Robert Massie
Robert Kinloch “Bob” Massie IV was born in 1956 to historians Robert K. Massie and Suzanne Massie. Bob Massie is an activist, clergyman, policymaker, and author. He has spent his life confronting the systemic injustices of the world. Through his strong sense of hope and vision of how the world could be he has continuously worked to create change through human connection and political, economic, and environmental action.
Bob has made a significant impact in the fields of sustainability, climate change, finance, and corporate accountability and has led several influential organizations. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the field of finance in 2002 by CFO magazine.
He was born with factor VIII hemophilia and at age 12 his family moved to France for better and more accessible health care. While in France Massie regained the ability to walk. This experience helped form his political views on national health insurance in the US and made him a lifelong advocate.
Massie graduated high school a year early and took a gap year during which he interned for Senator Henry M Jackson on the Senate Investigations Subcommittee. Massie wrote an informative and imperative report warning of the dangers regarding blood supply contamination by viruses like hepatitis A and B.
Massie attended Princeton University from 1974 through 1978. During his time there he was a part of the student movement campaigning for Princeton’s disinvestment from South Africa, as well as pushing for equal access to the university’s dining clubs for women.
After graduating from Princeton with a degree in history, Massie attended Yale Divinity School graduating with a Master of Divinity in 1982. He became interested in the role business plays in American society while working for Ralph Nader at Congress Watch during a year off. Massie then attended Harvard Business School, graduating in 1989 with a Doctor of Business Administration.
Massie was ordained as an Episcopal priest and founded a homeless shelter while serving as chaplain at the Grace Episcopal Church in New York City. He lectured at Harvard Divinity School from 1989 to 1996 and acted as Director of the Project on Business Values and the Economy. Massie received a Senior Fulbright Research Award in 1993 with which he was able to teach at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He published his book Loosing the Bonds: The United States and South Africa In the Apartheid Years in 1997, winning the Lionel Gelber Prize for Best Book on International Relations the following year.
In 1994 Massie was inspired by his knowledge of the urgency of climate change to run for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and was nominated as the democratic candidate.
Massie was the executive director of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (Ceres) from 1996 to 2003. While president, he increased the organization's size and revenue greatly and founded the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which became a permanent independent organization. Massie proposed and spearheaded the establishment of the Investor Network on Climate Risk and the Institutional Investor Summit on Climate Risk, which is now a gathering held every two years at United Nations headquarters, bringing together state treasurers, foundation presidents, asset owners and managers, pension trustees, and financial leaders.
The GRI was funded by the UN, MacArthur, and Ford Foundations in 1997 and in conjunction with the UN Environment Program along with other groups instituted international disclosure standards for large companies and organizations on their environmental, social, and human rights records. The GRI’s guidelines are now being used by over 2,000 corporations across the globe.
In 2009 Massie received the Joan Bavaria Innovation and Impact Awards for Building Sustainability in Capital Markets and in 2010 the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) at Tufts University awarded him the Damyanova Prize for Corporate Social Responsibility.
In 2012, Massie’s autobiography, titled A Song in the Night: A Memoir of Resilience, was published. The same year, he became president of the New Economy Coalition (NEC), an organization committed to transitioning our economic system from capitalism to a solidarity economy through a member-based network. The NEC’s members include grassroots community organizations, sectoral associations, nonprofits, and mission-driven businesses. Massie was the executive director of the Sustainable Solutions Lab at UMass Boston from 2015 through 2017.
In 2017 Massie ran in the Democratic primary for Massachusetts Governor, focusing on workers’ rights, economic equality, and climate change initiatives. He also stated his commitment to acting on racial, economic, and gender justice (including trans rights and safety).
I have had the privilege of knowing Bob for several decades. There are few people in my circle with his imagination and passion, or who are as knowledgeable or accomplished in as many fields.
In 2010 I created my Institute's Bory Damyanova Prize for Corporate Social Responsibility. in honor of a treasured student. I wanted it to be a mark of integrity and public service. I awarded my inaugural award to Bob.
