Mahmoud Ghanem worked with the BHR Group as a Policy Fellow 2020-2021, focusing on human rights impact assessments in the Middle East and Africa. Previously, Mahmoud served as Projects Unit Director at Purple Development, an NGO that works regionally in human rights, community development, and political organization in the Middle East. Mahmoud was a Congressional Fellow at the American Council of Young Political Leaders, where he worked at the office of late Senator John McCain in Washington, D.C.

Mahmoud is a graduate student at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. He received his MBBCh from Alexandria University Faculty of Medicine and is admitted to practice medicine in Egypt.

Itay Weiss worked with The BHR Group as a Policy Fellow 2019-2021 conducting research for various human rights impact assessments across Africa and the Middle East for a global technology company. Previously, Itay was a Policy & Public Affairs Fellow at the Information Technology Industry Council and was also a Fellow at the Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation. Itay was also a Team Lead for a UNESCO project in Israel for two years.

Itay earned his M.A. in Public Policy from Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, where he also founded Georgetown’s student-led Tech Policy Initiative. He received his law degree from Ono Law School in Kiryat Ono, Israel. He’s also a member of the Israeli Bar Association.

Luisa Paganini joined The BHR group during summer 2019 and worked on a regional mapping project assessing the intersection of political events and digital rights issues. She also initiated a regional digital rights newsletter for the public policy team of a large technology company. Previously, she was a VP at Roam International, a global tech and hospitality startup. Luisa also completed a fellowship in entrepreneurship with Venture for America in 2018 and led volunteer efforts in Miami for Andrew Yang’s 2020 presidential campaign before joining full-time as a staffer. Luisa speaks five languages and is originally from São Paulo, Brasil.

Luisa graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government & International Relations as well as a Certificate in German & European Studies from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.

Kwabena Akuamoah-Boateng has been a Policy Fellow with The BHR Group since September 2017, working on various international and digital rights issues, including support on HRIAs and geopolitical and technology analysis across Africa among other regions. He has worked at the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, leading the Mission’s digital and youth engagement. Kwabena began his career as an Assistant Export Development Officer for the Ghana Export Promotion Authority. He went on to co-found an election monitoring project in Ghana. In 2016, he was awarded the Georgetown MSFS Africa Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship for a talented graduate student from sub-Saharan Africa.

Kwabena received his Master of Science in Foreign Service (with a concentration on Global Politics and Security) from Georgetown University in May 2018. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Resource Development from the University of Ghana.

Smythe was a Policy Fellow at The BHR Group from August 2016 to May 2017. She led the drafting of human rights impact assessments across markets in Latin America and Africa for an international technology company. Smythe began her career in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill, serving as a legislative correspondent for Senator Richard Burr and as a legislative assistant and press secretary for Congressman Paul Ryan. She also worked in congressional relations and government affairs for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Smythe currently works on energy policy and planning in the government affairs office at Chevron.

Smythe has a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Political Science and French.

Paige was a Policy Fellow with The BHR Group from February 2016 – April 2017. In this role, she supported the development of strengthened privacy policies and ethical decision making practices for the collection and use of big data at a large emerging-markets focused telecommunications provider. She began her career as a consultant at Deloitte Consulting and is currently a manager on the Intellectual Capital team at Omidyar Network where she has focused on projects including Governance & Citizen Engagement and Digital Identity initiatives.

Paige received a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She also graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown with a B.S. in Foreign Service.

Simon was a Policy Fellow at The BHR Group in 2015 and worked on human rights impact assessments in Latin America and the Middle East. He is currently a Public Policy Manager at Facebook, where he helps develop and implement Facebook’s community standards.

Prior to joining Facebook, Simon was a member of the Public Policy and Social Impact team at Tumblr, and has held fellowships in the Yahoo! Business and Human Rights Program and at the Global Network Initiative. 

Simon has a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University, a law degree with honors from the University of Melbourne, and is admitted to legal practice in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia.