ADVISORY BOARD
Kaush ARHA
PRESIDENT OF THE ADVISORY BOARD
Kaush Arha is the President of the Free &: Open Indo-Pacific Forum and a senior visiting
fellow at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. He is the architect of Trusted
Connectivity, a framework for a free, open and connected world, constituting the
democracies’ response to global infrastructure gap. He also served as a nonresident senior
fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. Arha previously served as United States
Agency for International Development’s (USAID) senior advisor on strategic engagement. He
was a senior transition advisor at the US embassy in Kabul and directed the US inter-agency
agricultural assistance in building the Afghan agricultural economy as senior coordinator
for agriculture. Prior to that, Arha also served as the deputy assistant secretary and
associate solicitor general in the Department of the Interior.
Mukesh AGHI
Dr. Mukesh Aghi is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the US- India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF). He previously served as Chief Executive and Member of the Board at L&T Infotech, and, before that, he served as Chairman and CEO of the Asia-Pacific region for Steria, Inc. (India). He was the founding CEO of Universitas 21 Global, the world’s largest consortium of research-led universities. Earlier in his career, Aghi served as President of IBM India for IBM Corporation, and spent time working with Ariba, Inc. and JD Edwards & Co. He holds several degrees, including a Ph.D. in international relations from Claremont Graduate University, where he currently serves as a trustee.
Ebtesam AL KETBI
Dr. Ebtesam Al-Ketbi is a political scientist who founded and presides over The Emirates Policy Center think tank. Dr. Al-Ketbi is a Professor of Political Science at the United Arab Emirates University. In 2015 she was appointed Member of the Consultative Commission of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In 2018 she ranked among the ‘50 Most Influential Women’ in the Arab world, while in 2019, Dr. Al-Ketbi received the ‘Women Super Achiever Award’ during the World Women Leadership Congress. In 2021, she was made an Advisor on the Global Commission for Post-Pandemic Policy.
Roberto ANTONIONE
Roberto Antonione is President of the United World College of the Adriatic. Antonione has served as MP and Senator for the Italian Republic, Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President of the Parliamentary Delegation for the Central European Initiative (CEI), and later CEI Secretary General. He has served as President of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region from 1998 to 2001. He has received numerous accolades, including the CEI Medal of Honour awarded by the Austrian Presidency of CEI.