Welcome Remarks

Orontes Guitarists - 
Gaby Al Botros and Meer Mahmoud

IIE Artist Protection Fund alumni Gaby Al Botros and Meer Mahmoud are Syrian-Canadian guitarists, composers, and co-founders of the internationally acclaimed Orontes Guitar Quartet. Formed in Damascus in 2015, Orontes has performed across Syria, Lebanon, and Canada, collaborating with the Syrian Symphony Orchestra and sharing the stage with artists including Celso Machado, Simon Farintosh, and Naseer Shamma. Following their Artist Protection Fund fellowship at the University of Victoria, Gaby and Meer have built distinguished careers while bringing Syrian and Middle Eastern musical traditions to new audiences. Gaby’s artistry spans performance, composition, conducting, and education, while Meer is celebrated for reimagining Middle Eastern melodies through classical guitar. Together, they embody resilience, heritage, and artistic excellence.  

Mark A. Angelson

Mark Angelson is Chair of the Institute of International Education, the nonpartisan world leader in international educational exchange and scholar rescue. From offices around the globe, IIE administers the Fulbright Scholarships and hundreds of other educational and rescue programs for the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, and numerous private sector sponsors. 

Angelson is Chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board, the bipartisan body established by the United States Congress with the official mandate of promoting the fullest possible public access to a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of significant U.S. national security decisions and activities. From 2022—2025, he served in the Executive Office of the President of the United States as a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. 

Angelson previously served as the Deputy Mayor of the City of Chicago, CEO of RR Donnelley, Chair and CEO of two prominent Canadian public companies, and Chair of MidOcean Partners, an international investment firm. He earlier had a lengthy and distinguished career as an international lawyer in Singapore, New York, and London. He was admitted to practice New York law before the Supreme Court of the United States and English law before the Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales. 

Since 2014, Angelson has variously served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Rutgers University Board Governors, and Chair of several Board Committees, including the search committee that recruited Jonathan Holloway to be Rutgers’ 21st President. In 2023, Rutgers conferred upon Angelson an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. 

Angelson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and its membership committee; the Pilgrims (New York and London); the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce; and the Economic Club of New York. He is a Life Trustee of Northwestern University and Adjunct Professor of Mergers and Acquisitions at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. He is the coauthor (with Dr. Allan Goodman) of several articles on the efficacy of rescuing threatened professors and rebuilding national academies the world over.  

Angelson graduated from Rutgers College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and from Rutgers Law School. He is a member of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni. Angelson holds an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from John Marshall Law School and the Harold Hines Award from the United Negro College Fund. He was nominated by President Biden to be U.S. Ambassador to Norway. 

Selin Bengi Gümrükçü 

Dr. Selin Bengi Gümrükçü examines how political parties and social movements respond to democratic backsliding, including through transnational organizing and emerging technologies. Her work more broadly explores the relationship between contentious politics, political institutions, and democracy. From 2018—20, she undertook IIE-SRF fellowships at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where she taught comparative politics courses on both Europe and the Middle East, and conducted research on social mobilization in Türkiye and beyond. Still at Rutgers University, she is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor and was recently named Director of the Center for European Studies. She is author of the Routledge-published book Protest and Politics in Türkiye in the 1970s: Echoes of Dissent.

Gideon Rose

Gideon Rose is Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He served as Editor of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2021, following a decade as Managing Editor. Earlier in his career, he was Associate Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council and Deputy Director of National Security Studies at CFR. Dr. Rose has also taught American foreign policy at Princeton University and Columbia University. He is the author of How Wars End and is widely recognized for his contributions to foreign policy scholarship and international affairs. 

Nina Bender

Nina Bender is Chief Philanthropy Officer at the Institute of International Education, where she leads philanthropic partnerships, annual giving, events, community engagement, and donor communications. In 2021, she helped launch the Odyssey Scholarship, the first fully funded scholarship program for refugee and displaced students pursuing higher education in the United States. Prior to joining IIE, Ms. Bender held senior fundraising leadership roles at the International Rescue Committee and New York University. A first-generation college graduate, she has dedicated her career to expanding educational opportunity and strengthening support for students and communities around the world. 

IIE Scholar Rescue Fund Panel

Calvin Butler

Calvin Butler is president and chief executive officer of Exelon, one of the nation’s largest utility companies by customer count, serving 11 million electric and gas customers in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, through six local electric and natural gas companies. Butler serves on Exelon’s Executive Committee and is a member of the company’s Board of Directors. 

Prior to being named CEO at the end of 2022, Butler was president and chief operating officer of Exelon with responsibilities for Exelon’s six local energy companies: Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco. Butler also served as CEO of BGE from 2014 to 2019. Previous roles at the company include senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at BGE and vice president of Governmental and Legislative Affairs at ComEd. 

Before joining Exelon in 2008, Butler held senior leadership roles with the print, digital and supply chain solutions company R.R. Donnelley. Butler spent his early career with Central Illinois Light Company (CILCORP, Inc.), where he worked in government affairs, legal and strategy. 

