About

Adriana Erthal Abdenur  (Ph.D. Princeton, AB Harvard) is Coordinator of the Peace & Security Division at Instituto Igarapé, a think tank based in Rio de Janeiro.  She also serves on the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) of the United Nations ECOSOC for the 2019-2011 term. From 2006 to 2009 was a faculty member in international affairs at the New School, as well as Fellow of the India China Institute. Dr. Abdenur works broadly at the intersection of international security, development cooperation, and global governance. Recent publications include articles in the following outlets: Global Governance, Foreign Affairs, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Third World Quarterly, Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, African  Security, and Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. Dr.Abdenur has co-authored the book India China: Rethinking Borders and Security with colleagues from the India China Institute and edited, along with Thomas G. Weiss, the volume Emerging Powers and the United Nations (Routledge, 2015). She serves on the Advisory Board for the Swedish Armed Forces International Center (SWEDINT), in charge of peacekeeping training, and on the boards of several publications in Latin America and Europe. She lives in Rio de Janeiro with her two children.

George Biddle is a humanitarian and development expert with over three decades of experience in crisis response, peace-building, and conflict mitigation. He is currently the chairman of World Connect, a nonprofit organization that invests in local leaders and entrepreneurs in the global South. From 2000 to 2015, Biddle was the executive vice president of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a leading humanitarian organization that responds to conflict and natural disasters across the globe, serving as acting president from May to July 2002. Previously, he served as the vice president of the International Crisis Group, and president of the Institute for Central American Studies, an organization he founded in 1989 to assist post-cold war Central America in its transition from violent conflict to peace and democracy.  Biddle has testified before Congress and presented at the UN Security Council and the European Parliament, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He received his AB from Harvard and MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Sarah Burd-Sharps is the Director of Research at Everytown for Gun Safety, the leading U.S. gun violence prevention group. From 2008-2018, she was Co-director of Measure of America at the Social Science Research Council. Sarah is co-author of two volumes of The Measure of America (Columbia University Press, 2008 and NYU Press, 2010) and quantitative research reports on civil liberties topics for the American Civil Liberties Union on domestic violence, racial wealth disparities, and online voter registration. Prior to this position, Sarah worked for the United Nations for over two decades. Before she left the UN in 2007 to found Measure of America, she was Deputy Director of the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report Office where she worked on three global Human Development Reports (Oxford University Press) and led the UN's work on national human development reports on every continent. Sarah has worked in 14 African countries. She received a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.

BoHee Yoon has been Counsel at Fortress Investment Group since 2014, and was previously Secretary of Drive Shack Inc. (NYSE:DS) and an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.  Ms. Yoon received a J.D. from Fordham Law School in 2009, a M.A. in International Affairs from the Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs (SGPIA) at The New School in 2006, and a B.A. from Swarthmore College in 2001.  Ms. Yoon has been a member of the Advisory Board of the SGPIA since 2019, as well as a member of Swarthmore College's Alumni Council since 2016 and its Secretary since 2018. Ms. Yoon also served as Secretary for the Committee on Asian Affairs of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York from 2009 to 2012, and on Debevoise & Plimpton's Diversity Committee during her time at the firm.  In 2016, Fordham Law School's Asian Pacific American Law Students Association presented Ms. Yoon with The Honorable Denny Chin '78 Alumni Award for Excellence in the Legal Profession.