Ryan Berger MIA ’15 Takes Part in Emerging Leaders program

Ryan Berger MIA ’15 represented SIPA at last month’s Atlantic Dialogues conference in Marrakech, Morocco, from October 24 to 26, where he also took part in the Emerging Leaders program from October 22 to 24.

The annual sessions are co-hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Morocco-based OCP Policy Center. For the Emerging Leaders Program component, the organizers bring together several dozen leaders under the age of 35 from around the Atlantic Basin. The diverse group of North Americans, Latin Americans, Europeans, and Africans then discuss forward-looking and cross-regional policy challenges, get to know each other through networking sessions and informal events, and undergo leadership-development training. This year, the cohort included civil servants, diplomats, entrepreneurs, graduate students, policy advisors, and government-affairs professionals.

Following the two-day program, the emerging leaders are invited to participate in the Atlantic Dialogues as full members of the conference among senior, high-level leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors across the transatlantic community.

As a concentrator in International Security Policy with specializations in Latin American Studies and African Studies and wide-ranging work experience in the Latin America policy space, Berger lauded the appeal of the program and the “cluster of macro issues” discussed.

“What I admire about the Emerging Leaders Program is that it gives young people a seat at the table,” Berger said. “The program and the subsequent conference are ideal opportunities to meet a diverse vanguard of leading thinkers and actors—both senior and future—from across different regions and learn their perspectives to addressing transatlantic and global challenges. I’m grateful to have participated in the program this year and I recommend it unreservedly.”