Dr. Ed Mabaya
Advisory MemberDr. Ed Mabaya - Advisory Member
Dr. Ed Mabaya is a scholar and a development practitioner with more than two decades of experience working on development, agribusiness value chains and food security issues with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a Research Professor in the Department of Global Development where his teaching, research and outreach work focuses on economic development in Africa. Additionally, Mabaya serves as co-Director of the Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Global Development and Director of the Humphrey Fellowship Program, a Fulbright exchange program that provides accomplished professionals from countries with emerging economies an international enrichment opportunity in leadership and public service at Cornell. He also has an appointment as Professor Extraordinary in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
From 2018 through June 2020 he was the Division Manager of Agribusiness Development at the African Development Bank where he managed continent-wide investments, partnerships and research in support of the Feed Africa strategy. Previously, he was a Senior Research Associate in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University.
Mabaya’s applied research work is anchored around food marketing and distribution, enabling environments for agribusiness, seed systems, digital agriculture, and the role of efficient agricultural markets in Africa’s economic development. He has published widely on these topics in both peer reviewed outlets and popular press media. His work has received many distinguished recognitions including for “42 African Innovators to Watch in 2016” by Ventures Africa magazine, Coca Cola Africa Diaspora Network 2013 recognition for “dedicated service and contribution towards sustainable development in Africa” and the 2006 and 2017 L.A. Potts Success Story awards for “program with model resulting in high impact on poor communities”. He is a public speaker who has presented several keynote talks including TEDx-MidAtlantic and TEDx-Johannesburg.
Mabaya earned his MSc (1998) and PhD (2003) degrees in agricultural economics at Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science (1994) from the University of Zimbabwe. He is the outgoing President of African Association of Agricultural Economists (2017-2019). Mabaya was an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow (2007) and The Aspen Institute’s New Voices Fellow (2016).
Terrie S. Wheeler
Advisory MemberTerrie S. Wheeler - Advisory Member
Terrie is the founder and CEO of Professional Services Marketing, LLC. For over 25 years, Terrie and her team of 20+ marketing professionals have delivered outsourced marketing and marketing coaching services to businesses and nonprofit organizations across the country and internationally. Having served on several nonprofit boards, Terrie is very familiar with the challenges faced by start-up nonprofits seeking to educate prospective donors on their organization’s vision and mission.
She earned a master’s degree in business from the University of St. Thomas and has spoken across the country on marketing best practices. She served for eight years as a Supreme Court appointee to the Lawyers Board of Professional Responsibility and is well-versed in the ethics of marketing.
Jada Tullos Anderson
Advisory MemberJada Tullos Anderson - Advisory Member
Jada specializes in projects integrating market-based solutions and environmental sustainability. After studying agriculture and the environment from Texas A&M and Duke University, respectively, she has worked with numerous organizations including the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, providing input on environmental risks of investments, and with Kiva, giving strategic recommendations to partners as well as performing field audits of microfinance groups in Kenya. For the past ten years she’s led research and provided recommendations for sustainable development of fishery value chains in more than a dozen fisheries in eight countries, as well as leading the development of an organizational capacity tool for financing readiness and contributed to the development of impact-oriented business models.
At the Wildlife Conservation Society, she endeavors to support colleagues in dozens of countries as they develop inclusive projects that promote livelihoods while protecting and restoring nature for future generations. In her spare time, you can find her restoring local habitats, reading, running, hiking and rowing, or cajoling friends and neighbors to join her in these endeavors.
Ahmad Maaty
Advisor MemberAhmad Maaty - Advisory Member
Ahmad Maaty currently serves as a Senior Economist with the U.S. Department of Justice, developing Federal regulations for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). He worked in a similar regulatory capacity at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including as Acting Chief Economist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He also deployed as an Inter-Governmental Affairs Specialist during FEMA emergency responses to disaster declarations in Texas and Puerto Rico.
Previously, Ahmad served as a Franklin Fellow with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources, helping craft State and USAID’s economic growth budget and strategy. He also helped introduce data tools to guide assistance as a founding member of the Country Data Analytics team, liaising with the White House National Security Council on bi-lateral investment opportunities. Ahmad first joined State ten years earlier, helping cover the Middle East portfolio before the United Nations Security Council for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
During the eight year interval in Federal service, Ahmad held roles with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Islamic Development Bank, developing economic growth, poverty reduction, and evaluation programs with fieldwork in over a dozen countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. A New York City native, he served as President of the Arab Students Association at Pace University in downtown Manhattan during the events of September 11th, 2001, and on the Board of the Muslim Students Association at the George Washington University in Washington DC. Ahmad earned his Masters in Public Administration from Cornell University, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell policy journal.
Thomas O’toole
Advisor MemberThomas O’Toole - Advisory Member
Thomas O’Toole is the Executive Director of Public Affairs Programming in the MPA Program. He teaches the MPA Program’s core course on “Issues in Public Administration,” a seminar on “Comparative Public Administration: The Case of Seoul, Korea,” and has collaborated on projects and educational programming with the White House, the United Nations Division of Public Administration and Development Management, the UN World Food Programme, and the International Food Policy Research Institute.
He is also responsible for monitoring the strategic direction of the MPA Program, as well as providing ongoing oversight to ensure the achievement of the program’s educational and professional missions. As part of his responsibilities, Professor O’Toole oversees all student professional development activities related to the graduate field of public affairs at Cornell, including maintaining institutional relationships with organizations in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors and facilitating job and internship placements for Brooks MPA students.He received his undergraduate degree at Bucknell University and master’s and Ph.D. from Cornell.
Raza Ahmad Rumi
Advisor MemberRaza Ahmad Rumi - Advisory Member
Raza Ahmad Rumi is a policy analyst, journalist, and an author. He is a Distinguished Lecturer at Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, New York. He is also part of the faculty at Brooks School of Public Policy, Cornell University. During 2015-2023, Raza taught at Ithaca College where he also served as the Director of Park Center for Independent Media. In 2016, he was visiting faculty at the Gallatin School, New York University. Raza has been a fellow at the New America Foundation and United States Institute of Peace. He is also a member of think tank at Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, Georgetown University. Before moving to the United States, he headed think tanks and nonprofits in Pakistan and worked in the broadcast media. His foray into public affairs came after working as an officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, United Nations Mission in Kosovo and Asian Development Bank.
Raza also edits The Friday Times and is the founding editor of NayaDaur Media. He is the author of four books and numerous articles.