More links to Bob’s work below:
Harvard Business School article https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=2642
Yale divinity bio https://divinity.yale.edu/alumni/alumni-awards/award-recipients/robert-k-massie-jr-82-mdiv
Interview about HIV: https://www.ajmc.com/view/dr-robert-massie-world-class-research-is-transforming-our-understanding-of-hiv-suppression
https://brainworldmagazine.com/working-for-change-an-interview-with-bob-massie/2/
https://www.progressivemass.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2018_Gov_Bob-Massie.pdf
Photoville partnership with the United Nations - UNFPA UPROOTED: RESILIENCE AMIDST CRISIS
Sam Barzilay, a wonderful IGL alum and Photoville Co-founder, recently became a Convisero mentor and is heading up initiatives with many collaborations, some of whom are other mentors!
From Photoville’s Newsletter below is one such example of a collaboration with the United Nations:
UNFPA UPROOTED: RESILIENCE AMIDST CRISIS
UN Headquarters, Visitors’ Lobby, Gallery B | 46th Street & 1st Avenue
On view until February 7, 2025
In our continued partnership with the United Nations, we are deeply honored to announce the opening of, “Uprooted: Resilience Amidst Crisis” presented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in curatorial partnership with Photoville on view at the UN Headquarters in NYC.
In honor of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, “Uprooted: Resilience Amidst Crisis” shines a light on the impact of violence against women, including sexual violence. The exhibition showcases the stories of survivors, the strength of affected communities to thrive and flourish, and the ongoing fight for justice and healing.
Through a vast collection of art, multimedia presentations, and personal stories, including photos depicting the range of places where violence against women and girls occurs, this exhibition provides a platform for survivors to share their experiences and for us to connect with this urgent issue. These images serve as a stark reminder that no space, online or offline, is immune or safe, as this violence is so pervasive.
“Uprooted: Resilience Amidst Crisis” invites us on a journey of education, reflection, and action. Together, we can amplify the voices of survivors, demand change, and work towards a world free from sexual violence and conflict.
Featured artists: Cyan Haribhai - South Africa | Mbuto Carlos Machili - Mozambique | Ana-Marija Tomić - Bosnia and Herzegovina | Simone Harris - Jamaica | Faizati - Malaysia | Students from colleges of fine arts in Damascus, Syria: Tayma Alim Lamia Saida, Sarah Kherbek, Sidra Dassouki, Kenan Abaza, Nagham Hasan, Naya Alkhoury, Kenan Alkowatli, Hazar Mohammed, Rama Younes | Armin Smailović - Bosnia and Herzegovina | Wendy Desert - Haiti | Samira - Egypt | Mihail Calarașan - Republic of Moldova | Gonzalo Bell - El Salvador | Diana Echenique - Brazil | Rawia Elkekli - Libya | NVISION LLP - Belize
Source! 10th Year Anniversary edition of the Centre for Investigative Journalism Logan Symposium
The Centre for Investigative Journalism present Source! the 10 year anniversary edition of the CIJ Logan Symposium.
Investigative journalism is in flux. Journalists need sources, but in the digital age those sources make contact in different ways, and sometimes don’t want to talk to journalists at all. What’s the best way to protect sources when reporting is often done remotely, when our sources are under threat and when keeping our sources safe can sometimes be a matter of life and death? Should we trust technology to keep us safe, or stay close to traditional journalist tradecraft and trust only our wits?
Led by investigative journalists, the newest edition of the biennial CIJ Logan Symposium, Source! brings together some of the most courageous and innovative new investigative reporters and outlets in the world to forge alliances against official censorship, surveillance and deceit – and to talk candidly about the landscape for the profession and its future prospects.
This time the CIJ partners with Freedom of the Press Foundation in New York, Disclose in Paris, Reporters United in Athens, The Public Source in Beirut and Declassified in London to bring you talks and presentations that tackle the most pressing issues facing us all – how best to protect sources and whistleblowers, to deal with government harassment and gagging orders and to make the most of exciting new investigative tools and methods.
