Student Directory

Dan Phillips

American

Financial Analyst, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

I work at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as an Analyst in the bank supervision group, focusing on large and foreign banks. We're tasked with evaluating the financial resiliency and risk management of regulated banks in our district.

Prior to that, I worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, also in an analytical capacity. One underlying theme to my work has been finding new ways to apply data to bank supervision.

I graduated with a major in Economics and a minor in Chinese from the University of Oklahoma, where I also took courses in piano. In my free time I enjoy reading, exploring New York, and discovering new music.

Gwen Rathbun

American

Director, Federal Government Affairs, American Diabetes Association

I serve as Director, Federal Government Affairs at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), where I focuse on federal funding for diabetes research, prevention, and control programmes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and Indian Health Service. I joined ADA in January 2016 as Senior Manager, Federal Government Affairs, working on ADA’s signature advocacy events including the annual Call to Congress featuring diabetes researchers and professional football players. In both roles at ADA, I have worked extensively with ADA’s grassroots network, lawmakers, and advocacy stakeholders.

Prior to joining ADA, I analysed state-level sexual and reproductive health policy at the Guttmacher Institute. A native of Maryland, I graduated from Fordham University with a BS in Psychology and Business Administration. I reside in Washington, DC.

Blake Osmond

Australian

Lawyer. Corrs Chambers Westgarth

I am currently a commercial lawyer at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, one of Australia's largest corporate law firms. My practice focuses on the development of major infrastructure projects, including road, rail (such as metro and light rail), renewable energy and social infrastructure. I act for the government and the private sector.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, I was a political advisor at the New South Wales Parliament, where I worked across a number of key portfolios, including transport, roads, infrastructure, police and education. Recently, I played a key role in the successful campaign to elect the new NSW Labor Leader.

I have a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Social Research and Policy (majoring in International Relations), from the University of New South Wales, where I studied on a full scholarship. I sit on the board of a local community centre in my hometown of Wollongong and am the Vice President of a legal advocacy body.

Roland Topic

Austrian

Senior Advisor

Tri International Consulting Group, JV Oliver Wyman - Kuwait Investment Authority

I studied Economics and Business Administration at the University of Graz, Austria. Since my graduation in 1996, I worked as a strategy consultant in Europe, South America and the Middle East and have picked up six languages, a wonderful wife and two children on the way.

I currently work as a Senior Advisor at TICG, a Joint Venture between Oliver Wyman and the Kuwait Investment Authority, advising the Government of Kuwait on economic and fiscal sustainability. Among others, I have led projects on labour market reform and privatization.

My main areas of interest are how to set up effective governance for public sector entities and regulatory economics. I look forward to studying this and more at LSE!

Daniel Parkes

British

Asset Manager, Hongkong Land

I am British but have lived in South East Asia for over 10 years.

I have had a career for 17 years in real estate development. Most recently, I have experience of working in the rapidly urbanising economies in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). I have lived in Cambodia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Glen Manning

British

Managing Director, Rothschild & Co

I am currently a Managing Director at Rothschild & Co, where I run their Derivative Advisory business. I advise public and private sector clients across the world on how to use financial instruments to manage complex market risks.

I have been involved in trading, structuring and marketing derivative transactions for over two decades, with a particular focus on interest rate, inflation, credit, foreign exchange and commodity risks. Before joining Rothschild & Co, I managed corporate derivative businesses at Lloyds Bank and JP Morgan.

Before investment banking, I worked as a Project Engineer in the petrochemical industry in South Africa. I hold a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, a GDE in Civil Engineering and an MBA.

Jaafar Amrani

British/Moroccan

COO - Execution Services, Exane BNP Paribas

I am currently working in the equities business of Exane, a leading research and execution house in Europe where I have been heavily involved in the development of its execution business.

I am currently based in London and have had the opportunity to work in several countries including France, Morocco, Turkey and Singapore. Earlier in my career I was a Management Consultant covering Financial Services and Real Estate.

I hold an MSc degree from Neoma Business School (French Grande Ecole) where I majored in Finance. I speak fluent Arabic, English and French, I also have conversational proficiency in Spanish.

Josh Sambrook-Smith

British

Portfolio Manager, Sarasin & Partners

 I studied Management and Economics at the University of Birmingham. After leaving university I worked briefly in private equity, providing early stage financing for software companies. I then moved to Putnam Investments where I covered European banks, utilities, telecoms and technology companies.

