Eleven exceptional leaders from diverse fields to travel overseas to explore new technologies, international relations, poverty reduction and issues of social justice
PHILADELPHIA, June 21, 2023– Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) announces the selection of 11 dynamic doers from the worlds of artificial intelligence, international relations, poverty reduction, agriculture and philanthropy as recipients of the Eisenhower USA Fellowship in 2023.
These ascendant midcareer leaders will travel in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, South America and the Middle East to pursue individual projects, broaden their horizons and expand their approaches to problem solving that they can apply to their professions and communities when they return home.
The leaders selected for this prestigious program come from across the United States and include five USA Justice Fellows, working in diverse disciplines to advance racial and social justice in their states and communities. Each fellow will travel independently to one or two countries and meet with top practitioners in their respective fields.
“We are thrilled to offer these exceptional leaders a uniquely transformational Eisenhower Fellowship experience to connect them with other like-minded leaders overseas,” said Eisenhower Fellowships Chairman Dr. Robert M. Gates, former U.S. secretary of defense. “Their journeys of exploration will sharpen their skills, expand their knowledge and help them make a positive impact in their professions and their communities when they return home.”
The 2023 Eisenhower USA Fellows include:
- An executive of the artificial intelligence company that created the explosively popular ChatGPT, which provides detailed answers to questions and commands. He plans to visit India and Sweden from his base in Washington, D.C. to understand how their job-security and training programs have prepared them for the workforce transformation brought about by AI innovations.
- A program officer for a prominent Los Angeles community organization who plans to visit Germany and Spain to explore the role that immigrants have played in their societies, the public’s perceptions of the newcomers and the ways that policymakers in those nations have responded.
- One of the nation’s top experts on Native American tribal affairs and restorative justice who plans to visit New Zealand and Australia to learn about those nations’ respective reconciliation efforts with their Maori and aboriginal populations.
- A final services executive from St. Louis who plans to visit Sweden and Colombia to study their disparate but related initiatives to increase financial literacy among disadvantaged communities.
- A Cuban-American nonprofit leader who wants to facilitate diaspora investment in Cuba’s private sector. He plans to visit Taiwan, where expatriate investments sparked growth as a manufacturing hub, and Vietnam, where normalizing ties with the U.S. in the 1990s stimulated significant investment from Vietnamese communities overseas.
Read about the 2023 USA Fellows here.
Now in its 70th year and named for America’s 34th president, Eisenhower Fellowships brings together innovative leaders from across geographies and sectors with the common goal of creating a world that is more peaceful, prosperous and just. Since 1953, more than 2,500 mid-career leaders from 115 countries have benefitted from the unique experience of an Eisenhower Fellowship.
The organization will mark the 70th anniversary of its founding with a World Forum, Leaders Confronting Global Challenges: What Works? in San Francisco, October 12-14, 2023, convening hundreds of Eisenhower Fellows and other thought leaders to share perspectives on emerging solutions to pressing transnational problems at the top of every nation’s agenda.
For more information about the 2023 USA Fellows, please contact Lee West, Director of USA Fellowship Programs at lwest@efworld.org or 215-546-1738