Independent Journalism Awareness Raising: Spotlighting people and communities on the ground
+972 Magazine is an independent, online, nonprofit magazine operated by both Palestinian and Israeli journalists. Founded in 2010, their mission is to provide in-depth reporting, analysis, and opinions from the field in Israel-Palestine. The name of the site is derived from the telephone country code that can be used to dial throughout Israel-Palestine.
+972 Executive Director Haggai Matar with Geoffrey Lewis, Co-chair of the U.S. Advisory Board of the Abraham Initiatives pictured above.
The magazine’s core values are a commitment to equity, justice, and freedom of information. +972 believes in accurate and fair journalism that spotlights the people and communities working to oppose occupation and apartheid as well as showcasing perspectives often overlooked or marginalized in mainstream narratives.
+972 Magazine does not represent any outside organization, political party, or agenda. They publish a wide variety of views that do not necessarily represent the opinions of the +972 editorial team.
Johns Hopkins University first-ever Fencing newsletter! Winter 2024
I captained the 1963-64 Hopkins Mid-Atlantic and Mason-Dixon championship team and have been asked back by the Johns Hopkins fund to mentor current students by the HOPKINS CONNECT’s mentoring program of their Integral Learning and Life Design initiative. I particularly mentor Hopkins fencers.
Johns Hopkins is in the midst of another exciting season where women rank #4 (DIII) team holding a 6-3 record most recently beating #5 Tufts. The men are tanked #2 (DIII) and #14 overall having started with a 12-2 record. Twenty-two Hopkins fencers competed at the U.S. Fencing NAC in Atlantic City.
The Abraham Initiatives in the New York Times article "Why the Campus Protests Are So Troubling"
From the newsletter:
In May of this year, New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman encouraged his readers to make a difference – not just a point. He named The Abraham Initiatives as a crucial organization to support during the emergency period, when what matters most is real, on-the-ground impact.
In other words, supporting The Abraham Initiatives is not just a way to express your values; it makes a shared future possible.“What Palestinians and Israelis need most now are not performative gestures of disinvestment, but real gestures of impactful investment…Invest in groups that promote
Arab-Jewish understanding, like the Abraham Initiatives.”
- Thomas Friedman, nytimes.com
The impact of investing in shared society has never been more evident. Throughout the past year, we have implemented new measures to prevent intercommunal violence in the mixed cities, begun developing a program to improve Jewish-Arab relations in workplaces, and advocated for the full implementation of laws directing resources to Palestinian citizens.
Combatants for Peace Event Recording: Another Way Forward -Co-Creating Amid Catastrophe
This conversation emphasized the vital role of solidarity in times of crisis. Our speakers reflected on the complexities of human agency, the need to move beyond simplistic binaries, and the importance of building coalitions, repairing ruptured relationships, and recognizing the humanity in all people.
Each speaker shared a personal mantra for navigating these painful times and entering 2025 with strength. Mehra offered, "Two truths in one heart," emphasizing the balance of acknowledging diverse realities while fostering unity. Souli shared wisdom from an Arabic scholar: "Two thousand steps to turn an enemy into a friend, not one step to turn a friend into an enemy," highlighting the steadfastness and trust needed to build lasting peace. Avner shared, "Whatever there is that you don't want to be done to yourself, don't do it to others," reminding us to ground political actions in compassion and respect. Let's hold fast to these mantras as we step into the new year.
Human Rights Foundation steps up to help Ukraine
Reposted from HRF’s newsletter!
As we approach the third anniversary of the brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is ramping up his attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure. Hospitals, kindergartens, apartment blocks, electric grids, and power plants come under daily attacks, taking the lives of innocent civilians. Putin’s bombardments are meant to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and undermine Ukraine’s resolve to fight for its sovereignty and freedom. By attacking these targets, Putin seeks to deprive Ukrainians of access to essential things necessary for survival, such as heat, and force them into submission.
