Dr. Esi E. Ansah
Dr. Esi E. Ansah is the founding partner and CEO of Axis Human Capital Ltd. She serves as the key Corporate Trainer for Axis clients, and uses Axis as a platform to provide mentoring, career and life coaching to students and working professionals as well as retirees. Esi is a licensed Insights Discovery practitioner who uses the Insights Discovery (personality profile) system in performance, and leadership coaching. Esi is active in her community, and founded the Association of Ghana’s Elders (AGE), to address the needs of senior citizens in Ghana. She serves on the Board of the Association for Research in Civil Society in Africa (AROCSA) and also on the Board of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). As a civic activist, she is part of the CitizenGhana Movement. Esi is also active in her church (Legon Interdenominational Church (LIC)). Esi is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Africa Leadership Initiative - West Africa (ALIWA), and was in July 2015 appointed as a member of the West Africa Board. She is also a Vital Voices 2015/2016 Fellow and a public speaker on multiple platforms. She was honored by the New York-based The Network Journal (TNJ) as one of the journal’s “Forty under Forty” African Achievers in 2010.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a Master of Science degree in Public Service Management from DePaul University in Chicago. She holds a PhD in Public Administration from Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Dr. Samuel K. Bonsu
Dr. Samuel (Sammy) K. Bonsu is a current Professor and former Dean of the Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration (GIMPA) Business School. Sammy has taught marketing and consumer behavior at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels at various universities around the world including L’Université Lille 2 Droit et Santé, Lille, France; Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland. Born in Ghana, his interests in markets, culture and socio-economic development parlayed into a career that has been supported mainly by the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada and the Social Science & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada. He is a past President of the International Society for Markets and Development (ISMD), a society that brings together scholars and practitioners of development. He has been a member of Association for Consumer Research, International Association for African Business & Development and American Marketing Association.
Christabel E. Dadzie
Christabel E. Dadzie is an international development specialist with over fourteen years’ experience working on economic development in Africa, Latin America and South Asia leading projects in education, gender, agriculture, trade, social protection and youth employment with various international development organizations including United Nations entities and for the USAID. Currently, she works with the World Bank as a Social Protection Specialist, managing the Ghana portfolio to promote social inclusion and end extreme poverty. Additionally, she supported the Social Protection and jobs portfolio in Liberia, where she led the development and implementation of an adolescent girls’ program to revive businesses of young women whose business were shut down as a result of the Ebola Virus Disease crisis. Upon returning to Ghana from the US in 2010, she identified the need to promote Brain Gain among young Ghanaians by supporting the returnee transition. She therefore founded Ahaspora Young Professionals, an organization which supports Ghanaian professionals who have lived or studied abroad and return home to make a difference. Christabel is on the Management team of the Moremi Young African Women Leadership Initiative and a member of the Women’s Advisory Board of The College of Wooster in Ohio, where she earned a Bachelors’ Degree in International Relations. She also has a Masters’ Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.
Abigail Burgesson
Abigail Burgesson is an Independent Development Practitioner and Philanthropy Adviser. She brings over 25 years of experience as an International Development Practitioner and Women’s Rights Advocate. She has worked extensively within the non-profit sector in Ghana with organizations across Africa and internationally.
Her broad background includes working with the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) for 21 years in different capacities, first as a consultant and later as a staff member at the Senior Management level. In these roles, she influenced and managed philanthropic and advocacy partnerships and networks while nurturing strategic relationships leading to the growth of resources to support women's rights work across Africa and the Middle East. During this time, Abigail was part of the two-team organizational leads for the Equality Fund partnership that drove the winning bid for a competitive tender process in 2019 run by Global Affairs Canada to administer a CA $300 million fund. Abigail now leverages her extensive experience for her Consultancy - Fern Resource Alternatives (Fern Consult), to support leaders and organizations at all levels and sectors.
Abigail holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Ghana, obtained an MA in International Relations from Boston University’s European Program in the UK, and completed training in International Negotiations from the Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Michelle Gavin (US Representative)
Michelle Gavin was the Managing Director of The Africa Center. From 2011 to 2014, Ms. Gavin served as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Botswana and the U.S. Representative to the Southern Africa Development Community. Prior to that, she served as Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for Africa on the National Security Council. Before joining the Obama Administration, she was an Adjunct Fellow for Africa and an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Gavin has also served as legislative director to U.S. Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), spent six years serving as the primary foreign policy adviser to Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), and has served as the staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on African Affairs. She earned a Masters of Philosophy in International Relations from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar; and a Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Prince Acquaye
Prince A. Acquaye is the Managing Partner at Corporate and Allied Attorneys. He specializes in corporate governance, intellectual property, immigration, general corporate commercial, and M&A.
He has acted for clients across a variety of industries including shipping, banking, insurance, health, food, telecommunications, transportation, oil and gas, and insurance.
Prince has acted on various matters for clients such as Yango, Google, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Coca – Cola Bottling Company of Ghana Limited, Coca – Cola Equatorial, American Tower Coporation Ghana, Goldkey Properties, Emirates Airlines, Chase Petroleum, Mastercard, USAID, Toyota Ghana, and Zen Petroleum among others.
Prior to founding Corporate & Allied Attorneys, he was an international associate at ENSafrica. Prince has a BSc. in Management Information Systems from Ashesi University, an LLB from Central University, Barrister – at – Law certificates from the Nigerian Law School and a Qualifying Certificate from the Ghana School of Law.