A New Class of JA Worldwide Fellows Kicks Off Online
May 4, 2020
Eight JA staff members from around the world have been inducted in the new class of JA Worldwide Fellows for 2020. This second edition of the 18-month program launched its application process in November 2019 at the JA Global Leadership Conference (GLC) in Berlin, Germany, where the first class of JA Worldwide Fellows presented its projects and findings. The eight new fellows were selected from a pool of 41 applicants from around the world.
The New Class of JA Worldwide Fellows
Utami A Herawati is Program Manager for JA Indonesia. After earning a degree in animal feed science, Utami discovered her passion for teaching and changed her career trajectory. With an extensive background in teaching both domestically and abroad, her areas of expertise include managing people, training JA staff, and project and program management.
Bruna Gallo is Operations Manager for JA Brazil. She has a degree in Public Relations and expertise in creating partnerships, writing, building relationships, operations management, and project management.
Oturu Emmanuel Ogechi is Program Manager for JA Nigeria. With an educational background in Social Sector Management and Nonprofit Leadership Management, Oturu’s areas of expertise include creating partnerships, entrepreneurship education, and program management.
Laura Nieves Gonzalez is Director of Workforce Readiness and Financial Literacy at JA Spain. She has a master’s degree in leadership, communication, and coaching skills and brings her expertise in managing people, writing, project management, building relationships, impact measurement, and coaching to the JA Worldwide Fellows program.
Vera Petkantchin is COO of JA Bulgaria. In addition to 12 years of experience in the field of entrepreneurship education, Vega’s areas of expertise include sustainability, green entrepreneurship, writing, and project management.
Miryam Abi Hatem is Operations Manager for JA Lebanon. A JA employee and volunteer since 2017, Miryam holds an MBA, and her areas of expertise include financial management, project management, and relationship-building.
Hilary Bhagat of JA of Washington (USA) has served in the Peace Corps in Ukraine and worked for JA for six years. Starting as a Special Events Coordinator and now working as Director of Development, Hilary’s areas of expertise include fundraising and building relationships.
Abeiku Greene is Program Manager and Acting Executive Director of JA Ghana. With an enthusiasm for youth empowerment, Abeiku’s areas of expertise include entrepreneurship education, project management, and operations management.
What It Takes to Be a JA Worldwide Fellow
To be selected as a fellow, staff were evaluated on the following criteria:
A minimum of two years of experience with JA
Nominations from colleagues
Excellence in their performance to-date
A strong and unique application
Interest in supporting and growing their engagement with the JA network
Minimal or no formal leadership training
The JA Worldwide Fellows strategic initiative was originally the brainchild of the JA Board of Governors and JA Worldwide CEO Asheesh Advani, and the curriculum is based on extensive network outreach, including interviews with all JA regional operating center CEOs to discuss gaps and human-capital needs in their regions. Led by Strategic Advisor and Executive Coach Jeff Hittner, the fellows work together to deepen their personal and professional leadership skills, develop a global network of JA colleagues, deepen expertise in their job areas, and gain understanding of and exposure to regional and global staff, projects, and opportunities. “I was overwhelmed by how quickly our Fellows bonded with one another,” Jeff said. “They were innovating and growing by day two!”
The first class of JA Worldwide Fellows launched in March 2018 and ran through November 2019, culminating in a graduation and panel discussions at GLC. The six fellows, one from each region, worked on projects that included Onboarding and Leadership, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Growth via Sub-Licensing, Centennial Marketing and United Nations Global Goals, Summer Camps Revenue Generation, and Small Nation Sustainability.
Each JA Worldwide Fellow is a high-potential leader worthy of significant investment by JA Worldwide and is tasked with a unique project to lead and collaborate on with regional and global JA staff. The results of these projects will be presented on stage at the next GLC, to be held in 2021.
Fellows also commit to attending three in-person trainings over 18 months, although these trainings have yet to be finalized due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, the fellows will continue to attend monthly interactive video-training sessions, the first of which kicked off on April 27.
Over the weeklong intensive Zoom training, fellows received technical training from JA Worldwide senior leaders, starting with CEO Asheesh, COO Caroline Jenner, and VP of Events and People Erin Sawyer. They were also joined by members of the JA Worldwide Board of Governors—Chairperson Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi and Chair of the People Committee Mayu Avila—as well as all six regional operating center CEOs.