Marjan H. Ehsassi is the Senior Director, Governance & Global Health at Global Communities. Most recently, she led the Principled Engagement Initiative and was Senior Policy Fellow at Georgetown University's Institute for Women, Peace and Security. With over 20 years of experience, she has served as Executive Director and COO in both public and private sectors. Marjan is the Founder and President of BlackFish Advocates, an organization dedicated to engagement with civil society in complex and closed environments. As Senior Program Manager, she managed democracy and governance programs in Asia at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) as well as rule of law and judicial reform programs in the MENA region at the American Bar Association (ABA-ROLI). She worked with the Gender Equality Group in the Office of the Chief Economist at the World Bank. Marjan began her legal career with Blake Cassels & Graydon in Toronto before joining the litigation team at the New York offices of Sherman & Sterling. She earned a BA in International Relations from the University of Toronto and an LL.M from McGill University in Montreal. Originally from Iran, she was born in Geneva and speaks English, French and Farsi with native fluency. Marjan sits on several Boards, presents widely and has been a regular contributor to various news channels, including BBC and Voice of America.