Alexa is dedicated to helping organizations and communities thrive in complex environments. She has extensive experience working in the U.S. and globally in South Asia, Africa and Europe, building new businesses, designing strategies to help organizations adapt and create impact, and leading research and assessment teams. She is the founder and CEO of Frontier Design Group, a strategy and design firm committed to helping organizations and communities think differently by harnessing the tools of design and systems thinking. Frontier Design Group is partnered with the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Omidyar Group and select U.S. Government agencies, private charities and commercial firms to design new strategies and tools for influence, innovation and impact.

Prior to founding Frontier Design Group, Alexa held senior positions in the public and private sectors to include, director of International Development and Partnerships at Mission Essential, executive vice president at Caerus Associates, and senior civil-military advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She has been honored by DevEx and Chevron Corporation as one of forty international development leaders under forty in Washington, D.C., recognized for demonstrated leadership and impact on development results and by USAID for helping the Agency adopt innovative approaches to prevent vulnerability and conflict.

Alexa holds a B.A. in Sociology and International Studies from Yale University and an M.S. from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies in the Political Economy of Violence, Conflict and Development. She is a former Fulbright Scholar, Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar and Presidential Management Fellow, and a current Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an Advisory Board member for the non-profit, Ascend Athletics and for the social enterprise, Motive International.

Rabia Chaudry is Jennings Randolph senior fellow at USIP, where she researches the intersection of religion and violent extremism. Her regions of interest are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

She comes to USIP from the New America Foundation, where she was an International Security fellow, developing and leading a CVE community project in partnership with Google, Facebook and Twitter. She is the founder of the Safe Nation Collaborative, a CVE training firm. Her work at NAF focused on the empowerment of American Muslim communities in social media advocacy. Her firm Safe Nation Collaborative works on two fronts: providing CVE and cultural competency training to law enforcement, correctional, and homeland security officials, and providing national security and CVE training to Muslim communities and institutions.

Rabia received her Juris Doctorate from the George Mason School of Law and practiced immigration and civil rights law for over a decade before moving into the CVE policy sphere.

Rabia is a 2016 Aspen Ideas scholar, fellow of the Truman National Security Project, a fellow of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, and a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute. She is the public advocate of Adnan Syed, the wrongfully convicted man at the center of the most popular podcast in history, “Serial”, and is the co-producer and co-host of the podcast “Undisclosed”, with over 70 million downloads.

Rabia is a frequent public speaker on CVE, civil rights, faith and gender. Her writing appears in dozens of outlets and her book, "Adnan's Story" will be published in September 2016.

Rabia is the recipient of the Truman National Security Project's 2015 Harry S. Truman Award for Communications & Media Influence, is a 2015 Carnegie Corporation Great Immigrant and is the recipient of the 2015 Healing & Hope award by the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. 

Candace Rondeaux is a senior program officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace and director of the Secretariat for the RESOLVE Network, a global research network focused on countering violent extremism. Before joining USIP, she served as strategic advisor to the Lessons Learned Program at the U.S. Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. An expert on international affairs, she spent five years working in South Asia where she served as South Asia bureau chief for The Washington Post and as senior analyst on Afghanistan for the International Crisis Group. Her research has covered the conflict in South Asia, the dynamics of political Islam in modern Muslim majority states, and Soviet and post-Soviet affairs. Her work has been regularly featured in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The International Herald Tribune and The Boston Globe. She has also been a frequent guest analyst on CNN, Al-Jazeera, BBC World and National Public Radio. Prior to her postings in South Asia, she worked as a journalist for several leading newspapers in the United States, producing award winning work on criminal justice and legal affairs issues for the Post, The St. Petersburg Times in Florida and covering terrorism and criminal justice issues for the investigative team at The New York Daily News following the 9/11 attacks. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she holds a B.A. in Russian Area Studies, M.A. Journalism from New York University, and an MPP in Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Lelia Mooney is the director of the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law (INPROL), a community of practice of over 3,000 members that promotes coordination and collaboration in the rule of law field through research, innovation and support to rule of law experts on the ground.

