Systems Division / Community Council Member / Board Member

A power outage left Delta Airlines' computers down and passengers stranded at airports. To discuss, we FEATURE Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph. Elizabeth is an Automation and Tools Engineer at HP working on the OpenStack Infrastructure team doing systems administration and development in Python. She has been involved in Free/Open Source software communities since 2002 and in that time has worked on everything from documentation to software packaging, today holding an elected position on the Ubuntu Community Council where she focuses on empowering teams within the Ubuntu Linux community to reach their goals. In 2012 she was given an O'Reilly Open Source Award. Media includes: KPFA 94.1 Berkeley, WCOJ 1420 Coatesville, Digital Chronicles program, Linux Format Magazine, Ubuntu User Magazine.

Executive Director

In light of Trump revealing his economic policy plans in Detroit, we FEATURE Dr. Radhika Balakrishnan. Radhika Balakrishnan, executive director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership, and Professor, Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, has a Ph.D. in Economics from Rutgers University. Previously, she was Professor of Economics and International Studies at Marymount Manhattan College. She is the co-editor with Diane Elson of Economic Policy and Human Rights: Holding Governments to Account (Zed Books, 2011). She is the author of Why MES with Human Rights: Integrating Macro Economic Strategies with Human Rights (Marymount Manhattan College, 2005). Media includes: Pacific Radio, Huffington Post, Law and Disorder Radio, Philadelphia Radio, Wisconsin Public Radio.

South Asia Project Director

A bombing in Quetta, Pakistan, has left many dead. For further discussion, we FEATURE Samina Ahmed. Samina oversees Crisis Group’s work in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nepal. Together with our analysts throughout the region, she prepares reports on the political, social, economic and military factors that increase the risks of extremism, internal conflict and war, and she makes policy recommendations to overcome these threats. In general, her team focuses on political, security and stability issues in South Asia, including problems of authoritarianism; Islamic extremism, domestic and regional terrorism; educational, judicial, and security sector reform.

Chief Executive Officer

With Walmart buying Jet.com, we FEATURE Saundra Pelletier. As CEO of WomanCare Global, Ms. Pelletier developed the initial business plan transforming the company’s bottom line from a loss to profitability in three years. In addition, Ms. Pelletier executed contracts for seven global product acquisitions in 15 months and secured start-up funding from major foundations and investors. In her capacity as a corporate vice president and global franchise leader at Fortune 500 companies, she managed a $250 million dollar business unit, reorganized companies from the ground up and raised capital investments. Media includes: The Maine Edge newspaper (Maine), San Diego Magazine, Voice of America, KLCA-FM, KLAS-FM, Your Bangor News (Maine).