Key global workplace competencies covered at dynamic AFS/British Council forum in Ghana

Kwesi Yankah is the Minister of State for Tertiary Education in Ghana. Former Vice Chancellor of Central University in Ghana, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at Ghana’s premier University, University of Ghana. Prof. Yankah is also Associate Director of the African Humanities Program of the American Council of Learned Societies. Educated at the University of Ghana and with a doctoral degree from, Prof. Yankah has also been a visiting professor at Universities in UK and USA. Dr Yankah is a notable public intellectual and a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Vishaka N. Desai currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of AFS Intercultural Programs. She is Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University and Senior Research Scholar at its School of International and Public Affairs, where she focuses on innovative approaches to understanding the relationship between culture and foreign policy in Asia. From 1990 through 2012, she served in various capacities at the Asia Society, ranging from being Director of its museum to being the President and CEO of the organization from 2004.

Daniel Dotse is the CEO of Teach For Ghana, a leadership development and network organization building a movement of solution-driven leaders to expand educational opportunity to all children in Ghana. With Teach For Ghana, Daniel hopes to help build a country where every child has access to an excellent education. Daniel previously worked as a biotechnologist at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. He received his graduate degree from Cornell University.

Christabel Dadzie is Social Protection Specialist at World Bank Group and the founder of Ahaspora Young Professionals. Christabel is a self-motivated economic development professional with more than ten years experience working in education, gender, microfinance, agriculture, trade, and human rights, knowledgeable in policy research analysis and reporting, and capacity development. She holds a Masters Degree from Columbia University’s School of International Affairs.

Millicent Adjei is Associate Director of Diversity and International Programs at Ashesi University. She has over twelve years experience as an international educator with expertise in higher education internationalization and intercultural training. Millicent is passionate about creating opportunities for college students and organizations to develop and apply intercultural competencies as critical catalysts in addressing various challenges.

Alan Rutt is the new Director of British Council Ghana. He first joined the British Council in 1997 and has worked in 9 countries across 3 continents since then. His most recent posts include running British Council operations in Bahrain and Mozambique where he was responsible for large English language teaching centres and led cultural and educational programmes to engage the next generation in arts, education, science and sports. With a background in business, finance and language teaching, he specialises in education partnership development.

Daniel Obst is President & CEO of AFS Intercultural Programs, a global network of 60 member organizations with nearly 50,000 volunteers and programs in 99 countries. Before joining AFS in 2016, Daniel served as Deputy Vice President for International Partnerships at the Institute of International Education (IIE) where he provided strategic leadership for many groundbreaking IIE initiatives. Daniel currently serves on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

Melissa Liles is the Chief Education Officer at AFS Intercultural Programs. In addition to heading up Intercultural Learning in AFS, Melissa has extensive marketing experience: She previously worked on Madison Avenue for Tribal DDB and other communications agencies directing  accounts for Fortune 500 consumer brands including Pepsi and Procter & Gamble. She was also a founding member of a boutique digital marketing consulting firm in 1999.

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