More than 50 resident and nonresident fellows offer research, analysis, and commentary on US foreign policy and public opinion, global food security, and global cities.
Sean Ryan has over ten years of consulting experience with U.S. and European clients. He specializes in growth-related issues in consumer products and healthcare and leads the North America practice area. He has published articles on Europe, the global economy, and finance.
In 2009, after visiting his hometown of Jerusalem, Kais Salhut started a software development outsourcing company in Ramallah, Palestine, to tap into the largely underutilized talent pool Palestinian universities produced each year. The company he started later merged its operations into iConnect Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer.
Jason Schmitt, now retired, formerly led strategic planning and acquisition efforts for the Jones Group, a Fortune 500 fashion company with 35 brands in apparel, footwear, and accessories. Previously, he launched and managed a clean technology venture capital fund for ArcelorMittal and was responsible for strategic planning at Mattel.
Ross Shelleman is the CEO of Aisle Rocket, after previously serving as president and CEO of Target Data, a venture-backed "Big Data" and analytics company focused on the life event of moving. Before founding Target Data, Shelleman held various senior business development positions across a multitude of industries, including technology, healthcare, and managed services.
J. Jordan Shields joined Juniper Advisory, a specialized investment banking firm that provides government-owned, non-profit, and faith-based hospitals strategic transaction support, in 2011, in part due to the work his class of Emerging Leaders did exploring the opportunities and risks of privatizing public infrastructure, specifically hospitals.
Based in Chicago, Julie Steffen-Layda leads the Midwest hub for the international desk for JLL. In this role, she is responsible for expanding the growth of the company's international business across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific regions. Before her move to Chicago, Steffen-Layda was part of the Palo Alto hub of the international desk.
Linhard Stepf, a 10-plus-year veteran in foreign direct investments and economic development marketing, is currently the vice president of VISTRA. Previously, he was president of FrankfurtRhineMain Corp., where his responsibilities included promoting the Frankfurt region (Germany) in North America and Brazil to recruit and attract companies for relocation or expansion.
Previously, while at the American Jewish Committee, Amy Stoken managed their largest regional office, which included overseeing advocacy efforts with diplomats and faith-based leaders visiting or stationed in Chicago. She was also responsible for all Chicago-based programming and for the coordination of lay leader participation and activism.
During his consulting career, Yves Thill has had the opportunity to work with numerous leading companies across various industries on a range of issues. More recently, he has been focused on supply management in the consumer goods and retail industry, particularly in the food and beverage sector. Before joining A.T. Kearney, Thill worked in international banking in Europe.
Before joining the Zeno Group, Courtney Thompson served as Boeing's government operations leader for the Great Lakes region, which included Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. In this capacity, she led the company's community outreach efforts for the business, government, and international communities as well as Boeing's Chicago Global Corporate Citizenship team.