She brings over twenty years of extensive field, network building and multi stakeholder engagement experience working on the intersection of governance and rule of law, diversity and social inclusion, justice and security, business, human rights and sustainability in conflict, post-conflict and development contexts. She has worked across Latin America and the Caribbean and has also worked in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Previously, Mooney was a director at Partners Global in Washington DC where she led several in-country and regional rule of law, governance, business and human rights initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Earlier in her career, she was the co-founder and director of the USAID funded Inter-American Democracy Network, with Asociación Conciencia in Argentina and Partners of the Americas in Washington, D.C., she served as the head of mission of the USAID funded International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) Governance, Civil Society and Transparency project in Paraguay and was the Rule of Law, Gender and Capacity Building specialist of the USAID funded Worldwide Women’s Legal Rights Initiative. 

A lawyer graduated from the Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales y Politicas de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste in Argentina, she also holds an LL.M. in law and international development studies from the University of Warwick Law School in the United Kingdom and an LL.M. from the Georgetown University Law Center. She is a former Kettering Foundation International Research Fellow. Lelia is a member of the Council of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of International Law where she also serves as the Secretary of the Section.

Scott Worden is director of Afghanistan and Central Asia Programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). He comes into this role with an extensive background in reconstruction, development, democracy and governance, policy, among others; as well as extensive regional expertise on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Prior to joining USIP, he was director of the Lessons Learned Program at the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), and served as acting director of policy as well as a senior policy advisor for the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In the latter position, he was responsible for advising senior officials on strategies for sustainable development in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

At his time at USIP, Mr. Worden directed Rule of Law development programs for the USIP and served as a United Nations-appointed Electoral Complaints Commissioner for the 2009 Afghanistan elections, as well as advising the U.N. on elections in 2005-06. Mr. Worden has a decade of experience working on Afghanistan issues and working in the field.

Originally from Boston, Mr. Worden earned his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Steve Hege has over 15 years of experience working with the United Nations, international NGOs, think tanks and governments on issues related to security sector reform, DDR, local governance, human rights, political dialogue and natural resource management. He currently manages several security and justice reform programs for USIP in Myanmar/Burma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Colombia.

Prior to joining the Institute, he served as the coordinator of the U.N. Group of Experts on the DRC (2010-2012) investigating and reporting on arms embargo violations for the Security Council's Sanctions Committee, including researching military integration challenges, illicit trade in natural resources and egregious human rights violations. 

From 2007 to 2009, Steve worked with the Peace Appeal Foundation, where he provided technical assistance on security reforms and transitional arrangements in support of peace processes in Nepal and Lebanon.

Steve has also worked as field researcher and advocacy officer for the Norwegian Refugee Council focusing on the impact of organized crime on communities in Mexico and Colombia and previously managed programs on security sector reform in Central Africa and Southeast Asia with New York University’s Center on International Cooperation. He similarly held positions as a DDR officer within the U.N. Peacekeeping Mission in the DR Congo and a policy officer for Jesuit Refugee Service in Burundi.

As a short-term consultant/advisor, Steve has conducted or contributed to research for DFID, the International Peace Institute, Human Rights Watch and Refugees International. From 2002 to 2004, Steve was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study the role of and work alongside religious organizations in conflict zones in Colombia. 

Steve has masters degrees in international law/affairs and conflict resolution from Columbia University (New York), Sciences-Po (Paris) and Universidad de Los Andes (Bogotá) in addition to his undergraduate studies in theology at Boston College.

Mishkat H. Edris is a 2016 Mandela Washington Fellow (MWF) at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Mishkat H. Edris has over seven years’ experience in administration and finance within the community development sector and peacebuilding in particular. She is a certified computer user who seeks new ways to support and develop management & leadership skills in her job.

