Marcela Escobari

Organization: Center for International Development, Harvard University

Bio: Marcela Escobari has over a decade of experience in economic development, including work with industrial strategy, technology policy and private sector development. She is the Executive Director of Harvard University's Center for International Development. Previously, Ms. Escobari led the Americas region and served on the Executive Committee of OTF Group, where she advised heads of state and private sector leaders on how to improve their countries' export competitiveness. Prior to working at OTF, Marcela worked with indigenous communities in Bolivia for the World Bank and was a Mergers & Acquisitions investment banker with JP Morgan in New York. Marcela holds a B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College and a Masters in Public Policy (MPP) from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Malik Fal

Organization: Endeavor

Bio: Malik Fal is Microsoft’s Business Marketing & Operations (BMO) Group lead for West-East-Central Africa, based in Johannesburg, and covering 49 African countries. The BMO function at Microsoft is often described as a COO position, combining business planning, strategy, and marketing. Before Microsoft Mr. Fal was with the OTF Group consultancy as Vice President, Africa region, and as a manager with PepsiCo.  He holds a Master’s of Public Administration for Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Being an African who was educated and professionally trained in Africa, Europe, and the US, Mr. Fal developed a passion for understanding the “essence of development” through exposure to a number of different models.

David Rabkin

Organization: American Express

Bio: David Rabkin is Vice President at American Express, responsible for the Delta Consumer Co-brand card. Previously, Mr. Rabkin was Vice President at the OTF Group, where he led the firm's efforts in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East, and was a member of the founding management team. He has also worked as a consultant at Price Waterhouse and an Account Executive at Procter & Gamble. Mr. Rabkin holds a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Aliya Shariff

Organization:Africa Finance Corporation

Bio:Aliya Shariff is an Investment Officer with the Africa Finance Corporation, a hybrid investment bank / development finance institution mobilizing capital towards driving Africa’s economic development, specifically in areas of infrastructure, telecommunications, power and heavy industry.  Prior to joining AFC, she was a Manager with the OTF Group, where she worked with firms, institutions and governments in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa on cluster-level competitiveness strategy. She has also worked in Rwanda, Afghanistan, and the United States in a variety of capacities in both the public and private sectors.  Ms. Shariff holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public and International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Richard Banfield

Organization: Fresh Tilled Soil

Bio:Richard Banfield is an experienced entrepreneur and business development specialist. Richard's career has been focused on technology and Internet related businesses. He has served in a broad range of positions such as Founder, CEO, CMO, and VP of Web Channel. As CEO of Fresh Tilled Soil (www.freshtilledsoil.com) he has lead the company to deliver design and marketing solutions to over 150 clients across several industries since the start of 2005. He has delivered high-level business strategy, global marketing campaigns and materials to clients in the US, UK, Europe and Africa. Richard also lectured on the subjects of marketing and online advertising and has authored guides to sales, account management, global business development and search marketing. His experience ranges from raising institutional and private financing to starting businesses from the ground up and leading them to million dollar revenues. Richard has a Bachelor of Science from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Marylee Graffeo Fairbanks

Organization: Chakras Yoga

Bio:Marylee Graffeo Fairbanks was a musical theater actress in New York City and in Broadway Productions around the world. She is the mother of a three year old son, and a teacher and developer of Chakras Yoga (chakrasyoga.com) in the Boston area.

Anne Morriss

Organization: Harvard University

Bio:Anne Morriss is Managing Director of the Concire Leadership Institute, which she recently launched with a team of Harvard Business School professors to help organizations compete on service excellence. Prior to founding Concire, Anne worked with the OTF Group to expand its entrepreneurship practice in Latin America and the Caribbean. She led OTF's partnership with the World Bank to advise leaders in forty countries on using business incubation to drive dynamism and innovation in local economies. As part of this work, Anne used film to expose policymakers to the impact of grassroots entrepreneurship movements. Anne's career has included leading the campaign finance team for Representative Marty Meehan (MA) and acting as the South American Director for Amigos de las Americas, an international NGO that promotes rural development in Latin America. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Jeff Zimbalist

Bio:Jeff is an Emmy Award nominated writer, director, and editor whose films have been broadcast on HBO, Cinemax, PBS, Channel 4 in the UK, the BBC, Current TV, and BET, as well as theatrically distributed throughout North America, Europe, South America, Australia and Asia. Jeff´s work has been featured at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Massachusetts, the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and the Institute of Contemporary Art in London.  Favela Rising, which he wrote, directed, shot, edited and produced, was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Feature Length Documentary in 2005, and among the 36 international awards it has won are Film of the Year by the International Documentary Association, Best Film at the Sydney International Film Festival and Leeds International Film Festival, as well as Best Director at the Tribeca Film Festival. Favela Rising (www.favelarising.com) was theatrically exhibited in five continents, held over in theaters in the United Kingdom for six months, and theatrically released by ThinkFilm and HBO in 34 cities in North America.  Favela Rising was also nominated for a 2007 Emmy Award.

Eric Kacou

Organization:OTF Group, Inc.

Bio:Eric Kacou is a Managing Director at the OTF Group, Inc. Leader of the Africa and Country Competitiveness practices, Mr. Kacou also oversees the strategy and marketing of the firm. Born and raised in Cote d’Ivoire, he is an expert in post-conflict economic reconstruction, competitiveness and enterprise solutions to poverty. Prior to joining the OTF Group, Mr. Kacou worked as a strategy consultant with Monitor Company in Toronto and Paris advising senior Fortune 500 executives mostly in pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and manufacturing. A frequent speaker, Mr. Kacou contributed to “In the River They Swim,” an original book of essays, published by Templeton Press in April 2009. Mr. Kacou earned his MBA at the Wharton School, and a B.A. in Finance at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Montreal, Canada.

Jeff Chu

Organization:Fast Company

Bio:Jeff Chu is a senior editor at Fast Company magazine in New York. A California native and a graduate of Princeton and the London School of Economics, he is a former staffer at Time who wrote and reported on everything from James Bond to dissident music in Zimbabwe to the state of Christianity in Europe.

Luiz Ros

Organization:Opportunities for the Majority

Bio:Luiz Ros was appointed Manager for the Opportunities for the Majority (OM) Sector Office in January 2008, with responsibility for promoting and coordinating activities corresponding to the OM initiative. He joined the IDB in 2007, as Principal Business Development Specialist for the OM Office.