Butler serves as the chairman of the Board of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation.  He is the vice chair of the board of the Institute of International Education (IIE) and on the Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory. He is also on the boards of Battelle, Emerson Electric, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, the Economic Club of Chicago, the Greater Washington Partnership, the Caves Valley Golf Club and the Annika Sorenstam Foundation. He is a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and serves on the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. He is immediate past chair of the Board of Directors of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and a past chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee and the GridWise Alliance. 

Butler has been recognized by several organizations for his leadership and community commitment.  In 2024, Savoy magazine named him one of the “Most Influential Executives” in America; the Daily Record has also listed him three times as one of Maryland’s “Most Admired CEOs.” In 2020, he was named among Black Enterprise magazine’s “Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America.” 

Mariët Westermann 

Dr. Mariët Westermann is the Director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, directing its flagship institution in New York, overseeing the Foundation and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and providing collaborative leadership working with the director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the project director for the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.  

Dr. Westermann led NYU Abu Dhabi, a degree-granting liberal arts and research campus of NYU, as Vice Chancellor, Chief Executive, and Professor of Arts and Humanities from 2019 to 2024. Dr. Westermann was the institution’s Provost at its founding, from 2007 to 2010. At NYU Abu Dhabi, she oversaw all academic, administrative, financial, and operational affairs. Previously, Dr. Westermann served as Executive Vice President at the Mellon Foundation, as a faculty member and Director at NYU/Institute of Fine Arts, as Associate Director of Research and Academic Programs at the Clark Art Institute, and as a faculty member at Rutgers University. 

Dr. Westermann is a graduate, magna cum laude, of Williams College and holds Master's and Ph.D. degrees in the History of Art from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. Dr. Westermann has received fellowships, honors, and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Philosophical Society, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Clark Art Institute, College Art Association, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dr. Westermann serves on the boards of ALIPH – The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas, the Educational Testing Service, and the Rijksmuseum, and chairs the Scholar Rescue Fund of the Institute of International Education. In Abu Dhabi, she is a board member of AmCham Abu Dhabi and the US-UAE Business Council. 

Omar Sharifi

Dr. Omar Sharifi is a social anthropologist who has taught courses on Islam and politics, Islamic political thought, and comparative politics. From 2021—22, he was an IIE-SRF fellow at the University of Minnesota, where he published papers on the Taliban and convened a colloquium that included experts on Afghanistan and representatives from the State Department. In 2024, he was invited to speak with a bipartisan legislative commission to share his insights on democracy and U.S. state-building efforts in Afghanistan. Currently, he is working remotely for the American University of Afghanistan, directing the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies, and lecturing at Johns Hopkins University. 

Rasha Siddig Azrag Ahmed

Dr. Rasha Siddig Azrag Ahmed studies the surveillance, ecology, population genetics, and control of disease vectors, with a focus on mosquito populations. She founded the Vector Genetics and Control Laboratory at the University of Khartoum and collaborated with Sudan’s Ministry of Health to strengthen national capacity in vector surveillance. As an IIE-SRF fellow at the University at Buffalo (UB), she is developing an AI-assisted One Health surveillance database and has published multiple articles on disease vectors and mosquito populations in Sudan. She continues to supervise students in Sudan and at UB. 

IIE Odyssey Scholarship Roundtable

Linda Vester

Linda is a veteran journalist and documentary filmmaker. She was a correspondent and anchor on NBC News, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel, specializing in international conflicts and the Middle East, for over fifteen years.  She covered conflicts in Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia, Israel/Palestine, Kuwait, Somalia, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, and Haiti, and reported from Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, and Congo. She also produced the critically-acclaimed documentary, “Back Home,” about a Rwandan teenager who survived the 1994 genocide then returned home to search for surviving family members.  

Linda graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston University, earned an honors diploma from the Sorbonne in Paris, and was a Fulbright Student Fellow of Middle East Affairs in Egypt.  

Currently, Linda serves as Vice Chair of the Institute of International Education. She also sits on the board of directors of the TASIS School and the Tropical Med Clinic, both in Puerto Rico. She lives in Puerto Rico with her husband and four children.  

Hartley R. Rogers

Hartley R. Rogers is the Executive Co-Chairman of Hamilton Lane. As such, he plays significant roles in the Firm’s investing and client relationship activities, as well as in its strategic and organizational development. He is a member of various Investment Committees of the Firm and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Founded in 1991, Hamilton Lane is a private markets asset management firm. With over $1 Trillion under management and advisement, Hamilton Lane is the largest allocator of capital to private equity funds in the world and is a significant player in the private markets secondary and co-investment arenas.

A publicly-traded firm (NASDAQ: HLNE), Hamilton Lane has  over 800 employees based in 23 offices worldwide.

Hartley was formerly a Managing Director in the private equity fund management areas at Morgan Stanley and at Credit Suisse.

