Managing Editors

Founder and Editor-in-Chief

Olivier Kamanda

Olivier is editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy Digest and a development finance attorney specializing in emerging markets, including Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Olivier was a speechwriter and senior advisor to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At the State Department, he also served as a special assistant to Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats. He is a retired Trustee of Princeton University, and in 2011 and 2012, Mr. Kamanda was named one of Washington DC’s “Most Influential Leaders Under 40″ by Washington Life Magazine. He is also a Principal of the Truman National Security Project and a former columnist for the Huffington Post on world affairs. In 2010, he was elected to serve as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) for the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.

 Olivier received his B.S.E from Princeton University in Operations Research & Financial Engineering and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he was an executive editor of the Journal of International Law.

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Executive Editor

Robert Friedman

Robert is an attorney in the Washington D.C. office of Venable LLP. Robert is also a non-resident Fellow at the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law and a Principal in the Truman National Security Project.

Previously, Robert was a Law Clerk on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff of Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) where he worked on national security issues and executive and judicial nominations. He also served as an Aide to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and spent time working for the Vice Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Robert served as a member of the Obama-Biden Campaign’s Defense Policy Committee.

Robert graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center where he was the Senior Notes Editor for the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Emory University, a Master’s in Government from Johns Hopkins University and studied Public International Law and Conflict Resolution at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.

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Managing Editor

Saron Yitbarek

Contact: Saron Yitbarek

Regional Editors

Americas Regional Editor

Sean Bartlett

Sean currently works as a press aide in Congress. Sean has held positions with the Organization of American States, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, and SNV Netherlands Development Organization. In 2007, Sean studied sustainable development and human rights in Costa Rica.

He graduated cum laude from Stony Brook University with a B.A. in Political Science, with concentrations in International Studies and Spanish, and holds a M.A. from American University’s School of International Service in Ethics, Peace & Global Affairs with a concentration in Conflict Resolution.

Contact Sean Bartlett

Africa Regional Editor

Mohammed Hamid Mohammed

Mohammed is currently a consultant in International Development, Social Innovation, and Corporate R&D. Most recently, Mohammed held positions at both the Gates Foundation and Intel Corporation – he has worked as a strategist, researcher, design guide, and manager of innovation, with a focus on Africa and the Middle East.

In Mohammed’s spare time, he also works with a European and Canadian academic team in the process of designing distance learning systems for students in poor countries.

Mohammed holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His academic trainings include performance studies, anthropology, human-computer interaction (HCI), and microfinance.

Contact Mohammed Hamid Mohammed

Europe-Russia Regional Editor

Jeremy Ventuso

Jeremy works in the corporate investigations department of the Moscow office of Control Risks, where he investigates a wide range of companies in Russia and the former Soviet Union on behalf of foreign clients seeking to invest or form joint ventures in the region.

He has previously served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine, was selected as an Alfa Fellow in 2009-2010, and has written several articles for The Moscow Times.

Jeremy earned an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, where he completed a concentration in Russian and Eurasian Studies and an optional specialization in Emerging Markets. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He speaks French and Russian.

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Middle East Regional Editor

Joseph Khawam

Joseph is a senior associate in the Washington, DC office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where he practices international law and arbitration.

Joseph earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School, and his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

His international affairs experience includes work with the Department of Political Affairs at the United Nations, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He speaks Arabic, and has lived previously in the Middle East.

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Asia Pacific Regional Editor

Jung Hwa Song

Jung is an M.A. candidate in International Economics and Development at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to SAIS, Jung produced and managed online content for “World News with Charles Gibson” and worked as an associate at Diligence LLC, a global risk consulting and corporate intelligence firm. She has also worked at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, helping to organize conferences while conducting research on U.S.-China energy policy and Chinese urban planning.

Jung has conducted extensive field research on Chinese policy toward North Korean border crossers and has written op-eds on U.S.-China-North Korean relations as a Young Scholar at the Center for Strategic International Studies. She has also worked as an editorial assistant to the former director of Korean research at Columbia University, Professor Samuel Kim. Jung received her A.B. from Princeton University and has a certificate in Mandarin Chinese from Tsinghua University in Beijing.

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South Asia Regional Editor

Mahanth Joishy

Mahanth is Deputy Director of Operations for the New York City Parks & Recreation Department, where he works on vehicle fleet management, emergency response, environmental sustainability, technology initiatives, and volunteer programs. He has previously worked at the Indian Embassy to the United States and at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mahanth graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor’s in Science, Technology, and International Affairs and has completed a Master’s in Urban Studies at Queens College.

Mahanth was Associate Editor and one of the founders of the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. He speaks Spanish, Hindi, Konkani and Kannada.

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Former Editors

Editor in Chief

Adam Benz

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Executive Editor

Rommel Gallo

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Senior Editor

Catherine Fisher

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Africa Regional Editor

Michael Bear Kleinman

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Middle East Regional Editor

Marc Sorel

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Africa Regional Editor

Katherine Southwick

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Europe Russia Regional Editor

Annie Verderosa

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Matthew Lamm

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Assistant Editor

John Lyman

Contact: John Lyman