Raquel Thompson (she/her/ella) is a deep listener and thorough problem-solving generalist who has partnered with several social justice organizations to identify their core challenges and launch new solutions. Her expertise is in culturally relevant program design, curriculum development, strategic planning, staff orientation and training, power and privilege analysis, and group facilitation. She has deployed these skills within organizations large and small, long-established and recently founded, within and outside of the U.S. Born in Panama, raised in Brooklyn, Raquel received her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, before then spending the next 15 years of her life working, living, and learning across Africa, Latin America, and Europe. She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY and is enjoying reconnecting with the community of thinkers and doers in her hometown, while also making sure to spend extended time in the mountains.

Anne Speckhard, Ph.D. is Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University in the School of Medicine. Her research focuses on developing counter-terrorism initiatives and understanding the motivations of terrorists. She is the author of: Talking to Terrorists, Bride of ISIS, Homegrown Hate and coauthor of ISIS Defectors: Inside Stories of the Terrorist Caliphate; Undercover Jihadi; and Warrior Princess. Dr. Speckhard has interviewed over 800 terrorists, their family members and supporters in various parts of the world including Syria, Iraq, Jordan, the Balkans, Central Asia, former USSR, Palestine and many countries in Europe in addition to 272 ISIS cadres and 51 white supremacists and anti-government militia members. She created the Breaking the ISIS Brand and Escape Hate counter narrative projects. In 2007, she was responsible for designing the psychological and Islamic challenge aspects of the Detainee Rehabilitation Program in Iraq to be applied to 20,000 + detainees and 800 juveniles. She is a sought-after counterterrorism expert and has consulted to NATO, OSCE, foreign governments and to the U.S. Senate & House, Departments of State, Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Health & Human Services and FBI, and appeared on CNN, BBC, NPR, Fox News, MSNBC, CTV, and in Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, London Times and many other publications.

Shan specializes in developing solutions to complex strategic, organizational and operational issues affecting global health non-profit organizations, private philanthropies, multilaterals, and US health care payer and provider systems. Through her tenures with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Recon Strategy, Results for Development Institute and now Pharos Global Health Advisors, Shan specializes in developing forward-looking strategies, resource mobilization approaches, competitive landscapes and investment cases for organizations and governments focused on nutrition, HIV, TB, and maternal and child health issues. More recently, Shan has advised developing countries and NGOs on Covid control, and published several op-eds in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and Politico on domestic Covid control and return-to-work strategies. Shan also works with her clients to improve their organizational effectiveness and leadership development. Her clients have included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi, Unitaid, the Global Fund, Partners in Health, Nutrition International, and Kirk Humanitarian. Shan holds a PhD in Experimental Medicine, and a B.Sc. in Microbiology & Immunology, both from McGill University, and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.