He is the Chairman of the Advisory Board of HarvardX, the on-line learning initiative of Harvard University.I don’t  He is a Trustee and the Treasurer of the Institute of International Education, which manages the Fulbright and Gilman Scholar programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, among other activities. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

Amy Brandt

Amy Brandt is a Partner at Falfurrias Management Partners, where she helps lead Falfurrias Growth Partners and works closely with portfolio company management teams as a hands-on resource. Prior to joining the Firm in 2023, she was Operating Executive Director at Serent Capital. 

Most recently, Ms. Brandt was president and chief executive officer of First American Docutech, a digital mortgage platform that enables lenders to accelerate the real estate closing process. She serves on the boards of Neighborly Software, Gravitate, capSpire, and O2X.  

Ms. Brandt has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and senior executive, with multiple private equity–backed exits. Her honors include HousingWire's Vanguard Award and the Institute of International Education's Centennial Medal. 

She earned a J.D. from Arizona State University College of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Southern California. 

Mary Karam McKey

Mary Karam McKey leads IIE’s Corporate and Foundation Programs and Student Emergency Initiatives department. During her more than two decades of experience in educational exchange and capacity building, she has guided the design and implementation of a diverse portfolio of global scholarship, fellowship, and grant programs in partnership with leading companies, foundations, and public-sector organizations around the world. In her current role, she and her team lead programming in partnership with more than 35 private-sector partners annually. She also contributed to the initial design and launch of the IIE Odyssey Scholarship and believes deeply in the transformative power of education to expand opportunity and change lives. 

Mahsoma Eskandary

Mahsoma Eskandary is an Afghan woman and IIE Odyssey scholar studying toward her associate’s degree in Psychology at Diablo Valley College (DVC). When she first arrived in the United States, she focused on learning English, adjusting to the culture, and helping her family rebuild their life. After one year, she began taking courses at DVC, first in English, and then, with the support of the IIE Odyssey Scholarship, in degree courses. Her two daughters are also studying at DVC, and her two sons are in school. She is passionate about understanding human behavior and helping people improve their mental and emotional well-being. 

Elena María Alemán García

Elena María Alemán García is a Nicaraguan national who was awarded the IIE Odyssey Scholarship in 2022 through the complementary educational pathways program for refugee persons in Mexico. The scholarship enabled her to pursue a master's degree in Project Evaluation and Management at Universidad Panamericana, from which she graduated in February 2024. Elena was admitted to the United States as a refugee through a formal sponsorship program. As an IIE Odyssey alumna, she hopes to continue her professional development, contribute to her community through her work, and have the opportunity to travel the world.   

Mohammad Nasir Moradi 

Mohammad Nasir Moradi graduated from the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) in December 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in information technology, specializing in Cybersecurity. During his time at AUAF, he received two President’s Honor Awards and one President’s High Honor Award across three consecutive semesters. He was also the recipient of the Bayat Foundation Scholarship, a four-year full scholarship in Information Technology and Computer Science. Beyond academics, Nasir spoke at AUAF’s First Symposium on Mathematics and Its Applications and served as a host and emcee for several university events, including New Student Orientation, Cultural Festival Day, and International Women’s Day. Before arriving in the United States in January 2023, he worked as a TOEFL trainer, EFL instructor, and mathematics instructor. With support from the Gerald and Nina Holton Family Emergency Fund and the IIE Odyssey Scholarship, he continued his education at Indiana University Bloomington, where he earned a Master of Science in Secure Computing in Spring 2025 and spoke at his commencement. The scholarships provided financial support for his education and living expenses, while Indiana University provided a tuition scholarship along with academic and professional support. 

Reception & Closing Remarks

Jason Czyz

Jason Czyz became IIE’s President and Chief Executive Officer in 2025, prior to which he served as the Institute’s Co-President. As President, he chairs the IIE Odyssey Scholarship selection committee, a comprehensive scholarship for student refugees and displaced individuals from around the world. Mr. Czyz also serves on the board of the Indonesia International Education Foundation, the Fulbright Scholar Advisory Board, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. During his tenure at IIE, Mr. Czyz supported the expansion of the Institute’s programs in the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia, as well as with private foundations and corporations. As IIE’s Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, he helped solidify IIE’s position as a strategic partner to the U.S. government’s public diplomacy and educational exchange initiatives. During this time, IIE’s endowment grew substantially, resulting in the Institute’s increased capacity to fund a variety of rescue and emergency initiatives that support displaced artists, scholars, and refugees.  

Before joining IIE, Mr. Czyz worked extensively in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central and South Asia on legal reform, utility regulation, and infrastructure privatization projects. Mr. Czyz has previously been responsible for operations in Angola, Bangladesh and Ukraine for American companies. In addition, he worked at an international law firm in the energy, project finance, and development practice groups. Mr. Czyz has served on the board of an international investment fund and as Chair of the Energy Bar Association’s International Energy Law & Transactions Committee. 

Mr. Czyz holds a B.A. in History and Modern Languages from Knox College, an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill, and a J.D. from Catholic University. 

IIE-SRF and IIE Odyssey Grantees