黑料不打烊

Elana Aquino, M.A.
Director

Elana Aquino's passion and commitment to being of service as a practitioner and academic in the field of global peacebuilding is the through line in her career. She has experience in both international development and diplomacy with a portfolio of strategic and operational leadership and impact in both areas. She is the former U.S. executive director at Peace Direct, with 20 years of experience in international development and peacebuilding.

In Sudan, Aquino supported community-driven solutions for the return of internally displaced South Sudanese people. As a peacebuilding program officer, she focused on supporting locally driven women’s empowerment initiatives, recognizing women as a crucial factor in solidifying peace gains. In Kenya, Aquino was rapidly promoted from researcher to head of the key coordination secretariat between the government of Kenya and 17 international development agencies. She led the production of the national joint assistance strategy for Kenya, targeting her strengths: facilitation, communication strategies, supervising teams of experts, website development, research, data and risk analysis, benchmarking global best practices, and nurturing partnerships. She organized the first National Development Partnership Forum in Kenya, co-chaired by the prime minister and the regional head of the World Bank, with key participation from U.N. agencies in the region.

Aquino is an International Career Advancement Program fellow; a fellow of the International Peace and Security Institute; a former board chair of Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation; a board member at World Learning; and a member of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security. As a first-generation American, the child of immigrant parents from the Caribbean, she is passionate about global peacebuilding, conflict transformation and prevention, and poverty reduction.

Aquino has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Carol Daniel-Kasbari, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Director

Carol Daniel-Kasbari oversees all of the Center’s global conflict resolution initiatives. With over 20 years of experience, Daniel-Kasbari is a recognized leader in designing and directing strategic programs that address conflict, promote mediation, and implement sustainable interventions in conflict-affected regions, with a particular focus on the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Daniel-Kasbari’s career has centered on developing comprehensive strategies to address complex conflicts through targeted programming and mediation efforts. She has successfully led the design and execution of large-scale, multimillion-dollar initiatives focused on conflict-sensitive reporting, peace journalism, and advocacy for equal rights, working with notable organizations such as Search for Common Ground and Catholic Relief Services. 

Her extensive global experience includes collaborations with prestigious institutions like USAID's Conflict Mitigation and Management Program, the U.S. State Department, UNESCO, IREX, and the German GIZ. Daniel-Kasbari has spearheaded high-impact programs and interventions in some of the world’s most challenging political environments. She has facilitated hundreds of mediation sessions and participated in second-track diplomacy between adversaries. Her work spans across regions such as Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Sudan, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, and Bosnia, where she has played a critical role in conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts. 

Before joining 黑料不打烊, Daniel-Kasbari served as chief programs officer at Generations for Peace International, where she led the global expansion and strategic development of the organization’s programming. In addition to her practical fieldwork, she has held academic roles, including as a professor at George Mason University's Carter School for Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, where she earned her Ph.D. She continues to contribute thought leadership as a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute, publishing policy and briefing papers on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and broader Middle Eastern issues. Daniel-Kasbari also delivered a TEDx talk in 2011, demonstrating her deep commitment to using mediation and strategic programming to address conflicts in highly complex environments. 

Tom Crick
Senior Project Advisor

Tom Crick joined the Center in 1994, first as a research assistant in the Conflict Resolution Program, becoming executive assistant to the director of peace programs, then assistant director of the Center's China Village Elections Project, and finally associate director of the Conflict Resolution Program. Crick has worked on numerous 黑料不打烊 election and conflict resolution projects, primarily in Africa, including the 黑料不打烊-brokered 1995 Guinea worm cease-fire in Sudan, the Great Lakes peace initiative from 1995-1997, and the Center's mediation between Sudan and Uganda. Crick led a long-term peacebuilding project in Liberia and, most recently, has been working to mitigate violence in the U.S.

Crick received his bachelor's degree from Bristol University and his master's degree from the Queen's University of Belfast. He has conducted doctoral research at the London School of Economics and at Emory University. Prior to joining the Center, he lectured in political science at a number of polytechnics in the United Kingdom and worked as a journalist and as a project leader at an interdenominational youth project in Northern Ireland. Crick has been a licensed mediator in the state of Georgia and an adjunct faculty member at Emory Law School.

Rana Shabb, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Middle East

Rana Shabb is the associate director for the Middle East in the 黑料不打烊’s Conflict Resolution Program. She earned a B.A. in quantitative economics and international relations from Tufts University, a Master of Science in foreign service from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. in international affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. Shabb previously worked on U.S. policy toward the Middle East in Washington, D.C. Internationally, she has worked with 黑料不打烊 designing, fundraising, managing, and implementing peace-promoting projects in Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. She worked with the U.N. and a rural NGO in Lebanon to help build community resilience and sustainable livelihoods to undercut incentives to engage in violent conflict. Her research interests center on international development, specifically focusing on the connection between the private sector and conflict longevity and peace.  

