MEET THE SPEAKERS
BISMAH AHMED
As Vice President of Government Affairs for the Apartment and Office Building Association, Bismah Ahmed champions pro-business policies, shapes economic development, and amplifies the voices of entrepreneurs and industry leaders. In 2026, she will be the first woman of color to chair the Arlington Chamber of Commerce.
Bismah began her career in politics, working for Virginia’s Governor and Attorney General, before diving into lobbying, where she established herself in legislative advocacy. In 2022, she became the first South Asian, Muslim, and Pakistani woman to be crowned Miss DC for America, using her platform to challenge stereotypes and encourage women to embrace their multifaceted identities. Additionally, she is a regular commentator on FOX5 and NBC12 and was a contestant on the reality TV show The Anonymous on USA Network & Peacock.
CHUCK TODD
Chuck Todd is a renowned political analyst and host of The ChuckToddCast, a weekly podcast offering in-depth interviews with political figures and experts. A six-time Emmy® Award-winner, Todd was NBC News’s chief Political Analyst and moderator of Meet the Press from 2014 to 2023. He also hosted Meet the Press NOW, a daily show on NBC News NOW, bringing timely political analysis to a digital audience.
Known for his sharp insight and encyclopedic knowledge of politics, Todd has co-moderated multiple presidential debates, including the record-breaking 2019 and 2020 Democratic debates. He previously served as NBC News’s chief White House Correspondent and hosted The Daily Rundown on MSNBC.
Todd is the author of two books and has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. He teaches how Washington works as the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence for The University of California’s Capital Campus, in Washington, D.C.. Todd resides in Arlington, VA, with his wife, Kristian, and their two children.
SHEENA FRANKLIN
Sheena Franklin is a pioneering force in women's health technology, data strategy, and healthcare innovation. A former federal healthcare lobbyist, she has spent her career shaping policy at the highest levels and advocating for transformative changes in healthcare.
As the Founder & CEO of K’ept Health, Sheena is revolutionizing healthcare delivery through federated machine learning and women’s health informatics, bridging critical data gaps in research, diagnosis, and treatment. Through K’ept Health’s advocacy arm, Ethos, she empowers women to harness health technology, data, and self-advocacy tools to take control of their well-being.
As a sought-after industry expert and advisor, Sheena actively contributes to major conversations on women’s health, AI, and data ethics. Her insights have influenced pharmaceutical companies, life sciences leaders, and consumer health brands, all working toward more inclusive, data-driven healthcare solutions.
RADHA RAJKOTIA
As the Chief Executive Officer of Building Markets, Dr. Radha Rajkotia champions market-based solutions for small businesses in economically vulnerable communities, facilitating their entry into sustainable and profitable supply chain opportunities.
In her previous role as Chief Research and Policy Officer at Innovations for Poverty Action, she spearheaded the execution of IPA's strategy across 22 countries, translating evidence into impactful practice and policy. Dr. Rajkotia spent 11 years as the Senior Director of Economic Recovery and Development at the International Rescue Committee, applying her creative thinking in delivering humanitarian aid and testing groundbreaking ideas on the ground, from cash-based relief to job creation in conflict settings.
Dr. Rajkotia actively contributes to shaping the landscape through her past and current board positions at the Cash Learning Partnership, the Center for Economic Opportunity, and Asphaleia.
Dr. Rajkotia holds a Ph.D. in Refugee Studies (Geography), an MA in Migration Studies, and an MSc in Social Research Methods from the University of Sussex. She is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Henry Leir Institute for Human Security at Tufts University and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University.
JAKE LEVENSON
By day, Jake is a marine biologist in the Environmental Studies Program at the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Co-founder and Executive Director of the conservation organization, Oceans Forward.
Over the past two decades, Jake’s work has taken him around the world. His projects have included capacity-building among fishermen for whale disentanglement in Zanzibar, large sharks off the US Atlantic coast, and the spatial ecology of large whales in Iceland. Additionally, he is the co-founder of Flukebook.org, a global effort that unites marine mammal scientists with the public aimed at increasing our understanding of whale migrations.
He is particularly proud of his volunteer work on the island of Dominica, helping local ocean conservation initiatives. Faced with a shortage in grant opportunities, Jake established a non-profit rum distillery whose goal is to support ocean conservation for the long run.
Jake holds a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from the University of New England, a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University, and is completing a PhD at the University of Massachusetts.
DR. ANDREW GARRETT
Andrew Garrett, MD, MPH is the academic section chief for Emergency Health Operations and is an associate professor at George Washington University's School for Medicine and Health Sciences. His medical specialties are pediatrics, as well as EMS and disaster medicine. He is also board certified in these areas.
Dr. Garrett has over 15 years of leadership experience with the federal disaster response community and has spent much of his career with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the chief medical officer and then director of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), overseeing a system of nearly 7,000 federal employees and over 80 medical, veterinary, and mass fatality disaster response teams. He also spent two years at the White House, most recently as the director for Biodefense and Medical Preparedness on the National Security Council. He has also served as the senior medical adviser to the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) focusing on areas of national health security.
He has deployed both domestically and internationally to over 20 major disasters and public health emergencies, as both a clinical provider and as the chief medical officer to the federal government's Health and Public Health Incident command structure.
KIMBERLY JENKINS
Kimberly M. Jenkins has spent over twelve years studying the impact of our clothes and how we express ourselves, with a mission to help us think more deeply about dress. Kim’s research is grounded in the fields of fashion studies, cultural anthropology and art history, and she is the Founder and Director of Artis Solomon, a fashion academia company that powers platforms teaching fashion history and cultural awareness. The company’s most effective platform is The Fashion and Race Database®️, the first and most trusted online resource that reveals how the construct of race has shaped aesthetics, worldviews and industry practices. Kim’s work in bridging fashion academia with positive impact in the fashion industry has led to partnerships with Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, Holt Renfrew, Instagram Design, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Kim formerly held the position of Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University, Part-time Lecturer at Parsons School of Design and Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute.
MICHAEL SCOTT MOORE
Michael Scott Moore is a journalist, novelist, and author of a comic novel about L.A., Too Much of Nothing, as well as a travel book about surfing, Sweetness and Blood, which was named a best book of 2010 by The Economist. He worked for several years as an editor and writer at Spiegel Online in Berlin, and he was kidnapped in early 2012 on a reporting trip to Somalia and held hostage by pirates for 32 months. The Desert and the Sea, a memoir about that ordeal, became an international bestseller.
He’s written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review, and he currently hosts a podcast called Radio Free Mike.