Participants (Συμμετέχοντες)

Robert Yon graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with degrees in History and Political Science and Certificates in European Union Studies and German Language. Throughout his time at Pitt he was involved in the Interdenominational Christian organization Campus Crusade for Christ. After graduation he served in the United States Marine Corps as a Communications Officer for four years, spending two and a half years in Okinawa, Japan. During his time there he was assistant manager for an organization of over 150 personnel, and travelled extensively throughout East Asia. He is interested in applying his faith to public and nonprofit management, specifically as it relates to national security and international development.

John Guerriero, Finance Chair

John Guerriero graduated in 2011 from the University of Michigan with a degree in Political Science. He spent four years in the Washington, D.C. office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP as a legal assistant in their Antitrust and Financial Institutions Regulation and Enforcement departments. John is returning to Michigan with a focus on financial regulatory policy and economic development.

Born in Manila and raised in Minnesota, Michael Manansala was an Associate at DAI, where he supported the Food & Enterprise Development program in Liberia, USAID’s largest Feed the Future project in Africa. Michael also served as the Alumni Chapter Director for the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Program in DC. As a Rackham Merit Fellow at the Ford School, Michael intends to explore policy issues at the intersection of workforce development, brain drain, and economic inequality in emerging markets, particularly in Southeast Asia. Michael graduated from Macalester College with a major in Political Science, and a minor in Geography. He also studied abroad at SOAS in London, UK and participated in the PPIA Junior Summer Institute at the Ford School.

Farah Mandich, Course Planning Chair

Farah Mandich graduated from Texas Christian University with a B.S. in Economics and a minor in Political Science. While studying at TCU, she completed an internship at The White House National Economic Council, where she supported energy and agriculture policy research. Farah was most recently a Knowledge Specialist in global consultancy McKinsey & Co.'s Electric Power & Natural Gas practice, where she developed a deep expertise in solar power. She is interested in learning more about international trade and economic policy, natural resource policy, and policy's role in combating human trafficking.

Meghan Klaric, Social Chair

Meghan is a practicing patent attorney with a focus on pharmaceuticals. She graduated from Villanova Law School. She also has a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Villanova and a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Southern California. She is interested in healthcare policy, particularly healthcare reform and access to affordable care.

Stephanie Hingtgen returns to school following more than ten years of professional experience. She graduated in 2002 from the University of Iowa with a degree in Spanish and Certificate in International Business, and worked in financial services before transitioning into the nonprofit sector. Most recently, she managed Catholic Charities’ Refugee Resettlement Program in Des Moines, Iowa, which inspired her to develop further analytical skills to identify and encourage effective social policy. Stephanie is eager to explore opportunities in research and program evaluation regarding poverty alleviation policies.

Since graduating with a degree in economics from the University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, Fandi has dedicated his career to financial inclusion, trade and investment, and industry policies in Indonesia. He then moved to Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat where he ran regional programs for the development of competition policy and law and continuously monitored ASEAN's progress. Fandi also served the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Working Group on competition negotiations between ten ASEAN countries and six countries (Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand), drafting the Competition Chapter under RCEP Agreement. At the Ford School, Fandi is interested in learning more about trade, industry, and science and technology policies, as well as strengthening his leadership and negotiation skills.

Kris Aditomo

Hannah was a high school English teacher in Montgomery, Alabama for three years before coming to the Ford School. She completed Teach for America and opted to continue in her placement school while earning her teaching certificate. She graduated from Grinnell College in 2013 with a B.A. in History and French. She is primarily interested in poverty, children, and urban social policy.

Anthony is interested in applying ideas from economics, with the analysis of data, to improve policy and the decisions of individuals and companies. He studied economics and the liberal arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduating, he worked as an empirical research assistant for Yale Professor Ian Ayres on a range of law and economics projects and papers.

Lu Ding graduated from China Agricultural University with degrees in International Development. During her undergraduate studies, she was actively involved in volunteer work and social practice, especially in China's rural area. In the summer 2015, she travelled to Tanzania as part of a research field trip relating to her International Development Studies major. After that, she worked for Edu-Future Education Motivational Institute, a Chinese NGO operating in the education sector, and also spent six months working as a project assistant in the International Poverty Reduction Center in China. Her experiences have enthused her about exploring economic development, poverty alleviation, and inequality elimination.

Josh Fleming

Joshua graduated magna cum laude from Saginaw Valley State University with a B.A. in Public Administration and Health Science. Afterwards, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland, where he collaborated with local stakeholders on community health projects and financial literacy. Most recently, he worked as a Health Insurance Enrollment Specialist for a collection of FQHC’s, where he led outreach efforts to increase enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace and the Healthy Michigan Plan. Joshua is interested in exploring how comparative cross-national health policy analysis can create solutions for complex domestic health policy issues. He is also interested in the relationship between public finance and government-sponsored health insurance programs in the 21st century.

Jacqueline Mullen

Jacqueline graduated from Michigan State University's James Madison College with a degree in Comparative Cultures and Politics and specializations in African Studies and Muslim Studies. She has interned, studied, and taught in Ghana, Senegal, and Morocco respectively. Jacqueline is interested in both international and domestic public policy issues, including immigration, education, and cross-cultural relations. She is excited about exploring the 'people' side of policymaking, including how pop culture, relationships, and empathy affect and are affected by politics.

Nicholas Wallace

Nicholas is a JD/MPP student.

Masako passed the bar exam of Japan in March 2010. Since November 2010, she has worked for the Ministry of Justice, Government of Japan. She worked in particular in the immigation bureau, making policy for rectifying Japan's refugee recognition system.

Jessica graduated from University of Washington in 2015 with a BA in Anthropology. She is a current MPH/MPP dual degree student with interests in refugee health policy and maternal and child health. Jessica interned with the International Rescue Committee and most recently spent a summer in Accra, Ghana researching care-seeking behaviors among pregnant adolescents.

Alan V. Deardorff is the John W. Sweetland Professor of International Economics and Professor of Public Policy. Alan's research focuses on international trade. With Bob Stern, he has developed the Michigan Model of World Production and Trade, which is used to estimate the effects of trade agreements. Alan is also doing theoretical work in international trade and trade policy. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Labor, State, and Treasury and to international organizations including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Bank. Alan received his Ph.D. from Cornell University.http://fordschool.umich.edu/faculty/alan-deardorff

Alex Ralph, 2nd Faculty Advisor

Alex L. Ralph is a lecturer in expository writing at the Ford School. For over a decade he taught in the Sweetland Center for Writing and the English Department at the University of Michigan. In 2009 he received the English Department's Ben Prize for excellence in the teaching of writing. Alex also serves as an instructor in the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) summer institute. He received his BA from Swarthmore College and an MFA in creative writing from Michigan.http://fordschool.umich.edu/faculty/alex-ralph