As we enter the winter season, HRF is stepping up to help Ukraine overcome the harsh realities of winter. We are launching a campaign to raise money for generators to make sure as many people in Ukraine as possible have access to energy, the Internet, and heat. Winters in the country can be particularly cold, with temperatures going as low as -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit). For many, a generator can be the difference between life and death.
We hope you will consider donating to our new fundraiser, Power Ukraine. Together with our partners on the ground, HRF will purchase and deliver generators to at-risk communities in Ukraine. We will target regions located near the frontlines, which experience frequent shelling, airstrikes, and prolonged power outages.
Watch HRF’s video to learn why generators are important and how they keep Ukrainians warm and safe amid relentless missile strikes.
Together, we can help local residents there and alleviate the hardships they go through. Every donation counts, and will go a long way in saving Ukrainian lives.
Brandon Silver, RWCHR Director of Policy and Projects, recipient of 2024 Outstanding Human Rights Lawyer Global Magnitsky Award
Brandon Silver, RWCHR Director of Policy and Projects, Convisero mentor, and newest recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Human Rights Lawyer Global Magnitsky Award, in conversation with Bill Browder, head of the Global Magnitsky Campaign, and Kate Gerbeau at Frontline about the urgency of ramping up the use of global sanctions and the challenges ahead in a second Trump era.
Another Way Forward: Co-Creating Amid Catastrophe
Another Way Forward: Co-Creating Amid Catastrophe
Join Combatants for Peace (CfP) co-founders Souli Khatib and Avner Wishnitzer, alongside Mehra Rimer, founder of B8 of Hope, for an urgent conversation about steadfastness, nonviolent resistance, and the struggle for a just peace. Moderated by Tiffany Goodwin-Van Camp, Executive Director of American Friends of CfP, this event will explore how solidarity and collective action connect the struggle for liberation in Israel and Palestine with movements for justice worldwide.
📅 Date: December 17, 2024
🕒 Time: 1:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM Jerusalem Time
📍 Location: Online (Zoom link provided upon registration)
David Mou
Since graduating Tufts and completing my two internships at the Department of Defense in the Acquisitions, Technology, and Logistics Department, I went to law school at Fordham Law, where I interned for the Neighborhood Defenders Service in Harlem, Queens County District Attorney's Office, the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, and interned for Judge Charles Troia, when he was a City Court Judge and Judge Robert Patterson of the Southern District of New York. Upon graduation, I began working for the New York City Law Department, Labor and Employment Law Division where I tried two federal jury trials. I went to work at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, before going in-house at an aerospace lighting company and commercial auto startup. For the past two years, I have been building up my own law practice Mou Legal PLLC where I focus on client-centered representation in employment law, civil rights, general litigation, and federal criminal defense matters. For the past 10 years, I have served as an Adjunct Professor in Trial Advocacy at Fordham Law, which also prompted my wife to encourage me to start my practice and get back in the Courtroom on behalf of those in need.
All that is to say my journey from Tufts where I was involved in EPIIC '07 Global Crises, NIMEP (Fact-finding Missions- Syria, Israel), ALLIES, Tiufts Energy Forum, and Synaptic Scholars instilled a strong sense of mission in the service of others. Ambassador William Luers wrote one of my law school recommendation letters based on his class Talking with the Enemy. Indeed, the spirit of global citizenship is alive and well as my wife and I decided to forgo a traditional wedding and instead invited are friends abroad for a global dinner series. I proposed to her in Antarctica, we celebrated our engagement in Buenos Aires and had a wedding dinner series in Tunis, Edinburgh, Tokyo, and New York. Finally, we honeymooned in New Zealand. All of this is to say that the reason I stayed at Tufts was due to IGL's place as a second home during my time at Tufts.
