Board of Trustees
We are a group of New Jersey residents interested in advancing public dialogue on key US foreign policy challenges and helping people understand how these issues connect back to New Jersey.
Our board will be expanding over the coming years. If you know of someone with a passion for global affairs and nonprofit leadership skills, please send us a note nominating them. Write to wacnj2019@gmail.com.
Roz Engel, Founder & President
Roz is the Chief Economic Strategist at the MITRE Corporation, where she conducts research on long-term geo-economic risks and US policy development. Prior to that, she served as a Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Economics at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. In 2020, she co-edited “Making Foreign Work Work for the Middle Class,” an influential report published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She has held several high-level positions in the U.S. government and nonprofit sector, including at the U.S. Treasury, the National Intelligence Council, and the National Defense University, as well as several academic appointments. She grew up in Morris County and currently lives in Millburn.
Gerald Cohen, Vice-President
Gerald is the Chief Economist at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, housed at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. There he provides strategic vision and leadership of the translational economic research, and policy initiatives at the Institute. He has worked in both the public and private sectors focusing on the intersection between financial markets and economic fundamentals. During the Obama Administration Gerald was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Treasury where he helped formulate and evaluate the impact of policy proposals on the U.S. economy. Prior to Treasury, he co-managed a global macro fund at Ziff Brothers Investments.
David Downie, Secretary
David is an Assistant General Counsel at Bank of America, focusing on structured finance and other derivative products. He has lived and worked extensively in East Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. David has lectured at Tulane Law School as part of the Tulane-Yongxiong Center for International Credit Law established for LLM students from Xiangtan University in Hunan Province in China. He holds an AB from Dartmouth College and a JD from Columbia Law School and lives in Fair Haven, NJ. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Ariel Dybner, Treasurer
Ariel is an attorney based in New York and New Jersey. He currently serves both as General Counsel to Educational Housing Services, Inc., the largest independent not-for-profit provider of student housing in New York City, and as a partner at the boutique bi-state law firm of Dybner & Dybner specializing in sophisticated transactions, with a focus on Latin American fintech financing, green energy programs, commercial real estate, and Small Business Administration financings. Prior to these roles, Ariel was a partner at the AmLaw 100 law firms, Mayer Brown and Katten Muchin Rosenman. Ariel lives in Maplewood, where he has been an active participant in his community.
Martin S. Edwards
Martin is an Associate Professor and Department Chair at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University. His scholarly research addresses issues involving the international economic organizations, and his book comparing economic surveillance at the IMF and the WTO was published last year. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Rutgers and lives in Montclair, NJ.
John Gans
John leads The Rockefeller Foundation’s executive communications and strategic engagement. From 2017-2021, John helped direct the programming, communications, and research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House, a think tank dedicated to bridging the gap between the academic and policy communities in the United States and beyond. He has also held several senior government positions, including as the chief speechwriter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and other positions with Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. For a decade, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve. A New Jersey native, John lives in Haddonfield with his family.
Alex Kazan
Alex is a managing director at Eurasia Group, the political risk advisory firm, where he also serves on the firm’s leadership committee. In his role, Alex works closely with companies and investors to help them understand, anticipate, and plan for geopolitical change. Before joining Eurasia Group, Alex worked as a market strategist at Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns. Earlier in his career, he worked at the G7 Group, an economic and policy research consultancy, and the Inter-American Development Bank. He holds degrees from the University of California, Davis, and Georgetown University. Alex lives in Harding Township, NJ.
Janet Robertson
Janet currently leads government affairs at Princeton NuEnergy, a li-ion battery recycling and materials company. From 2015-2020, Janet served as a Foreign Commercial Service Officer with assignments in Beijing, Princeton, and Washington. In that role, she provided commercial counseling to U.S. companies, worked to reduce trade barriers, and managed trade and investment programs. Prior to government service, Janet held senior international executive roles at Sony, Panamsat, and Sesame Workshop. She co-founded Healthscape, a mobile health start-up. Janet lives in Princeton where she is a member of the Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber’s Global Opportunities and Innovation & Entrepreneurship Committees.
Benjamin Wagor
Benjamin is a private school educator, who specializes in experiential and service learning program development. He currently works at Léman Manhattan Preparatory School in the financial district of Manhattan. He has worked on developing educational and outreach programming for the Santa Fe Council of International Relations (SFCIR), part of the World Affairs Councils of America and was awarded the 2018 Teacher of the Year for his contributions. Benjamin has also had an extensive international educational career, working as a teacher or administrator in China, El Salvador, Hungary, Guatemala, Kuwait, and Mexico. He currently lives in South Orange.
