Cecilia Polizzi

Cecilia Polizzi is an international security strategist specializing in child recruitment and radicalization into terrorism and violent extremism. Over the past 15 years, she has shaped policy and strategy for national governments and international organizations, including NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the European Commission, and UN agencies. She is the founding CEO of the Next Wave Center and creator of The Blind Spot Breaker. A 2025 McCain Global Leaders Fellow and 2026 nonresident fellow at New America, she focuses her work on the intersection of child protection, radicalization, and global security. 

Geoffrey Van Orden CBE

Geoffrey Van Orden CBE is a former British Army brigadier general and longtime British member of the European Parliament, representing the East of England from 1999 to 2020 and serving as the last leader of the British Conservatives in the European Parliament. His military career included service in Northern Ireland, Berlin, and NATO Headquarters. He has extensive experience in foreign affairs, defense, and conflict resolution, including initiatives involving Eastern Europe, the Palestinian territories, Sri Lanka, and, most recently, dialogue aimed at avoiding conflict with Iran. He also contributes to international strategic-policy think tanks and founded the Brussels-based New Direction Foundation.

Perfecto Sanchez

Perfecto K. Sanchez is a decorated US Army veteran, entrepreneur, and civic leader with extensive experience in conflict, reconciliation, and social impact. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he served two combat tours in Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal for Valor. He later chaired the New York Council of the International Crisis Group, supporting its work to prevent conflict and build peace globally. Today, he is the co-founder and chief growth officer of Equity Quotient and serves in several corporate and nonprofit governance roles. In 2023, he was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement in recognition of his work combining purpose, leadership, and social impact.

Myriam Sfeir

Myriam Sfeir is the executive director of the Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at LAU. Previously, she served as senior managing editor of Al-Raida, the AiW’s double-blind peer-reviewed journal. She has more than 25 years of experience in women’s rights and gender equality, with extensive experience in research, expert analysis, training, and teaching. She is an authority on the women’s movement in Lebanon and has worked extensively on several groundbreaking projects related to oral history, movement building, and marginalized groups; she has also organized several international and regional conferences, film festivals, and panels that address gender rights and justice. She earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the American University of Beirut and her master’s degree in interdisciplinary women’s studies from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.

Joseph A. Cari Jr.

Joseph A. Cari Jr. graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a BA in sociology, cum laude, and a Juris Doctor degree with honors. He later completed a fellowship in politics with distinction at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Cari has extensive experience in US politics and foreign policy. He served as chairman of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a US government foreign-policy institution, and worked closely with the White House and the US Department of State on a range of foreign policy matters during the Clinton administration.

He also served as national finance chairman for Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee. More recently, he served on President-elect Joseph Biden’s transition team.

In addition to his public service, Cari has spent more than 20 years in merchant banking and private equity. He joined LAU’s faculty in January 2026.

Marwan F. Abdallah

Marwan F. Abdallah is an international relations and energy professional with more than 15 years of experience in strategic negotiations, governance, advocacy, and energy policy. He currently serves as executive director of the Organization for Petroleum & Energy Sustainability (OPES), where he works on energy security, sustainable development, and oil and gas governance. He is also a university lecturer, consultant, and trainer, with expertise in global energy markets, risk analysis, economic diplomacy, public affairs, strategic negotiations, and leadership. Abdallah holds a master’s degree in diplomacy and strategic negotiations from La Sagesse University/Université Paris-Sud and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and political sciences from LAU.

Patricia Shafer

Patricia Shafer is executive director of NewGen Peacebuilders and its Youth & Peace in Action initiative, where she leads international peace education, training, and mentoring programs focused on youth leadership, conflict resolution, and sustainable peacebuilding. She also serves as senior fellow for Peace Education at the Alliance for Peacebuilding and as a global ambassador with the Institute for Economics & Peace. A Rotary Peace Fellow, Shafer has extensive international experience in peacebuilding and youth engagement, including work connected to Lebanon, East Africa, and South Sudan. She received the 2022 Melanie Greenberg Award for Excellence in U.S. Conflict Resolution & Peacebuilding. Shafer holds an MSc in Consulting and Coaching for Change from Oxford University and HEC France, an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and an MA in journalism from The Ohio State University.

Fadia Kiwan

Dr. Fadia Kiwan is a prominent Lebanese political scientist, academic, and researcher. She holds a PhD in political science from the University of Paris-Sorbonne and has held several senior academic and public-service positions, including founder and former director of the Institute of Political Science and founder and director of the Observatory of Public Service and Governance at Saint Joseph University. She has also served as Lebanon’s representative to the Permanent Council of La Francophonie and has worked extensively as a researcher and consultant with international organizations. Her research focuses on civil society, governance, political systems, political parties, and women’s issues. She has also held leadership roles in UNESCO-related initiatives and national and regional organizations focused on women and public affairs.

Imad Salamey

Dr. Imad Salamey is a professor of political science and international affairs and chairperson of the Department of Political and International Studies at LAU. He is a senior Middle East policy advisor whose research focuses on conflict resolution, power sharing, governance, communitarian politics, and the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa. He has served as a consultant to international and regional organizations on development, humanitarian, and political assistance. Dr. Salamey is the author and editor of several books on Lebanese and Middle Eastern politics, including The Government and Politics of Lebanon and The Decline of Nation-States after the Arab Spring. He holds a PhD in political science from Wayne State University.

Walid Marrouch

Dr. Walid Marrouch is the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies & Research (GSR) at the Lebanese American University (LAU), a role he assumed in 2025 after serving as the Assistant Dean of GSR since 2019. He is a Professor of Economics and previously served as Associate Chairperson of the Department of Economics at the Adnan Kassar School of Business from 2012 to 2018. Dr. Marrouch first joined LAU in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Economics.

He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Economics from HEC Montréal in 2009 and his M.A. in Economics from Concordia University in 2004. Before joining LAU, he was a part-time lecturer at HEC Montréal from 2007 to 2009. His research focuses on environmental and resource economics, energy economics, development economics, and applied game theory. Beyond his academic work, he has consulted for various international organizations. Dr. Marrouch is also a Fellow at the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO) and the Economic Research Forum (ERF).

Tamara Mosmar

Tamara Mosmar is a master’s student in human resources management at LAU, with a background in international business. Alongside her graduate studies, she serves as a graduate assistant and contributes to strategic academic and institutional initiatives at the university, including developing a university venture fund and a conflict-resolution initiative. Her work involves research, program development, stakeholder engagement, and contributing a student and emerging-leadership perspective to the direction and substance of these initiatives.

Nadim Shehadi

Nadim Shehadi is an economist with a particular interest in the history of economic thought and Middle Eastern affairs. He previously served as executive director of LAU’s New York Headquarters and Academic Center, director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University, and associate fellow at Chatham House in London.

He was also a senior member of St Antony’s College at the University of Oxford, where he directed the Centre for Lebanese Studies from 1986 to 2005. Throughout his career, Shehadi has held advisory positions with several international organizations and served as a consultant to governments and institutions. A frequent commentator on regional affairs, he has contributed to numerous publications and currently writes an opinion column for Arab News.

Makram Ouaiss

Makram Ouaiss is the executive director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS). Established in 1989, LCPS is one of the region’s leading think tanks, conducting evidence-based research on Lebanon and the Middle East and North Africa. Before joining LCPS, Ouaiss was a professor of political science and international affairs at LAU, specializing in conflict analysis and resolution. He has worked with various international organizations and is a member or board member of several civil society groups.