Musa Ali Shama is a seasoned educator that has served as superintendent, principal and digital media teacher over his 27-year career in New York City schools. In his role of Executive Vice President of Programs, Mr. Shama will spearhead VE’s organizational goals as it relates to program growth, curriculum and resource development, assessment, research and professional development. Ali began his career as a teacher at Lehman High School in the Bronx, his alma mater, where he taught fine arts and graphic design. After 12 years as a teacher, Ali took on his first role as a school administrator at Kennedy High School as assistant principal. In this capacity, he led the development of career and technical education programs in a variety of technology related fields.

Ali later took on the leadership of Francis Lewis High School in Queens, one of the city’s largest and most successful schools. After leaving the principalship he became the DOE’s director of principal evaluation, overseeing the citywide principal evaluation process, both evaluating principals directly and providing professional development to superintendents before serving as deputy superintendent for high schools. He most recently served as the Superintendent of New Visions Charter High Schools where he led the network through significant changes that resulted in highest student outcomes in regards to graduation and college readiness rates in the network’s history.

He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from CUNY-Lehman College, a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from Queens College, City of New York and a bachelor’s degree in art education from C.W. Post College / Long Island University.

Bio:

My objective: Make education the most innovative sector in the world. I develop and lead a variety of initiatives designed to transform student capabilities, improve school design systems, and build a sustainable culture of innovation. I’m passionate about helping individuals unlock their creativity, and channel this creativity into innovations that delight the world.

Bio:

Julia Daher is Head of Design for LATAM at Intuit, a Silicon Valley multinational.

Julia was born in São Paulo, Brazil – Graduated at PUC-SP in Social Communication and has a postgraduate degree from Humber College for Digital Design, in Canada.

She worked for 7 years in Canada and Costa Rica as a Digital Designer, where she had her first interaction with Design Thinking to solve complex customer problems and develop digital products. In 2011 she returned to Brazil to work in companies such as Valor Econômico, Designit, Intel and the startup Avante, where she was responsible for creating the UX area from scratch with a strong customer-centric culture.

For almost 4 years at Intuit, she has led the Design LATAM teams using CDI/D4D, directing business strategy with a customer-centric mindset.

Bio:

Savannah is a design researcher that focuses on the DIY TurboTax product. She spends a majority of her time talking with customers to understand their needs and determine potential opportunities to improve their tax filing experience. Savannah graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Anthropology and Geography and currently resides in San Diego, CA. Outside of work she enjoys the San Diego sunshine, working out, and spending time with her family and two dachshunds.

Bio:

Michael is a Vice President on BNP Paribas’ Sustainable Finance Capital Markets team where he helps financial, corporate, sovereign and supranational issuers raise sustainable capital. Over his career, Michael has helped raise over $135 billion in debt, including $22 billion in the sustainable finance capital markets. At BNP Paribas Michael has led a number of impactful transactions including the Republic of Chile’s inaugural $2.0 billion Sustainability-Linked Bond and the Republic of Peru’s $3.25 billion inaugural Sustainable and Social Bond transactions. 

Prior to BNP Paribas, Michael was a member of the Credit Agricole’s Latin America debt capital markets team where he developed an expertise in sustainable debt by helping expand the product throughout the region. Michael started his career consulting at Deloitte before graduating from Columbia with a dual masters degree in journalism and international affairs. Michael has led a number of impactful sustainability transactions throughout his career including the Republic of Chile’s inaugural Green, Social and Sustainable Bond transactions, United Mexican States’ Inaugural SDG Bond, and Suzano’s inaugural sustainability-linked bond. Michael double majored in Economics and Spanish at Lafayette College, speaks Spanish and holds dual citizenship with Italy.

Bio:

Present

Katerina is a climate and sustainability professional with eight years of experience. Currently she is the Head of Sustainability at BNP Paribas Brazil, where she is responsible for implementing the Bank’s leading CSR policies and driving the growth of sustainable finance. Over the past eight years, Katerina has amassed experience across climate finance, deforestation, and climate adaptation, working to design and implement transformative climate strategies.

Previous

Katerina worked for the UK Government’s International Climate Finance programme from 2018-2020, where she designed a climate finance strategy focused on forests and sustainable land use in Brazil. Prior to that, Katerina worked at the World Resources Institute (WRI), where she helped set up the Brazilian office, and launched and ran WRI Brasil’s climate adaptation programme.

Education

Katerina completed her Masters with Distinction in Environmental Technology at Imperial College London and has a Bachelor of Science in International Business and French from the University of Warwick Business School.