September 10 Headliner
Dean Karlan is the Frederic Esser Nemmers Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance at Northwestern University, and the Founder and former President of Innovations for Poverty Action, a non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting solutions to global poverty problems. Since November 2022, Karlan is Chief Economist of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Prior to that, he was on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the M.I.T. Jameel Poverty Action Lab. In 2015, he co-founded ImpactMatters, a nonprofit dedicated to estimating and rating impact of nonprofit organizations to help donors choose good charities and to promote more transparency in the nonprofit sector.
His research focuses on microeconomic issues of poverty, typically employing experimental methodologies and behavioral economics insights to examine what works, what does not, and why to address social problems. His work spans many geographies and topics, including sustainable income generation for those in abject poverty, credit and savings markets for low-income households, agriculture for smallholder farmers, small and medium entrepreneurship, weight loss and smoking cessation, and charitable giving. He has worked in over twenty countries around the world, including both low-income countries and the United States.
September 11 Headliner
Amara Ifeji is a National Geographic Society’s Young Explorer and internationally awarded leader in climate and environmental justice. Ifeji’s academic research explores the nexus of environment, conflict, and gender studies to illuminate women’s experiences in her Indigenous Igbo community and across the African diaspora. As a policy practitioner, she leverages grassroots advocacy and participatory justice to advance local, state, and federal research-driven solutions. Such efforts include mobilizing a youth-led legislative campaign that spearheaded Maine’s more than $2 million climate education program and serving on the Maine Climate Council as the governor-appointed youth representative. Ifeji has a BA with honors in political science from Northeastern University. She is pursuing an MSc in nature, society, and environmental governance at the University of Oxford, where she is a Marshall Scholar.
September 11 Headliner
Michael J. Nyenhuis is the President and CEO of UNICEF USA, bringing in over 25 years of global humanitarian and development experience, fundraising acumen and proven results to this role. Before joining UNICEF USA, Nyenhuis was the President and CEO of Americares, a position he held since 2014. Nyenhuis was CEO of the global nonprofit MAP International for 13 years prior. A former journalist with a passion for global health, he previously served on USAID’s Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and chaired the board of the Integral Alliance, a global network of faith-based NGOs. He also currently serves on the board of InterAction, the largest coalition of U.S.-based relief and development organizations working internationally, and the leadership council at Concordia, an organization and forum that promotes cross-sector partnerships for social impact. A Minnesota native, Nyenhuis holds a Masters in Business Administration from Emory University and Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Communications from University of Wisconsin Green Bay.