Mishkat is working with the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), where she focuses on strategic planning and general administration management in order to provide operational support. She also volunteers in her local community where she works with women to develop life skills and economic and financial literacy through entrepreneurship.

Mishkat holds a double bachelors’ degree in Accounting and Finance Banking from University of Sebha, Libya. Currently she is pursuing her master’s degree in Business and Administration, with a focus on using informal and formal education for community development in Darfur.

Upon completion of the MWF fellowship, Mishkat plans to use online education and learning to expand educational opportunities to more people, particularly women and girls, in Darfur.

James "Jim" Tuite is an Infantry officer in the United States Army with more than 21 years of service. He currently serves as a U.S. Army War College Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and his previous assignment was in the Pentagon as the director for the Army’s Strategic Leader Development Program for the 39th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General Mark Milley. In this position, he developed and managed the professional education and strategic conferences for the Army’s general officer corps. As an Infantry officer, Jim has served in a variety operational and tactical environments in command, staff and transition team leader positions. Most recently, he served as the battalion commander for the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii from 2013 - 15. Jim has also served in institutional assignments as the professor of Military Science and Department Chair at Providence College, RI from 2011 - 12 and as an assistant professor of Leadership at the United States Military Academy from 2004 - 07. Jim is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science in Management and earned a Master of Business Administration from the College of William & Mary.    

Beth J. Maclin is a program officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace and research coordinator for the RESOLVE Network, a global research network focused on countering violent extremism. She is a mixed methods researcher with experience working with communities impacted by insecurity and instability in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining USIP, she served as the research coordinator for the Women in War program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. She assisted in the development, implementation, and dissemination of the program’s studies, which examined the reintegration for child soldiers, stigmatization of survivors of sexual violence and community resilience in response to the Lord’s Resistance Army among other topics. She has also investigated the legal challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa, stateless children and motivations for migration to artisanal mining sites in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her research interests include identifying the needs of those impacted by humanitarian crises through a gender-inclusive lens, factors that fuel cycles of violence within crisis settings, vulnerability associated with migration and displacement and participatory action research. She graduated from Simmons College with a B.A. in Communications/Writing and Political Science and completed her MPH at the Boston University School of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology.

Before coming to USIP he was political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv where he managed security policy, the peace process, human rights and the bilateral relationship, and Consul General in Mazar e-Sharif, where he oversaw U.S. assistance and outreach to the nine provinces of Northern Afghanistan. Previous to that he directed the Merida Initiative, a new partnership between the U.S. and Mexico in the fight against international crime and narcotics trafficking.

Mr. Mines is a career foreign service officer with additional postings to San Salvador, Port-au-Prince, Washington D.C. (Brazilian affairs), Budapest and Ottawa. Mr. Mines also ran the U.S. Field Office in Darfur in 2007; served as governance coordinator in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq from 2003-2004; was interim economic counsellor in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in 2002; and executive assistant to the special representative of the U.N. Secretary General in the UNOSOM II peacekeeping mission in Somalia in 1994. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he was a U.S. Army Special Forces officer with service in Grenada, Central America and North Carolina. He was educated at Brigham Young University and Georgetown University where he studied history and diplomacy. He has published extensively on post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization and security and defense architecture in the post-Westphalian world.  

Diego is a program officer on the Planning, Learning and Evaluation team, where he works to coordinate grants for USIP’s IMPACT Colombia initiative focused on supporting local organization’s efforts to monitor and gauge program outcomes. He comes into this role with an extensive background in international management and development and over ten years of international field work. He has studied and worked in France, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Cuba, South Africa and China. He holds a BFA in Fine Arts and Comparative Literature and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a focus on International Policy and Management.

Prior to joining USIP, Diego launched a theatre company in Burkina Faso focused on improving outcomes and raising awareness on girls’ education, forced marriages and women’s empowerment. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa from 2005 - 2007, where he was assigned to work with local and international stakeholders focused on preserving regional flora and fauna. Diego has also worked at the Center for Economic Opportunities at the NYC Mayor’s Office where he supported research on evidence based poverty reduction programs, and at the Institute for Economics and Peace. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French.

