Daniel Isenberg

Dan Isenberg (@danisen) is the CEO of Entrepreneurship Policy Advisors. From 1981-7 and 2005-9 Dan was a professor at the Harvard Business School, and in the interim (1987-2005) was an entrepreneur and venture capitalist in Israel. Dan authored Worthless Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value (Harvard Business Review Press 2013), published over 30 online and print articles on entrepreneurship in the Harvard Business Review, and has been featured in the Economist, Forbes, NPR, Bloomberg, Quartz, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, etc. Dan has been a pioneer in the concept and development of entrepreneurship ecosystems, and he launched and directs Manizales-Mas and Scale Up Milwaukee. Between 2009-2013 Dan was active in the World Economic Forum and conducted Forum events in Davos, Africa, Europe, and China. In 2012 Mikhail Gorbachev awarded Dan the Pio Manzu Award for “Innovations in Economic Development.” At Babson Executive Education, Dan created and directs the 3-day program, Driving Economic Growth Through Entrepreneurship Ecosystems. He holds the Ph.D. degree in social psychology from Harvard University, received under the mentorship of Robert Freed Bales.

Dina Sherif

Dina Sherif is Executive Director at the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT. Beyond this role, Dina founded the social enterprise, Ahead of the Curve.

Prior to the Legatum Center, Dina formerly held the endowed Willard Brown Chair for International Business at the American University in Cairo (AUC), where she was also Founding Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship. Before this, Dina helped establish the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at AUC. Dina is also a Senior Advisor to Ashoka, providing support to their Global Venture and Fellowship Support arm.

Dina holds a Masters of Public Administration and Management from the Harvard Kennedy School, an MA in Economic Development Studies from the American University in Cairo, and a BA in Political Science and International Relations from the American University in Cairo.