My next trial in January involves a Chinese national charged with importing fentanyl precursors whose guidelines are a mandatory ten years to life sentence if convicted. This brings home the failed war on drugs and its shift to Asia, defending those caught in the middle of a policy chess match between China and the United States, and my own identity as a Taiwanese American. Forgiveness is something far too lacking in the American criminal justice system. Alas, life is beautiful and complicated.
Adam Theater Debut - "Library Lion"
Adam Theater, founded by Convisero mentor Ran Bechor, is a one-of-a-kind professional theater company producing plays exclusively for kids and young adults. Our immersive plays speak directly to our young audiences’ growing minds — in a language they can understand, with stories they can relate to. Through our work, we’re helping kids and teens find their voice, discover their identity, and experience the magic of the theater.
Our inaugural play “Library Lion” is set to premiere as a site-specific play September 2024 in the Boston Public Library. The musical play’s adaptation, by playwright Eli Bijaoui, is based on one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Children's Books of All Times, by Michelle Knudsen, set to music by Yoni Rechter. Lion puppet design & build by The Jim Henson Company.
Established, May 2023 Boston based Adam Theater is a non-profit 501(c)3 professional theater offering a repertoire of plays for young audiences and families.
The pillars of Adam Theater | So Much More than Child’s Play
Contemporary Theatre - A theater that constantly questions its relevance and strives to emphasize live performance and the direct encounter between art and its audience.
To present high quality art to children and their families. Our professional theatrical productions stimulate our audiences’ growing minds — we elevate them, nurturing the maturity they have within. And in the process, we set them on a path of self discovery, helping them tell their own story, with themselves at the center of it.
Education & Family - Through stories, fairy tales, and live performances, a child learns to decipher their culture and self, formulating their own personal hero's journey. Adam Theater is a theater for the entire family; it invites families to come and watch together artworks that will serve as a common fictional world for the family and the community, through which it is possible to generate a conversation about everyday life, culture, and ethical questions.
Hebrew Culture - Everything ever written in Hebrew. Hebrew culture is based on Jewish tradition, but interprets it through modern, secular, and universal lenses. During the 18th century in Europe, there was the start of the Hebrew culture renaissance, great emphasis was placed on the narrative and the point of view of the other (not necessarily Jewish). Therefore the roots of this culture carries within it universal values. In order to introduce Hebrew Culture into the American mainstream, we are intentionally seeking and creating collaborations with known American cultural brands, and institutions. Thus, The Boston Public Library and Jim Henson Company are under the same umbrella as S.Y. Agnon and Yoni Rechter. The combination of American culture with Hebrew culture is key to breaking through the cultural glass ceiling placing Hebrew culture front and center in mainstream America.
Vision | Open Curtains, Opening Minds
Educate generations of children in the Boston area, and beyond, for the love of theater as high quality art, storytelling, and universal democratic values. Direct exposure to ethical questions allows children freedom of thought and choice.
Ran Bechor
Ran Bechor is an educator, award winning Hebrew playwright and theater director. In 2016 Bechor was awarded first place at the Akko Fringe Theater Festival for his play Schreber. He is a former fellow of the Mandel School for educational leadership, where he conducted research on the connection between high art and education. He spent two years as the principal of a school for the gifted in Jerusalem. In addition to his deep knowledge of Hebrew culture, he currently teaches Hebrew language & culture at Harvard University. In 2023, he co-founded Adam Theater in Boston.
Nicholas Kelly
Nicholas Kelly is Director of Innovation and Research at the Boston Housing Authority and Lecturer at Northeastern University
Nicholas Kelly is Director of Innovation and Research at the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) where he oversees the agency’s initiatives to improve economic mobility for low-income residents. There, he has launched and managed key programs promoting economic mobility for BHA residents, including BHA’s First Home homeownership program, BHA’s housing mobility program, and BHA’s youth programming. He has advocated for millions in federal and local dollars to support these and other programs at the BHA. In addition, as a member of the BHA’s senior leadership team, Nicholas helps shape the agenda of agency and serve as a main liaison with external researchers.
