IFCIF

Altin Leka, is a professional in the scientific field who has served as researcher and manager in several multinational pharmaceutical corporations, in Europe and the US. He holds a MS in Chemistry and comprehensive experience in research and development of analytical testing methods for characterization of newly developed pharmaceutical formulations. Previous work experiences at Battelle Research Institute in Geneva and GH Institute in New York encompasses extensive research on gas and liquid chromatography incorporated with mass spectroscopy for identification of chemical structures and their related substances. Currently, he holds the Quality Engineering Manager position at Perrigo Pharmaceuticals in New York (PNY), where he has worked in several capacities for over 18 years. Among other achievements at Perrigo, he has designed several cost reducing projects including the elimination of redundant testing of “in process” and finished drug products, and has collaborated in several programs with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) related to shelf-life and expiration dating of pharmaceutical products. Altin is an active member of the Community Service Committee at PNY, which promotes science to youth in low income areas of New York City as well as sponsoring internships for students in related fields. He recently joined as Vice President of the Martin and Ivanaj Foundation in New York.

Arbi Rizo started his career at J.P. Morgan in the Investment Analytics and Consulting group, part of the investment bank. He worked with pension funds, endowments, and foundations, analyzing critical data about their portfolios. He left J.P. Morgan five and a half years later to continue his education in the UK and got a Master’s degree from Oxford University. During his studies, he was temporarily contracted by a venture capital firm, focusing on one of their biotech investments. After graduation Arbi moved back to NY and worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch as part of the team of Managed Account Advisors. He worked as an overlay trader for the first two years and, afterwards, joined the Investment strategy unit where he has been for the past three years. In his current role, Arbi helps build new overlay investment strategies and runs optimization techniques to implement portfolios.

Blerina Uruçi is a Director in the US Economics team at Barclays. She is responsible for writing thematic research and presenting her views to Barclays’ clients across asset classes and countries as well as policy makers. Her main responsibilities include forming the firm’s near- and medium-term inflation forecasts and assessing the housing market outlook. Before joining the US team, Blerina was acting Chief UK Economist for Barclays, based in London. She was responsible for developing the firm’s view on the UK economy, including monetary and fiscal policy. Prior to joining Barclays in 2010 Ms. Uruçi worked for Thomson Reuters as a European Economist in London, she was part of the Government Economic Services of the UK and worked as a development economist in Malawi. She holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BSc (Hons) in Economics and Politics from the University of Bath.

Faton is passionate about applying Harvard’s renowned Adaptive Leadership framework across sectors to help individuals, teams, and organizations address challenges and solve difficult problems. Besides Adaptive Leadership, his work includes several other frameworks such as Public Speaking, Negotiations, Immunity to Change, Teaming, Design Thinking, Strategic Management, and Business Communications. Faton has taught and facilitated leadership courses at Harvard, across the USA, Europe, and Asia and coached hundreds of students, corporate executives, and young professionals in the leadership development field. Prior to Harvard, Faton has worked as a civil contractor for the US Department of Defense in different projects and has taught strategic management at the university level in Kosova, where he was also engaged in local politics, nonprofit, and private sector organizations in various leadership roles. He holds Master’s degrees in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School and in Economics/Management from the University of Prishtina. Faton is an Instructor and Advisor at St. Jude’s Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Graduate and Undergraduate Studies Coordinator at Harvard University, President/Founder of the Albanian School – Illyria, and a Founder/CEO of the Leadership Advancement Associates.

Ilir Zenku is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Healthsystem IT and a valuable member of the Leadership Team in the Office of Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. Ilir has a Bachelor's of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Tirana, Albania, a Master's degree in IT Management from the Illinois Institute of Technology and Executive Leadership certificate from Booth School of Business at University of Chicago. Ilir holds also several active professional certifications and is an active member at EDUCAUSE, SIM Chicago, HIMSS, ACHE and CHEF. He is a first-generation emigrant from Albania where he designed and led a national project of expanding wireless high-speed Internet access and creation of the Albanian Research Network. He worked with international and US organizations to support the Kosova refugees in Balkans and also assisted in the first Internet connections of Kosova after the NATO intervention. Ilir fluently uses the majority of languages in Balkans. He is a recognized leader in the Albanian-American diaspora volunteering in immigrant onboarding activities, teen leadership mentoring, participating in helping Balkans dialogues from Albanian-American perspective, volunteering in supporting performance arts and sports activities organized for the community.