Global Leadership Styles: Mandela to Maduro

Speakers for this event

• Adrian O'Connor

  Adrian O'Connor

  Adrian O’Connor is an associate professor of history at the University of South Florida. He is a specialist in the history of the European Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and the author of In pursuit of politics: Education and revolution in eighteenth-century France (Manchester University Press, 2017), as well as numerous articles on the historical intersection of culture and politics. At the University of South Florida, he teaches a wide range of courses in European history and on themes such as the history of protest and politics, the history of terror and terrorism, and the history of assassination. He is also editor of the scholarly journal, The Historian.

• Amanda Makki

  Amanda Makki

  Amanda Makki is a Republican lawyer and political and policy strategist, most recently having run in the Republican Primary in Florida’s 13th Congressional District in 2020 and earning the endorsements of over two dozen House Republican Leaders including Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, and Elise Stefanik. ​As an infant, Makki and her family escaped an oppressive religious regime in Iran after the Revolution in 1979, known for its persecution of dissidents, to come to America. With the little resources they could quickly scrape together, they escaped to come to the Land of Opportunity, where anyone with a dream and a good work ethic could become successful. While Makki’s father studied to become a surgeon, her mother was a childcare provider and delivered Yellow Pages to provide the family’s income. Makki witnessed her parents drive to succeed and commitment to the American Dream, which motivated her to start working at the young age of 15. As a Farsi language speaker, Makki was appointed by the George W. Bush Administration to serve the Army General Counsel at the Pentagon just weeks after the September 11 terrorist acts. Makki went on to serve as senior Republican Healthcare Advisor in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, and before the age of 40, became one of the youngest partners at K&L Gates, one of the nation’s premier law firms. While Makki’s work at K&L Gates focused on health care policy, she also was engaged in the firm’s pro-bono efforts providing assistance through Legal Counsel for the Elderly, a leading provider of free legal services. Makki grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland and is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she obtained her degrees in Finance and Business Management and the Catholic University of America where she obtained her law degree. Makki is also proficient in Spanish. Amanda is frequently brought on for her expertise as a Republican Attorney and Strategist on national networks such as Fox, Newsmax, CNBC International, BBC, Sky News and Fox Business. She has resided in St. Petersburg, Florida since 2015 and enjoys fishing, biking and golfing. She is active in her faith and worships at Starkey Road Baptist Church.

• Donald Morrison

  Donald Morrison

  Moderator

  Donald Morrison is an author, journalist, and educator. In a long career at TIME magazine, he served as editor of its World section in New York, its Asian edition in Hong Kong, and its European edition in London. He has taught at New York University's London Center, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and the Institut d'etudes politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris. Mr. Morrison is the author, co-author or editor of books on subjects as diverse as Chinese democracy, the Obama presidency and photojournalism. His "The Death of French Culture," a 2009 French best-seller, was published in the U.S. and the U.K. in 2010. He is currently Europe Editor of the London-based magazine PORT, as well as a columnist and advisory board member at The Berkshire Eagle. His weekly podcast commentary is featured on NPR's Robin Hood Radio, Podcasts.com and other news outlets. He has written for The New York Times, The Financial Times, Le Monde, Le Point, The New Republic, Smithsonian, and Quartz. Mr. Morrison holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the London School of Economics. He is married to Ann Morrison, former Executive Editor of Fortune magazine and Editor of Asiaweek.

  Moderator

• Joseph Wright

  Joseph Wright

  Joseph Wright is a political scientist at Pennsylvania State University; he has held research positions at the University of Notre Dame, Princeton University, and Economic Research Southern Africa in Cape Town. He studies comparative political economy with a particular interest in understanding how international factors – such as economic sanctions, foreign aid, human rights prosecutions, and migration – influence domestic politics in countries ruled by autocratic governments. He has co-authored three books, Foreign Pressure and Politics of Authoritarian Survival (Oxford University Press, 2015), How Dictatorships Work: Power, Personalization, and Collapse (2018, Cambridge University Press), and Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorship (forthcoming in 2021, Princeton University Press). His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Minerva Research Initiative; and he is the recipient of the 2017 Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research. His current book project examines how political parties contribute to democratic backsliding.

• Marie-Roger Biloa

  Marie-Roger Biloa

  Media Executive & TV producer, is the Founding CEO of The Africa International Media Group which has published the political magazine Africa International for over two decades and trained dozens of African journalists, before launching highly successful common-concern publications such as ICI- Les Gens du Cameroun (2002) and ICI-Les Gens du Gabon.

  In 2019 was launched the knowledge-based TV brand MRB Networks (mrbnetworks.com), produced by MRB Productions and covering major issues of interest for Africa, in partnership with the main public and private TV channels in West and Central Africa, as well as the Club Millenium, an exchange and networking platform for African and international business and political leaders. In November 2021, the Club Millenium, under Ms. Biloa chairmanship, has hosted the First Nigeria International Partnership Forum in Paris, in attendance of the Nigerian Head of State, as well as a string of most influential business leaders from France and Nigeria. Ms. Biloa is fluent in French, German and English. Award-winning and Harvard-trained, Ms Biloa is the very first journalist in France to obtain a one-on-one interview with Nelson Mandela right after his jail release in 1990. Throughout her career, Marie-Roger Biloa, a frequent talk show guest in Europe and Africa (TV5Monde, France Television, ARTE, BFMTV, Aljazeera, The BBC, ZDF, ARD,...) has met and interacted with a large number of African and world leaders. Among her numerous distinctions: Prix d’Excellence en Communication (Cameroonian Government, 1998), Chevalier de Arts et des Lettres (France, 2015), Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite (Cameroon 2015), Promoteur de la Démocratie et de l’Etat de Droit (Togo, 2003). Hall of Fame at the Diplomatic Academy, Vienna, Austria (2007). www.mrb-networks.com mrbiloa@mrbprod.com