Nicholas also serves as lecturer at Northeastern University in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, where he teaches the Housing Policy course for graduate students. In that course he provides students with an overview of the history, policy and practice of housing policy, and features a variety of guest speakers including local and national housing activists and government officials.
Nicholas received his PhD in Urban Studies and Planning from MIT in 2021, where he wrote his dissertation on the policy and politics of housing policy programs aimed to expand access to high opportunity neighborhoods in the United States. His research more broadly focuses on efforts to promote racial equality in housing policy. He is a nationally recognized expert on fair housing, having published several journal articles and an edited book, Furthering Fair Housing: Prospects for Racial Justice in America’s Neighborhoods, published by Temple University press in 2021. He serves as a consultant on fair housing issues to federal, state and local government agencies. His work has been featured in national news outlets, including the New York Times and Slate. He received his MPA from Princeton University in 2015, and a BA in Political Science from Columbia University in 2009.
Nicholas’s current work and research builds on years working in federal, state and local government. As a graduate student, Nicholas worked in New York City’s Department of Housing and Preservation and Development, as well as at the National Economic Council in the Obama Administration. Prior to graduate school, he served as Assistant Vice President for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, a communications advisor for Elizabeth for Senate, and Deputy Press Secretary for US Senator Charles Schumer. He currently lives in the South End neighborhood of Boston with his wife and daughter.
Ranjan Chak
Ranjan’s experience has been mostly in helping build or advise tech startups across the globe – in the US, UK, Europe, Japan and of course India. He wrote his first computer program on punched cards on an IBM 360 in 1976, studied computer science on green screens at Harvard, and worked on expert systems development at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon in the early 1980s, before heading international business development for Carnegie Group Inc, an AI spinoff out of CMU. In 1987, after a few hectic years circumnavigating the globe evangelizing AI (a few decades too early!), he moved back to India with Hewlett Packard to help plan HP’s entry into the country’s computer market.
A few years later, after experience leading two Indian software startups, he was recruited to establish Oracle Corporation’s India Development Center. Becoming one of India’s earliest and most successful offshore software operations, Oracle IDC grew from systems R&D to encompass Applications development, Support, Consulting and back-end functions, and is today the company’s largest development organisation outside the US.
Eventually, Ranjan moved into VC as a venture partner with Oak Investment Partners, engaging with a wide variety of their global portfolio companies over two decades. Working with Oak introduced him to VenCap International, the UK-based venture fund-of-funds, where he has been an advisory board member since the global financial crisis of 2008. Based on this wide exposure to tech investment, he later co-founded an Oracle IDC alumni group that came together to invest in startup Indian tech companies.
While Ranjan remains involved with the tech and investment world in advisory or board roles, he has most enjoyed his periods of exposure outside the commercial environment, on the International Advisory Board of Tufts University, as a Visiting Fellow with the Cambridge Judge Business School, as chair of the advisory board for Oakridge International School in Hyderabad, and getting actively involved in the fight against the spread of fake news in India. Most recently, he spent an extraordinary twelve years as a member of the governing board of Plan India (the India chapter of Plan International), a remarkable NGO impacting the lives of millions of under-privileged children across the country.
He has had the freedom over the years to “work on projects he enjoys, with people that he likes,” and continues to mentor entrepreneurs and organisations working in interesting impact areas.
"Seeking Relief From Brain Injury, Some Veterans Turn to Psychedelics"
Convisero mentor Boaz Wachtel has researched on ibogaine as a treatment over the course of his career and has been an active advocate of its use (such as in this published September 2024 Haaretz article) for such cases described below.
The article released just on December 16, 2024 below shows ibogaine’s use gaining momentum in mainstream treatment options.
“Unable to find effective treatments at home, veterans with brain-injury symptoms are going abroad for psychedelics like ibogaine that are illegal in the U.S.” Full article found at the New York Times linked here.
