Weiser Diplomacy Center

Ali is a former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, with over 20 years of professional experience in national security and intelligence issues in Washington, D.C. He served in the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he also held senior positions on joint duty assignments at the National Intelligence Council, the National Counterterrorism Center, and the National Security Council.

Camara is the former Foreign Minister of Mali and the youngest person to have ever held the position in Mali’s history. She brings 15 years of experience with foreign policy and socio-political and security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Camara most recently served as Chief of Staff to the President of Mali. Camara also spent time as the Minister of Digital Economy and Planning for Mali and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Mali.

Judge-Lord is a political scientist who studies interactions among interest groups, legislators, and bureaucracies. His current work focuses on how public pressure campaigns affect agency rulemaking, especially climate and environmental justice campaigns. His other research projects address legislator behavior and capacity, money in politics, lobbying, and private governance.

Levitsky serves as senior associate of the school's International Policy Center, and senior advisor to the Weiser Diplomacy Center. During his 35-year career as a U.S. diplomat, Levitsky was ambassador to Brazil from 1994-98 and held such senior positions as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, ambassador to Bulgaria, deputy director of the Voice of America, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights.

Lin, a political scientist, studies how people experience policy implementation. Her current work examines racial and ethnic difference in the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic; bias reduction against Muslims; national security scapegoating of immigrant groups; conservatism among immigrants; and subnational labor migration policy.

Page applies her vast foreign policy experience to the Weiser Diplomacy Center. She has served the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations in senior roles for decades, across East, Central, and Southern Africa, and in Haiti and Nepal. Page was the first U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan and served as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations in Haiti.

Stephen E. Biegun is the Weiser International Policymaker in Residence with the Weiser Diplomacy Center at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He has more than three decades of international affairs experience in gove...

Ambassador Mark Pekala (BA Political Science '81) has served as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in Paris, DCM in Tallinn, Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and Senior Director for Russia...

Kseniya Yurtayeva a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan, with support from the Weiser Diplomacy Center. Her current scientific interests focus on cyberaggression as a method applied in contemporary warfare and on engaging post-truth for im...

Nayab Ali joined Ford School as an Assistant Program Manager, bringing with her extensive hands-on experience in policy and research. Prior to joining Ford, Nayab held positions at The Brookings Institution within their Governance Studies Program and...

Nana Dereme Faye is a seasoned administrative professional, specializing in human resources, event coordination, and operations management. She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Linguistics/Literature and Marketing/Communication from a reputable unive...