Perry World House Perry World House Announces Expansion to Prestigious Visiting Fellows Program

Perry World House (PWH), the University of Pennsylvania’s hub for global affairs, has announced its inaugural class of non-resident senior advisors.

“Since its inception, Perry World House has been honored to convene a talented and knowledgeable group of Visiting Fellows who can help enrich Penn’s intellectual community,” said Michael Weisberg, interim director of Perry World House. “We are thrilled that our inaugural class of Senior Non-resident Advisors will maintain a longer-term relationship with Perry World House and the University of Pennsylvania and provide us with guidance on how we can more effectively bring Perry World House to the world and the world to Perry World House.”

Drawing from PWH’s exceptional pool of former visiting fellows, the advisors will be appointed to a three year term during which they will be asked to assist PWH with network building, supporting access to policy processes, and advising on programmatic development as well as providing feedback on the policy impact of PWH’s work.

The inaugural Perry World House Non-Resident Senior Advisors are:

Melissa Flagg is the founder and president of Flagg Consulting LLC. She is also a research fellow at the Acquisition Innovation Research Center, and a senior advisor to the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, where she was previously a senior fellow. Prior to this, she served as the US deputy assistant secretary of defense for research, responsible for policy and oversight of Defense Department science and technology programs. She has worked at the State Department, the Office of Naval Research, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Army Research Laboratory. Flagg has served on numerous boards, including the US Army Science Board and the US Department of Commerce Emerging Technology Research Advisory Committee. She holds a PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry and a bachelor of science in pharmacy.

Lolita K. Jackson MBE is the executive director of sustainable cities at Sustainable Development Capital LLP, a multibillion-pound FTSE 250 climate investment firm. Jackson is a frequent speaker at global gatherings and universities on the topics of climate diplomacy and public and private sector engagement on climate. She previously worked for the NYC Mayor’s Office for fifteen years in a variety of roles, lastly as the special advisor for Climate Policy & Programs, where she was the climate diplomat for NYC. Jackson is a member of the British-American Project’s U.S. advisory board, a member of GlobalScot; a trustee of the Jazz Museum in Harlem; a board member of the St. Andrew’s Society of New York; and president of the Penn Alumni Class of 1989. She was named to the City & State's “Energy & Environment Power 100” list for 2022 and was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2021. Jackson is a professional singer, having performed on four continents and at Carnegie Hall. She is an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, majoring in applied science with a concentration in chemical engineering.

Mauricio Rodas served as the mayor of Quito, Ecuador from 2014 to 2019. Alongside his position at Perry World House, he is a visiting scholar at Penn’s Institute for Urban Research and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. He is also a senior fellow at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council, and co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Commission on BiodiverCities by 2030. Rodas is a member of the United Nations’ Committee of Experts on Public Administration, a distinguished fellow on global cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and a member of the advisory committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors. In 2019, he was named one of Apolitical’s “100 Most Influential People on Climate Action” and received the University of Pennsylvania’s World Urban Leadership Award. He is a former Young Global Leader and member of the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization of the World Economic Forum. During his mayoral term in Quito, Rodas hosted the UN’s Conference on Urban Sustainable Development – Habitat III. He also served two terms as world co-president of UCLG; was vice-chair of C-40 Cities’ Climate Leadership Group; and was a member of the global boards of ICLEI and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. In 2011, Rodas founded SUMA, a national political party, and in 2013 he ran for president of Ecuador. In 2007, he founded and served as the executive director of Ethos Public Policy Lab, a think tank based in Mexico. Rodas holds a JD from Universidad Católica de Quito as well as two master’s degrees in government administration and political science from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

Robert M. Scher is the head of international affairs for bp America. In this position, he tracks and analyzes U.S. foreign policy as it affects bp’s businesses around the world. Scher has close to twenty-five years of experience in senior global affairs and national security roles in the U.S. government, most recently serving as the assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities in the Pentagon from 2014 to 2017. In that role, he directly advised the U.S. Secretary of Defense on a wide range of global defense, security, strategy, and budgeting matters. Prior to becoming assistant secretary, Scher held a series of progressively more senior roles at the U.S. Departments of Defense and State, focused on defense strategy and Asian foreign policy. He also served in the private sector as a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton on defense and foreign affairs issues. Scher received a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College, and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Alexander Vershbow is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and Eurasia Center in Washington, DC, where he works on transatlantic issues and relations with Russia and Ukraine. Vershbow, a former career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, was deputy secretary general of NATO from 2012 to 2016, and U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 2009 to 2012. He also served as U.S. ambassador to NATO, Russia, and the Republic of Korea. Vershbow has held numerous senior positions in Washington, including special assistant to the president for European affairs at the National Security Council and director for Soviet Union affairs at the U.S. State Department. He received a bachelor of arts degree in Russian and East European studies from Yale University and a master’s degree in international relations and a certificate of the Russian Institute from Columbia University.

Koko Warner is the director of the Global Data Institute at the International Organization for Migration, and is an expert on climate change risks, impacts, and resilience. She previously managed the Vulnerability subdivision at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, where she guided the global adaptation knowledge-to-action hub and the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform. Warner is a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth and Sixth Assessment Reports, including the Special Report on Climate Change and Land. Previously at UNFCCC, she supervised the loss and damage policy area. Before joining UNFCCC, Warner was founder and executive director of the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative, and scientific director of environmental migration and social resilience at UN University in Bonn. The International Council of Science named Warner among the top 20 women in the climate change debate. Warner holds a PhD in economics.