Board of Directors
Peter McKillop
President
Peter McKillop is Founder and Editor of Climate+Capital Media, a news and community forum focused on global warming and the role of capital in building and investing in environmentally sustainable businesses. Prior to founding Climate+Capital, McKillop led communications for BlackRock’s iShares ETF business. McKillop has held similar global leadership roles at JP Morgan, UBS, KKR and Bank of America.
An award journalist, Mr, McKillop was a senior correspondent and bureau chief for Newsweek in New York, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
Mr. McKillop is a board member of the Africa-America Institute and a trustee at Eaglebrook School, in Deerfield, MA. Mr. Mckillop received his bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University where he majored in African Studies.
Anne Bennett
Treasurer
Anne Bennett is an international development expert with extensive experience in creating and managing complex radio and journalism projects and communications strategies in challenging post-war and development contexts: Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Algeria, and North East India. Prior to founding HUSA, Bennett managed operations for Fondation Hirondelle is Sierra Leone, Sudan, and South Sudan. She is recognized for successfully engaging effective multi-year support from international donors as well as partner organizations. She has a BA from University of California at Berkeley and an MA from the Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva.
Mulan Ashwin
Secretary
Mulan Ashwin is an Australian and US trained lawyer. She has worked in a Washington DC law firm, a NY corporate law firm and then as a lawyer in the Legal Department of the United Nations. She has also worked with several not for profit organizations and has served as an electoral observer for the UN in Mozambique. She currently devotes time to the International Rescue Committee in New York, assisting resettled refugees integration into US society. Ashwin graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws, Cornell University Law School with a Master of Laws and Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs with a Master in International Affairs.
Philip Bennett
Philip Bennett is the Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University and the Patterson Professor of Public Policy and Journalism. Between 2005-2009 he was the managing editor of The Washington Post, and has been an editor of international and national security coverage, a local news reporter and a foreign correspondent. Since leaving the Post newsroom, Bennett has worked on new media projects for The Washington Post Co. and served as managing editor of the television series FRONTLINE on PBS. He joined the Duke University faculty in July 2009. He is teaching about journalism ethics and national security secrecy, the news media and Islam, and subjects relating to the future of journalism. Bennett graduated from Harvard College in 1981 with a BA in history.
Michael Schoenfeld
Michael Schoenfeld is Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations at Duke University, where he leads external affairs and advocacy for the university and medical center, directs Duke’s Washington, DC, center, and serves as the principal spokesperson. He also teaches a seminar on media, politics, and policy at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy. A veteran communications and public affairs executive, Schoenfeld was previously vice chancellor for public affairs at Vanderbilt University from 1997-2008. His media experience includes service as senior vice president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, director of program development at USIA-Worldnet TV, and executive assistant to the director of the Voice of America (VOA). He started his career as a reporter and newscaster for VOA, where he also served as Congressional liaison officer. A 1984 Duke graduate, Schoenfeld earned a master’s degree in public policy from Stony Brook University.
Elan Blutinger
Elan Blutinger has been a managing director of Alpine Consolidated, LLC, a merchant bank specializing in consolidating fragmented industries, since 1996. He serves as the Chairman and CEO of Washington, DC-based, AudioNow, the largest call-to-listen mobile broadcasting technology company in the industry, and Park-City Utah-based Vacationroost, an online lodging technology company. Mr. Blutinger has served as the chair of the board of trustees of the Washington International School in Washington, D.C. He holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from American University and an M.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently the Vice-Chairman of Our Time.Org, a bipartisan youth advocacy group and leads the organization’s efforts to develop a for-profit operating unit.
James Brenner
James Brenner is the founder and CEO founder and CEO of Broad Cove, an investment and project management firm that serves as a bridge between international capital sources and high-potential, housing-related initiatives in frontier markets. He worked as a senior advisor to John F. Kerry when he served in the US Senate, responsible for shaping legislation in international trade, banking, and taxation. Mr. Brenner holds degrees from Wesleyan University, where he built his first solar-house, and Harvard University’s JFK School of Government.
Adi Ignatius
Adi Ignatius is Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Business Review Group. Under his editorial leadership, Harvard Business Review has undergone a dramatic transformation, and its audience has increased several-fold.
Prior to joining Harvard Business Review in 2009, Ignatius was the No. 2 editor at Time, responsible for overseeing the magazine’s international and business coverage.
Ignatius is the editor of two books: President Obama: The Path to the White House and Prisoner of the State: The Secret Diaries of Premier Zhao Ziyang.
Ignatius lived and worked for 20 years overseas. He was Editor of Time’s Asian edition and earlier served as Beijing Bureau Chief and Moscow Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal.
Raluca Barbulescu
Raluca Barbulescu has spent the better part of her professional life in journalism and technology, working with leading technology ventures in the US and Europe. She currently serves as Director of Client Services at [e-spres-oh], providing strategic marketing expertise and project planning.
Prior to [e-spres-oh], Raluca served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Institute for Education, a DC-based mission-driven organization, harnessing the power of data, innovation, and soft diplomacy. Raluca is the founder of a publication focused on the intersection of education, innovation, and diplomacy. In her role as the Editor-in-Chief of IFE Magazine, she has interviewed ambassadors, Nobel Prize winners, key tech innovators in the nation's capital, and history-makers, such as one of the co-fathers of the Internet.
Previously, Raluca served as a Washington DC news correspondent, reporting for an international press agency. In her investigative journalism years, as a TV news reporter in Romania, Raluca covered topics related to crime and corruption in Eastern Europe. Raluca was delegated to cover Europe's refugee and migrant crisis in 2016 and the impact of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks on Romania.