Excerpt below:
Their drug of choice is ibogaine, an alkaloid derived from the bark of the iboga tree. It is illegal in the United States and has a reputation for causing dark, harrowing trips. But research on animals has shown it can spur the release of natural proteins in the brain that repair and reconfigure neural networks. That leads some researchers to consider it a potential treatment for traumatic brain injury.
Psychedelic clinics typically administer ibogaine in a single dose, followed the next day by a dose of the poison of the Sonoran desert toad, called 5-MeO-DMT, a powerful short-acting psychedelic that tends to give users an overwhelming feeling of spiritual connection, earning it the nickname “the God molecule.”
In most cases, the patient uses each drug just once, and participates in psychotherapy beforehand and afterward. Navy SEALs in particular have become involved with ibogaine, in part because several ibogaine clinics in Mexico are just a few miles from a major SEAL base in Southern California. Most wait until they have left the Navy, but dozens who are still on active duty make the trip each year, several SEALs said.
Gavin Murphy
Gavin went to law school before starting his career in San Francisco after finishing engineering studies at Tufts. He spent 10 years in SF working as a lawyer and carving out time for running, climbing, and skiing. Gavin is an avid reader - focused mostly on nonfiction and the occasional mystery. Gavin now works as in house counsel for Brex, a fintech startup combining his engineering and legal background. Professionally he has focused on financial services regulation in the US as well as UK, EU, Canada, and Australia including previous stints at Square and several international law firms. Gavin currently lives in Washington DC with his wife, Madeline, and black lab, Hyde.
At Varo he launched a secured credit card for credit building and a payday alternative loan for the under banked in the US. At Square, Murphy launched small business loans in the U.K. and small business lines of credit in the US.
Welcoming the community to Truro! Bear sculpture courtesy of wonderful Gavin.
Sam Barzilay
Sam Barzilay grew up in Greece and fell in love with photography at a young age. He attended Tufts University and graduated in 2000 with a BA in philosophy. In 2001, he graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts with a BFA in Photography. Barzilay also got an MFA in photojournalism at the University of Westminster in 2007, That same year Barzilay began working at the New York Photo Festival as Curatorial Coordinator and worked there through 2011 becoming the director of exhibitions and, subsequently, festival director. In 2009, he was a guest curator for the Lishui Photo Festival, a biennial event in Lishui, China. From 2010 through 2011 Barzilay was a member of the board of advisors for the Guatephoto Festival. Barzilay has also participated in prestigious events including the Prix Pictet, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Houston FotoFest, and the New York Photo Awards as reviewer, nominator, and judge.
In 2011 Sam Barzilay cofounded PhotoVille, an annual open-air exhibit in New York City dedicated to building a community around photography, a profession that can be isolating. One of the main principles of Photoville is accessibility, removing obstacles so photographers of all backgrounds can break into the field. The organization brings young people into the same space as established artists and gives them the same respect. Through fostering conversations and sharing perspectives photographers and passerbys alike are able to connect through art and humanity.
PhotoVille displays photographs in shipping containers, exhibiting diverse narratives through visual storytelling, from religious and cultural experiences to systemic injustices and many more. Sam Barzilay has been committed to sharing his passion for photography and creating a strong artistic community that extends a hand to those in all stages of their creative careers.
I first met Sam when he knocked on my door unexpectedly with his wonderful brother Ezra, at the time, a distinguished Schweitzer Fellow at the Tufts University Medical School. Sam was a freshman who wanted to enroll in EPIIC, and Ezra was protective of what that would mean for a dual-degree A&S, and Museum School student. The word was out that apparently we were a very demanding curriculum.
They also announced themselves as Salonika Jews, a Greek community almost entirely destroyed by Nazis. They said their family had fled to the hills to join the Partisans and that is how they survived. Somehow, perhaps they knew about my family's background. (I was gifted by them with a leather-bound volume of the history of Jews in Salonika, which I treasure.)
Sam entered the 1998 cohort where the theme was Global Crime, Corruption, and Accountability.