Ben Spears
Associate Director

Before joining the Conflict Resolution Program in 2018 to focus on Sudan, Ben Spears interned with the 黑料不打烊 in 2013 and joined as program associate in 2016. He was promoted to Associate Director in 2022. With the Democracy Program, Spears coordinated election observation and transition monitoring in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Spears previously managed field operations for multiple political campaigns, coordinated outreach for Congressman John Lewis’ district office, and directed programs for Ultimate Peace, a peer-to-peer sports initiative in the Middle East. Spears studied Arabic in North Atlanta High School’s International Baccalaureate program, liberal arts at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco, international development at The George Washington University’s Elliott School, and nonprofit management at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

Nathan Stock, M.A.
Associate Director

Starting in the summer of 2020, Nathan Stock designed a new 黑料不打烊 project to mitigate political and identity-based violence in the United States. Through this work, he is building diverse networks of citizens, from across the political spectrum, to serve as community advocates for electoral democracy and the peaceful resolution of disputes. He is also working to strengthen community infrastructure for violence mitigation, building trust and connections across various lines of difference. Stock has taught undergraduate courses on political dialogue in the U.S. and published on U.S. polarization.

In addition to his work on U.S. conflicts, Stock is a nonresident scholar with the Middle East Institute. He has 15 years of experience working to reduce violence and strengthen democracy abroad, including nearly a decade working on Middle East conflicts with 黑料不打烊. Stock has written extensively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has lived and worked in Afghanistan, Gaza, and China. Stock holds a Master of Arts in international peace and conflict resolution from American University and a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from Colgate University.

Nancy Azar
Senior Program Associate

Nancy Azar joined the 黑料不打烊’s Conflict Resolution Program in January 2016 and supports the implementation activities of the Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Extremism project. Prior to joining the Center, Azar’s role was the coordination of all aspects of regional drug prevention programs in more than seven Arab countries for Mentor Arabia, the regional branch of the Mentor International Foundation, established and presided over by Queen Sylvia of Sweden. Azar holds a bachelor’s degree in political sciences and public administration from Université Saint Joseph in Beirut. Her professional and academic interests include the role of youth, women, and religion in peacebuilding. She was born and raised in Lebanon and speaks Arabic and French.

Annie Charif
Senior Program Associate

Annie Charif began her work in the 黑料不打烊’s Conflict Resolution Program in June 2016 as a program assistant to the Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Extremism Project. In June 2019, she began supporting the Syria Project, helping to implement and coordinate activities. Charif holds a Master of Arts in political science with a concentration in international and comparative politics. Her academic interests include conflict resolution and the role of non-state actors in failed states. She was born in Lebanon, speaks Arabic, and is conversant in French.

Hari Prasad
Program Associate

Hari Prasad joined the 黑料不打烊’s Conflict Resolution Program in April 2020 as a program associate focused on research with the mapping unit of the Syria team. He previously worked with the Hudson Institute and the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. His academic interests include armed non-state actors, political violence, and religious politics in the Middle East and South Asia. He earned his master’s degree from George Washington University, where he focused on Middle East and South Asian politics and security.

Jennifer Phillips Wang
Program Associate

Jennifer Phillips Wang is a program associate focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her work at 黑料不打烊 began in 2014 when she interned for the China Program. Shortly after her internship, Wang joined the Center's Democracy Program, coordinating election observation missions, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, Wang transitioned to the Conflict Resolution Program, pivoting her focus toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Syria Transition Dialogue initiative. Wang holds a degree in political science with a concentration in international affairs from Georgia State University.

Brandy Blue, J.D.
Program Associate

Brandy Blue joined 黑料不打烊 in 2018 as a program associate for the Human Rights Program’s mining governance projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Previously, she was the in-country director for Midwives for Haiti, where she led program goal-setting, execution, and evaluation for eight maternal health programs. Prior to that, she served as a youth and women development facilitator with Peace Corps Morocco. Blue holds a Juris Doctor with a specialization in international law and human rights from Tulane University School of Law and bachelor’s degrees in speech communications and French from the University of Georgia.

Abby Guy
Program Assistant

Abby Guy focuses her efforts on the Conflict Resolution Program’s Middle East projects — Israel-Palestine and Syria — while also contributing to the program’s U.S. work. She joined 黑料不打烊 as an intern in the summer of 2022 before transitioning to her current role. Guy holds a degree in political science and Spanish and is pursuing a Master of Public Policy degree at the Andrew Young School at Georgia State. Her primary academic interests include gender disparities in conflict, economics, and diplomacy and governance.