I moved to Sarasin & Partners in 2013 to cover global technology, media and telecoms. I now run the technology research team and am the lead manager for Sarasin's small/midcap technology fund.

Younes Oukhay

British/Moroccan

Investment Director, Private Equity Firm

I am a corporate finance professional with over 13 years’ experience. I currently work as an Investment Director at Helios Investment Partners, a London-based private equity fund focusing on emerging markets. Prior to that, I worked at J.P. Morgan focusing on mergers & acquisitions. I also worked as a Consultant at Accenture in Paris advising financial institutions.

I am an engineer by background, with an MSc in Telecommunications from INSA Lyon in France, and hold an MSc in Business from HEC Paris. I grew up in Morocco, France and Kenya.

Marvin Nepomuceno

Filipino/Dutch

International Programme Director, Yokogawa Europe BV

I am originally from the Philippines and moved to the Netherlands 18 years ago. I have been working for my company, a Japanese multinational firm involved in the oil & gas industry, for over 20 years. I am a Project Director of large scale capital projects (mostly in Russia for the last 10 years).

I obtained an MBA degree in 2008 and an MSc in Major Programme Management from the  University of Oxford in 2016.

Shubhashansha Bakshi

Indian

I am a development economist with more than 12 years of work experience in assisting government, government agencies and donor agencies towards fiscal policy management and research evaluations. I have a Masters in Economics and my doctoral thesis is in the area of fiscal federalism.

I have worked extensively as a consultant to the finance/education departments of various state governments in India giving them policy inputs and helping them prepare their ask (memorandum to the Finance Commission) from the central government. I worked as a researcher with Global Development Network (GDN) (board member included Abhijeet Banerjee) for multi-year research evaluation of policy intervention in the delivery of public goods. I have been instrumental in the formulation of gender-related legislation in India.

I look forward to the EMPA experience. I hope to contribute to the cohort’s experience and have the opportunity to broaden my understanding from everyone’s experience in different settings.

Daniela Grafin von Matuschka

Irish

Policy Specialist, Google

I am a Policy Specialist at Google, based in Singapore, where I focus on intellectual property and local law issues in the Asia Pacific region, such as terrorism and disinformation. I also spent three months in early 2019 working with the Google Public Policy and Government Relations team in the UK, working on copyright issues.

Before moving to Singapore, I was based in Google's Dublin, Ireland office, focusing on the German speaking market - particularly on data protection laws. I now have over five years’ experience working in the internet technology sector. Before this I worked with multiple law firms in Ireland, Germany and the US.

l did my LLB in Law and German at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland for four years, which included a year at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universtitaet Munich, Germany.

Gandia Robertson

Mexican

Legal Advisor, OECD

I am an attorney specialising in international law admitted to practice in New York and Mexico; and a graduate of New York University School of Law LLM. For the past six years, I have worked as a Legal Adviser in the Directorate for Legal Affairs of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. My main responsibilities include advising candidate countries undergoing the OECD accession process and assisting in the coordination of membership discussions.

Before moving to Paris, I lived in New York where I worked as a Legal Officer in the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN, Codification Division, which acts as the Secretariat to the Legal Committee of the General Assembly and the International Law Commission. I began my career as an attorney in Mexico City-based law firm Von Wobeser y Sierra, specialising in international arbitration and also worked in the International Center for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association.

Agnieszka Moldach

Polish/British

Competition Legal Specialist, Google

I am a Competition Specialist focusing on legal and regulatory challenges in the tech sector. I have been at Google since 2014, responsible for responding to market studies, coordinating work on sector investigations, organising discussion forums to debate policy changes or new proposals to competition law in Europe. More recently, I spent six months on a rotation in a government affairs and public policy team. Based in Tel Aviv, I led work on a study on the impact of regulation on innovation in the region.

Prior to Google, I spent five years at international law firm Bird & Bird LLP, managing key relationships and providing legal solutions to businesses facing regulatory scrutiny.

I hold a BA in International Relations, and an MSc in Management, focused on the highly regulated aviation sector. I currently live in London.

Irvina Ivan

Romanian/British

Lead, Learning to Scale, Bernard Van Leer Foundation

What can I do to augment the impact of global philanthropy for millions of people and help to develop lasting scalable solutions? I've been working to solve this question as part of my role in the Knowledge for Policy team at Bernard Van Leer Foundation (BvLF) and previously at the Porticus Foundation, both leading philanthropic organisations.

I am a philanthropy professional focused on learning about how social change happens at scale and, in particular, what type of knowledge can best support these processes across different stakeholder groups (philanthropy, government, think tanks, NGOs, INGOs, etc).

