Ahmed Elmahdi
VP of Business Development | Valley IT Solutions
Ahmed Elmahdi is based in the Raleigh-Durham area and oversees contract acquisitions, partnerships and business strategy as Business Development VP for Valley IT Solutions. Prior to working in the technology field he worked as a researcher and lecturer in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam University as well as a human rights and humanitarian aid program manager in East Africa. Ahmed received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Ohio University and a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill through the TransAtlantic Masters Program.
Liliana Gregory
Senior Consultant | The Hackett Group
Liliana Gregory graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2015 with a B.A. in Economics and Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literature (GSLL). She was the very first student to graduate GSLL with a concentration in Central European Studies. She has over 4 years of professional consulting experience with an emphasis in project management, process analysis and improvement, and software implementations. Her current area of concentration is global payroll transformation through payroll system implementations, process improvements, and vendor selections. Prior to joining Hackett, she worked at Public Consulting Group, where her primary focus was working with state and local education agencies to improve operational efficiency and boost reporting and compliance measures, specifically in the areas of special education, student health, and special transportation. Her combination of an Economics and GSLL background helped land her this role right out of undergrad, as Public Consulting Group has offices and projects in Poland. Throughout her career, she has worked with people all over the world, including Poland, India, Canada, and Japan.
Kathryn Hewitt
Federal Contractor | National Nuclear Security Administration
Kate Hewitt is a federal contractor with the National Nuclear Security Administration. Prior to joining NNSA, she was a security and strategy Research Assistant and Herbert Scoville Peace Fellow with the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. She previously served in Peace Corps Moldova, and held internships with MIT and Energy Northwest. Kate was a 2018 Nuclear Security Innovators Fellow and 2019 recipient of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Leonard M. Rieser Award for her national education project on nuclear weapons education. Kate has been quoted in and published by CNN, Brookings Press, Defense One, The National Interest, Inkstick Media, 38 North and more. She sits on the Board of Advisers for Girl Security, a nonpartisan, nonprofit increasing the representation of women in national security. Kate will be featured in a documentary series on existential risks coming to Netflix and Hulu this fall. She holds an M.A. in Global Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Farsi FLAS Fellow focused on nuclear weapons proliferation theory, and a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from Gonzaga University.
Jennifer Rimbach
Investment Officer | Millennium Challenge Corporation
Jennifer Rimbach is an investment officer at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). She is responsible for attracting private capital to leverage public investments in sectors from infrastructure and energy to education. Jennifer’s current portfolio includes Tunisia, Mozambique, El Salvador, and The Gambia with an average investment size of $350M. Prior to MCC, she has worked with organizations including the Peace Corps, U.S. Department of Commerce, United Nations Capital Development Fund, and the Latino Community Credit Union. Jennifer received a Bachelor of Arts in Romance Languages from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Master of Public Policy with concentration in international development finance from Duke University.
Derrick Surratt
Manager, Government Sales | British Airways
Derrick Surratt is Manager of Government Sales at British Airways based in Washington, DC. Derrick has been with British Airways for 23 years in various sales and sales management roles. Derrick was Director of Sales, South USA for British Airways from 2000 to 2013. In this role Derrick managed a corporate sales team and was responsible for the commercial performance of eight British Airways gateway markets in North America. Prior to moving to Washington, Derrick held sales and sales management positions for British Airways in Detroit, Michigan, and Houston, Texas.
Derrick holds a B.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and an M.B.A. from Henley Business School, University of Reading in the U.K. Derrick is a member of the board of directors at the British American Business Association of Washington, DC, and The Royal Aeronautical Society. Derrick lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife Dara and twin girls (Emily and Caroline).
Co-organized with the UNC Curriculum in Global Studies.
Co-sponsored by the UNC College of Arts & Sciences, African Studies Center, Carolina Asia Center, Center for European Studies, Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies, and Institute for the Study of the Americas.
Additional support provided by the Campus Y/Global Gap Year, the UNC Diplomat in Residence, the Latino Migration Project, the Office of Distinguished Scholarships, the UNC Peace Corps Recruiter, the Phillips Ambassadors Program, UNC Study Abroad, and University Career Services.