Early on, it was evident to me that Sam's intellectual curiosity, intelligence, and boldness would evince itself in an immersive and distinctive project He, together with Shorena Shaverdishvili, traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan, to conduct a remarkable research project on crude capitalism and the excesses of the beginning of oil exploitation in the country. Sam proved himself to be a remarkable photographer and chronicler. Below are some photographs of his powerful rendering from "OIL FIELDS" Sam, enrolled in Tufts University's Museum School, was among my very first students to fulfill my dream of the interdisciplinarity merger of culture, politics, and society, and in enrolling blazed a path for many others.
Now Sam has proven himself an extraordinary force in the global world of photography and has created and embedded Photoville as a distinctive and powerful Institution in the highly demanding and competitive NYC artistic and cultural worlds, and as a dedicated mentor of both professionally accomplished and emerging photographers and artists. Currently, we are working with Marc Asnin to potentially mount an exhibition of Final Words both at Photoville and subsequently as a touring self-contained shipping container exhibition available for college campuses and other locales of public education on the death penalty.
Below are photographs of his EPIIC project on “OIL FIELDS”
Rashid's Khalidi - Palestinian-American Historian - 'Israel Has Created a Nightmare Scenario for Itself. The Clock Is Ticking'
The story isn't Hamas, religion or terrorism. Rashid Khalidi, the preeminent Palestinian intellectual of our time, is convinced that the Israelis simply don't understand the conflict - living in a 'bubble of false consciousness.' Link to full article here
First EPIIC Symposium on International Terrorism can be found here which includes Professor Khalidi’s talk on The Media, Terrorism and the Palestinians. We invited a wide range of Israeli and Palestinian scholars, journalists, strategic experts, economics, human and civil-rights advocates, religious leaders, and diplomats to engage in a vigorous and free exchange of ideas. They were invited to participate in an academic endeavor, one marked by a spirit of reconciliation, not recrimination.
The implications of terror are profound, reaching the most basic questions of morality, justice, and the fundamental underpinnings of the international system. The nature of the terrorist threat, and the policy the United States government adopts to confront that threat, will have profound consequences for American society and the structure of global relations. The topic is difficult because it arouses feelings of outrage and anger in nearly every observer. Whether the victims are shot by a Salvadoran death squad, blown up by Basque separatists, or thrown down the gangway of a hijacked aircraft, the sudden, seemingly anomic violence of the terrorist touches us with special horror. We are angered, puzzled, stunned. We have struggled to understand "the politics of atrocity" in all its forms, be it revolutionary terrorism or state regimes of terrorism. We have sought to comprehend the resort to terrorism as a political strategy and the repercussions of combatting it. We have also tried to understand the fundamental differences in values and ideologies that prompt the violent cycles of terror and counter-terror and we have tried to imagine ways the international community might limit, if not eliminate this scourge.
Shafiq Islam guest lecture at Krea University - A Talk on Engineering Diplomacy
This lecture will explore the intersection of science, policy, and the politics of water, spanning local to global scales. It will examine the technical, political, and socio-economic dimensions of water resource management, including transboundary water disputes, water scarcity, and water-related disasters. Special emphasis will be placed on understanding the role of diplomacy in fostering cooperation, negotiation, and conflict resolution to ensure sustainable water governance and equitable access to water resources. Using recent floods in India and Bangladesh as an example, the lecture will demonstrate how numbers and narratives shape the understanding of and responses to natural hazards.
The Distinguished Lecture series at Krea University, proposed by Professor Nirmala Rao, Vice Chancellor, Krea University, addresses current issues in world politics to promote local, national, and global engagement among the student body. Upcoming lecture themes include international humanitarian law, water and environmental security, challenges of climate change, war and forced migration, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), global governance and political thought. The lectures will be delivered by a diverse range of academics and practitioners, offering Krea students an invaluable opportunity to connect their academic studies to real-world issues and engage with leading experts. The series will be convened by Sherman Teichman, Emeritus Founding Director of The Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University (1984-2016).