Forum Agenda and Participant Biographies - Brookings Institution

Previously, Johnson served as Vice President and Director
of International Government Affairs at Citigroup
from 1996-2007. He also served as Deputy Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury for International Development,
Debt, and Environment Policy in the Clinton
Administration. In that role, he advised Secretary of the
Treasury Robert E. Rubin and Under Secretary for International
Affairs Lawrence Summers on economic, financial,
and environmental issues, and directed United
States participation in the World Bank, the Paris Club,
and other international financial institutions.
Nasser Judeh
JORdan
Nasser Judeh is Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Jordan. Previously, he
served as the Minister of State for
media affairs and communication
from November 2007 to February
2009, and also served as the official
spokesman of the government of Jordan from November
2005 to November 2007. He was the Director
General of Jordan Radio and Television Corporation,
the national broadcaster of Jordan, and a media advisor
to Royal Jordanian Airlines. Judeh served as Chairman
of the Board of Information and Communication
Expertise, an SME specializing in communication and
information technology. During that period he also
served on the boards of a number of companies. He
has been the recipient of numerous honors, including
the Grand Cordon of Al Kawkab (Jordan); the Grand
Cordon of Al-Istiklal (Jordan); the Commander of the
Order of Al-Istiklal (Jordan); the Order of the Officer
of the French Legion of Honor (France); and the
Grand Officer of Orange (Netherlands). He graduated
with a B.Sc. in Foreign Service from the School of Foreign
Service at Georgetown University.
palwasha l. Kakar
aFGhanIStan
Palwasha L. Kakar leads the Women’s Rights in Islam
Programs at the Asia Foundation. Prior to joining the
Foundation, she led the Gender Mainstreaming and
Civil Society Unit in UNDP’s Afghanistan Sub National
Governance Program. She also worked to establish
the Gender Studies Institute within Kabul University.
She has experience monitoring World Bank
projects on gender, social justice, and environmental
issues, and researching women’s participation in the
2011 U.S.-ISLAMIC WORLD FORUM
Y e A R OF ChAnge
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Community Development Councils of Afghanistan.
She has a master’s degree focusing on gender, politics
and religion from Harvard University. She has published
research on Afghan customary law, Afghan
women’s identity, and social spaces in Afghanistan, as
well as female prophets and saints in Islam.
Taher h. Kanaan
QataR
Taher H. Kanaan is a Professor at the Arab Center for
Research and Policy Dialogue in Doha. His recent research
includes papers on higher education, economic
development, and democracy in Arab countries. He
has held senior executive positions at the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNC-
TAD) and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social
Development. In Jordan, he served as Director General
of the Industrial Development Bank, a member of
the Board of Higher Education, Minister of Planning,
and Deputy Prime Minister for Development. Taher
Kanaan is a member of the boards of trustees of the
Economic Research Forum, the Institute of Palestine
Studies, and the Arab Anti-Corruption Organization.
He earned his B.A. in Economics from the American
University of Beirut and his Ph.D. in Economics from
Cambridge University.
Mehrangiz Kar
IRan
Mehrangiz Kar is a Research Fellow
at the Belfer Center at Harvard
University. She is a writer, attorney,
and activist specializing in women’s
rights and family law. She is the
recipient of several human rights
awards, including the National Endowment for Democracy’s
Democracy Award, Ludovic-Trarieux International
Human Rights Prize, and the Human Rights
First Award, and sits on the board of a number of international
organizations such as Human Rights Watch’s
Advisory Committee on the Middle East. Kar received
her B.A. in Law and Political Science from Tehran University
and has been a visiting scholar and fellow at several
universities including Harvard University, Wellesley
College’s Newhouse Center for the Humanities, the
Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, and
the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town.