economic Policy, with a focus on East Asia and a BA in International Studies from American University.

Alex Aparicio

Job Titles:

Program Associate for Latin America
Program Associate, Latin America and Caribbean

Alex Aparicio is a Program Associate for Latin America and the Caribbean at CIPE. Aparicio coordinates and develops programming in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela. His key program focuses include anti-corruption, transnational kleptocracy, and Corrosive Capital. Prior to his work with CIPE, Aparicio was an intern for the Organization of American States at the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation, where he worked on the implementation of sanitary protocols for preventing the spread of COVID-19 during elections in the Americas and provided logistical support to election monitoring groups around the region. He holds a BA in International Studies from Simon Fraser University.

Alexandra Karppi

Job Titles:

Program Associate

Alexandra is a specialist in Southeastern European affairs working at CIPE as a Program Associate for the Western Balkans. She has an MA in Regional Studies - Russia, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe from Columbia University's Harriman Institute and a BA in Political Science and Slavic Studies from Columbia College. Her previous work experience includes internships in the humanitarian space at UN OCHA and the US Department of State and an editorial position at the Post-Conflict Research Center, a Sarajevo-based NGO. Alexandra has also held numerous research roles at the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb and Central European University's Center for European Neighborhood Studies. She speaks Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian and is learning Albanian.

Ali Ayadi

aa..@cipe.org

Job Titles:

Member of the Department Experts & Staff
Country Representative, Tunisia

Ali Ayadi is the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) Country Representative in Tunisia. Ayadi has more than 15 years of professional experience working on issues related to democratic governance, economic reforms, anti-corruption, and entrepreneurship focusing on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He is currently working on several programs in Tunisia that seek to provide local organizations with the skills to play an active role in Tunisia's economic and democratic development. Prior to arriving to Tunisia, Ayadi was based in Washington, DC, as CIPE's Program Officer overseeing the Gulf, Iraq, and Yemen portfolios. Ayadi holds an undergraduate degree in political science and a master's in international commerce and policy from George Mason University. He is a graduate from the Institute for Organization Management (IOM), a professional development program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and he is a Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional - International (CCEP-I) from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE). Ayadi is fluent in English, Arabic, and French.

Amanda Tau

Job Titles:

Finance Officer, Papua New Guinea

Through the WBRC, Amanda won the opportunity to study at the University of Sunshine Coast through the Australia Awards scholarship. Before joining the team at the WBRC, she ran free taxation trainings at the Centre for women business owners. For her, working with women from all walks of life at the WBRC has truly been a rewarding experience.

Ana Larin

Job Titles:

Program Associate

Ana Larin is a Program Associate with the trade team, where she assists with trade facilitation projects in Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador. She also assists on the trade team's Regional Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) project that works to support eleven Latin American and Caribbean countries' Regional Recognition Arrangement (RRA) negotiations. Before joining CIPE, she worked on issues relating to economic growth, global health, global conflict, and disaster relief. Ana conducted research in the United Arab Emirates and Oman on Gulf Cooperation Council countries' economic growth, diversification, and sustainability. Ana holds a B.A. in International Affairs with a concentration on the MENA region, global economics, and governance. Ana is fluent in English and Spanish and has a basic understanding of Portuguese and Farsi.

Andrew Wilson

Job Titles:

Executive Director
Member of the Board
Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise

Andrew Wilson is the Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in Washington, D.C. Wilson has extensive experience working with the private sector on development issues in conflict and post-conflict settings, crafting successful business strategies to reduce corruption, encouraging entrepreneurship development, strengthening business advocacy, improving corporate governance standards, and promoting economic reform. He is called on frequently to speak about the linkages between democracy and business, as well as the challenges to growth in emerging markets, including corruption and the threat of corrosive capital. Wilson has worked at CIPE since 1996 in a variety of roles, including Deputy Director for Strategic Planning and Programs, and Regional Director for Europe, Eurasia, and South Asia. Prior to his time at CIPE, Wilson worked for several development NGOs focusing on economic reform, private sector growth, and public diplomacy. Over the years, Wilson has served on numerous international working groups dedicated to political and economic development in transitional societies. He has also worked with non-profit boards to improve strategic planning and optimize organizational development. He is currently a board member of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland and is a Director and Trustee of the Meadows Foundation in Dallas, Texas. Wilson received his MA in East European Area Studies from the University of London (SSEES) and a BA in History from Lewis and Clark College. Follow Andrew on Twitter.

Anna Beatrice B. Baldonado

Job Titles:

Program Officer, Philippines

Anna Kompanek

Job Titles:

Director for Global Programs at the Center for International Private Enterprise
Director, Global Programs

Anna Kompanek is the Director for Global Programs at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). In this role, she manages a portfolio of programs spanning emerging and frontier markets around the world focused on CIPE's core themes of business advocacy, combating corruption, strengthening entrepreneurship ecosystems, and women's economic empowerment. Her particular expertise, including training and capacity building for private sector organizations, is in the areas of anti-corruption compliance and association governance and management. Kompanek holds a designation of Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional-International (CCEP-I) awarded by Compliance and Certification Board, and she is a graduate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Institute for Organization Management (IOM), the premier nonprofit professional development program for association, chamber, and nonprofit professionals. She also holds a professional certificate from Babson College's program "Driving Economic Growth Through Scale-Up Ecosystems." Kompanek has authored and co-authored numerous publications addressing the challenges of political and economic reform around the world. Prior to joining CIPE, she worked as a business consultant in Poland on the issues of competitiveness and market entry in Central and Eastern Europe, and in Washington, DC on the global strategy of major corporations. She holds a BA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a Master's degree in German and European Studies from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, and an MBA from George Mason University. Follow Anna on Twitter @AnnaKompanek.

Aurelio García-Navarrete

Job Titles:

Head of Programs, Trade Department
Senior Trade and Logistics Officer

Aurelio García joined CIPE as a Senior Trade and Logistics Officer in 2017 and currently serves as Head of Programs in our Trade Department. Mr García manages an interdisciplinary team of project managers and consultants to design and implement modernization projects that eliminate red tape, make cross-border trade easier for everyone, and boost the competitiveness of developing nations worldwide. He provides leadership and technical guidance to a highly-skilled and multicultural staff responsible for the implementation of our growing trade portfolio focused on strengthening and modernizing border agencies in developing and conflict affected nations. With more than 15 years of experience working in 19 countries, García has broad experience as a team leader with highly developed technical and management expertise in the implementation of deep reform projects in ministries of finance, agriculture, health and migration. His career in trade started in the international department of two SMEs in Spain and has also worked for international organizations such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. García holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance from George Washington University, a Masters in International Trade, and is Agile project management-certified by the University of Maryland.