Aara Yousef Mansouri

Saudi

Head of Productivity Unit, Ministry of Economy and Planning, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

How can Saudi Arabia shift to a Productivity-led economic model? My intellectually entertaining quest is to construct and deconstruct the Productivity problem, to empirically diagnose, research and analyze its causal factors, to craft an expanded menu of policy prescriptions, and to devise a contextually-fitted growth strategy.

My 15 years of experience cover investments, strategy execution and project management. I worked at The Olayan Group, in both private and public equities covering large diversified portfolios across the MENA region. I also managed the strategy of the Economic Cities Authority, as well as the strategic project management office at Emaar King Abdullah Economic City.

I hold a Global Executive MBA from INSEAD Business School, and attended executive programs in Leading Economic Growth and Implementing Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 

Bernat Vila Pou

Spanish

Experienced Senior Consultant in Strategy and Operations in Public Sector, Deloitte

In 2012, I graduated from ESADE and moved to Berlin to work as an intern in a company called Rocket Internet SE. This company builds online start-ups and owns shareholdings in various models of internet retail business. During my nine months there, I worked as a business developer.

After my internships in Berlin, I decided to go back to Barcelona to orientate my professional career in the department of Financial Service Industry at KPMG. In KPMG, I worked mainly as an auditor for several banks (notably Deutsch Bank) and one semi-public financial institution.

However, throughout this period my main professional interests remained intact regarding public policy and administration. That is why I decided, after four years at KPMG, to apply for a position in Deloitte Consulting for the public sector. My subsequent employment by Deloitte has enabled me to reinforce my interests in public policy and administration.

Gema Del Castillo

Spanish

Self-employed

Born in Madrid but living in London, where I am working for Warner Media as a Data Analyst in Privacy Policy. I previously worked with this media giant in the implementation of a streaming film site. In my hometown I worked for 9 years in Johnson & Johnson as an enterprise technical support and administrator, specialised in mobile technologies.

My background is in Communication: BA in Journalism and postgraduate studies in Social Sciences. Upon leaving the University I collaborated with Amnesty and the UN Refugees Agency as a press officer.

In my spare time I am a cultural traveller, visiting countries in Asia, America, Europe and the North of Africa. I speak Spanish, Italian and English fluently.

One of my main interests is the preservation of Nature, and I am mostly interested in harsh chemicals. Besides, I am passionate about sports, science and tech, and I am an avid poetry reader.

Hector Castañeda Callejon

Spanish

First Secretary, Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

I studied Law at Universidad de Valladolid, Spain. In 2004, I entered the Spanish Diplomatic Service.

I have worked in Madrid for some years and been posted to Lima (Peru), Maputo (Mozambique) and since August 2016, have been in London.

I have worked in several areas so far: on EU issues, consular affairs and the protection of Spanish citizens abroad (Peru), the promotion of Spanish companies abroad (Mozambique), and Sub-Saharan Africa and Ibero-American relations with Spain. In London, I have worked on British foreign policy towards varying countries. I am now focused on some aspects of British domestic policy.

Clemens Bolli

Swiss

Regional Participation Specialist, Swiss Federal Office of Energy

I obtained a Master of Arts degree in Political Science with a major in International Relations and a minor in Geography in 2010, from the University of Zurich. Alongside my studies, I pursued a sports career as an athlete of the Swiss Snowboard National Team. After resigning from competitive sports, I started my professional career in the tourism sector in the management of a touristic service provider in Davos.

I have also obtained an extra-occupational Master of Science degree in Geoinformatics, in 2017 from the University of Salzburg. For my final thesis, I collaborated with a Swiss renewable energy startup to analyse the micro hydro power potential in Suriname.

After temporary assignments with the City of Zurich's urban planning office and the Canton of Grison's civil engineering office, I started my current position with the Swiss Federal Office of Energy in 2017.

Vimbai Hungwe

Zimbabwean

Finance Director, SchoolApply AG

I am a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 10 years of progressive experience in the fields of financial and operational management, supporting high growth strategic plans in the FMCG, technology and education sectors.

I completed my finance training in the UK, before moving back to Zimbabwe where I ran a technology start-up, set-up a charitable trust and then set-up a financial services company. I moved to the UAE and joined Careem as the first Head of Finance and subsequently worked as the Head of Operations at AstroLabs, the first Google Tech Hub in the Middle East. I am currently the Finance Director of SchoolApply AG, an online study abroad platform.