Lieutenant Colonel Edward W. Powers is an active duty United States Marine currently assigned to the United States Institute of Peace as a Commandant of the Marine Corps Fellow. LtCol Powers has 19 years of military service specializing as a UH-1N/Y “Huey” helicopter pilot. Prior to arriving at the USIP, he was the Commanding Officer of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 and the Marine Air Group 39 Operations Officer aboard Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton in California. He has deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of combat operations and deployed to Okinawa, Japan to support the rotational USMC forces in the Pacific. Most recently, he was deployed in support of Operation Sahayogi Haat to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal to provide Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief following the devastating earthquake there in 2015. LtCol Powers is a graduate of Oregon State University with a degree in English Literature and from Baker University with a Master of Liberal Arts degree. LtCol Powers is married to his wife of 23 years, Mary and has two children: Charles and Julia.

Hussain Nadim is currently a senior Pakistan expert at USIP. He is the founding director for the Peace and Development Unit at the Ministry of Planning, Development & Reforms, Government of Pakistan, where he initially served as special assistant to Federal Minister. He has also served as a acholar at Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. and adjunct fellow at International Center for Study of Radicalization (ICSR) at King's College London. 

Educated at University of Cambridge, Oxford and George Washington University in the U.S., Hussain has extensive public sector and advisory experience with political parties, government, military and international organizations, focusing on the Middle East and South Asia. He covers topics related to Politics, Development, Radicalization, Security and Foreign Policy and has been invited to speak at various forums including the State Department, USAID, Pentagon, Pakistan Military HQ and numerous others. He writes regularly for the Express Tribune, Sydney Morning Herald, Foreign Policy and provides frequent comments on TV and Radio and is recognized as one of the leading experts on security and defense. For his work, Hussain Nadim was recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 Global Leader in Law and Policy in 2016. 

Dr. Naysan Rafati joined the U.S. Institute of Peace as a TAPIR Fellow in November 2016. He will be working primarily on Iranian politics and foreign policy.

Prior to USIP, Naysan was a visiting fellow at the Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) in Paris, where he was jointly affiliated with the Security Studies Centre and Middle East Programme. His research at Ifri focussed primarily on relations between Europe and Iran since the 2015 nuclear agreement.   

Naysan read for his MSt and DPhil degrees in Oriental Studies at St. Antony's College, Oxford, where he was awarded the Albert Hourani and Jenkins Memorial Scholarships and taught various courses on Middle East politics and history. He received his BA magna cum laude from Yale. Naysan speaks Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew, and is stateless.

Joseph Hewitt is the vice president for Policy, Learning and Strategy. He leads USIP's efforts to capture learning from the Institute's program activities and apply it for more effective policy engagement and strategy formation. He brings more than twenty years of experience working to apply rigorous analyses of conflict dynamics to strengthen tools for conflict assessment, improve the design of peacebuilding programs and refine systems for program monitoring and evaluation.

Previously, he was a senior conflict and peacebuilding advisor in USAID's Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation. In that capacity, he directed the office's research activities and development of analytic tools to support USAID’s work in fragile and conflict-affected countries. In addition, he represented USAID in both international and U.S. policy processes to strengthen policy coherence for engagement in conflict-affected and fragile states.

Before joining USAID, Dr. Hewitt was the associate director of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland. He directed multiple projects for the center, including a multi-year effort to train civil society organizations in West Africa to conduct local conflict assessments, as well as leading the center’s development of forecasting models for future conflict and political instability. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, Hewitt was a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Hewitt’s publications have appeared in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, the Journal of Peace Research and International Interactions. His most recent book is Peace and Conflict 2012, which was co-authored with Ted R. Gurr and Jonathan Wilkenfeld.
 
Hewitt received his Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland and his B.A. from the University of Michigan.