2019 Ignite Talks

2019 Plenary Sessions

• Call to Order by Marie Royce (Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs)
• U.S. Government Welcome from Secretary Ben Carson (Secretary of Housing and Urban Development)
• Congressional Welcome from Dr. Roger Marshall (Congressman for Kansas’s First District)
• Keynote Address from Kay Coles James (President, The Heritage Foundation)
• Advancing Trade and Investments to Increase Prosperity in the United States and Africa panel featuring Rosa Whitaker (CEO, The Whitaker Group), Jack Leslie (Chairman, Weber Shandwick and Board Chair of U.S. African Development Foundation), Laura Lane (President of Global Public Affairs, UPS), Lisa Schroeter (Global Director, Trade and Investment Policy, Dow), and 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow Vital Sounouvou, 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow 
• Message from Senator Chris Coons (U.S. Senator, Delaware)
• Leadership Impact Award Presentation featuring Annette Whatley (Fellowship Director, University of Texas at Austin), Angela Woods (Program Officer, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State), and Leadership Impact Award winner 2014 Fellow Adepeju Jaiyeoba of Nigeria
• Alumni Closing Session featuring Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX.