Staff Biographies |
Abdulwahab AlkebsiPrior the working at CIPE, Alkebsi served as the Director of the Middle East and North Africa division at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), where he oversaw a portfolio that included Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, North Africa, the Levant ,the Gulf nations, and Yemen. Prior to working at the NED, Alkebsi served as the Executive Director at the Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID), a non-profit think tank, based in Washington DC, dedicated to studying Islamic and democratic political thought and merging them into a modern Islamic democratic discourse. He has had several appearances on American, European and Middle Eastern media. He has been interviewed or quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, U.S. News & World Report, United Press International, PBS, CNN, CNBC, BBC, Al-Jazeera, Alarabia, Alhurra, MBC, Abu Dhabi TV, ANA, Nile TV, and many others. Mr. Alkebsi was born in Yemen, and resides in Potomac, Maryland with his wife and three daughters. John J. Callebaut is the Senior Program Officer for Asia, managing CIPE's portfolio of programs in East and South Asia, with special emphasis on China, Vietnam and Indonesia. He has more than 15 years of experience in promoting expanded economic relations between the United States and Asia. A staff member since 1987 of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, he served in a number of capacities managing Asia-related activities. Mr. Callebaut joined the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in 1994. Before joining the U.S. Chamber, he served as a senior manager of the U.S.-China Business Council from 1984 to 1987. Mr. Callebaut has a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science degree (cum laude) from Georgetown University. He has traveled extensively throughout Asia, and speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese. Steven B. Rogers is the Deputy Director, Operations and Policy Reform. He has been at CIPE since 1984 and has over twenty-year’s experience in nonprofit organization management, international program management & evaluation, and US government grants and contracts management. Mr. Rogers has broad expertise in areas from proposal writing and budgeting to overseas office management, auditing and government grant regulations. At CIPE Mr. Rogers is responsible for the Financial and Grants Management Division and internal evaluation. He is the author of several evaluations of CIPE programs and was the Washington-based manager of a seven-year program of economic policy reform in Hungary. Ms. Rogers has been with CIPE since January 1994. She began as CIPE’s program evaluator, then from 1995-1999 headed CIPE's office in Budapest, Hungary, working with business and political leaders on complex reform issues ranging from small business credit to pension systems. Perhaps most importantly, during her tenure the Budapest Center assisted dozens of local business groups to become part of the policy-making process, advancing the concept of open exchange and advocacy as pillars of a strong democracy. Currently she is CIPE’s Deputy Director for Programs, working with regional staff to develop strategies and proposals as well as overseeing the organization’s knowledge management, communications, and special projects. Ms. Rogers has trained business associations and women's groups throughout the world in strategic planning and association management. Earlier in her career she managed membership services, research programs, and conferences for a small banking association where she coordinated multi-industry task forces to shape policy solutions for increasing electronic transaction security and efficiency of government payments to individuals. She holds a Masters Degree in International Transactions (Commerce and Policy) from George Mason University in Virginia, a Bachelor's Degree with Honors in German from the University of Georgia, and is a professorial lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Caroline Scullin is Director of Communications at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). She brings more than 20 years of communications and external relations experience to CIPE, where she works at a strategic level to develop CIPE communications to stakeholders, direct the day-to-day production of CIPE publications, and expand the use of outreach vehicles. Before joining CIPE, Ms. Scullin was director of Public Relations for the United States Government Printing Office (GPO), where she served as the key point of contact for the press and the public, ensuring that the story of GPO’s work on products such as the U.S. passport was shared with the American people. From 2001 until early 2007, she operated her own project management consulting practice. In her practice and career, Ms. Scullin has worked with a variety of organizations including: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Portrait Gallery, The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, Conservation International, The Francis Scott Key Foundation, Save The Children, U.S.-Japan Leadership Council, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She also spent more than 10 years as chief aide and press secretary to Robert C. McFarlane, former National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan. Ms. Scullin is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she sits on the Board of Governors of the Alumni Association, serves as Vice Chairman of the Communications committee, and is Alumni Ambassador to the McDonough School of Business. She is the recent recipient of the university’s William Gaston Award for her outstanding service and leadership. John Sullivan is Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), an affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce. As Associate Director of the Democracy Program, John helped to establish both CIPE and the National Endowment for Democracy in 1983. After serving as program director, John became Executive Director in 1991. Under his leadership CIPE developed a number of innovative approaches that link democratic development to market reforms including: combating corruption, promoting corporate governance, building business associations, supporting the informal sector, and programs to assist women and youth entrepreneurs. Today CIPE has 75 full time staff with offices in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, and Haiti. In addition, CIPE participates in over 60 programs throughout the developing world in partnership with think tanks, business associations, civil society groups, and educational institutions. More information including a list of current projects and publications can be found at www.cipe.org. John joined the US Chamber in 1977 in the Public Affairs Department as a specialist in business and economic education. While in the Public Affairs Department he ran a clearinghouse that specialized in assisting corporations, chambers, associations, and universities in developing their own in-house programs. Prior to the Chamber, John was a member of President Ford’s Election Campaign and had worked in Los Angeles’ inner city neighborhoods helping to develop minority business programs. John's academic specialties buttress his international interests. He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh. John is the author of several publications on the transition to democracy, corporate governance, and market-oriented democratic development. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) as well as at George Mason University Graduate School of Public Affairs. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Russian Institute of Directors’ Advisory Board, the Bretton Woods Association, and the American Political Science Association. Born in Bisbee, Arizona in 1948, John was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He now resides in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Patricia. Andrew Wilson is the Senior Program Officer for Eastern Europe and Eurasia at the Center for International Private Enterprise, where he manages technical assistance and grants programs promoting economic and democratic reform in the region. Before joining CIPE, Mr. Wilson worked as a private sector training specialist at the Academy for Educational Development, and as a program coordinator for international exchange programs. Mr. Wilson has a Masters degree in East European Studies from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London and a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. John Zemko is the Senior Program Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Center for International Private Enterprise. Mr. Zemko established CIPE's award winning Web site, the Forum on Economic Freedom, and has moderated interactive discussion groups in cooperation with the World Bank Institute on the topic of corruption. Previously, he was a senior consultant at the accounting firm of PriceWaterhouseCoopers and an editor for the Economist Intelligence Unit in New York. Mr. Zemko has Masters degree in international business from Columbia University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside in political science and Latin American studies. |