Our staff
Ayah Al-Zubi
Program Assistant
Ayah Al-Zubi works with the program team to help manage, design, and deliver a transformative experience for ALI Fellows through an enriching curriculum and events.
Prior to ALI, Ayah ran for local office to create and advance meaningful change in her community. She has led organizations, such as the Harvard Undergraduate Global Education Movement, that center social impact for young people around the world and co-created the Harvard Undergraduate Sports Lab where sports meet social change in all sectors. She has spearheaded innovative curricula that utilizes sports to empower young women for non-profits, as well as soft skills curricula for students from various backgrounds.
Ayah holds a Bachelor's of Arts in Sociology from Harvard College.
Kelsey Aslett
Coalition Manager
Kelsey Aslett acts as the primary, day-to-day point of contact between ALI and the program’s alumni community, known as the ALI Coalition. She works closely with ALI staff and faculty leadership to increase engagement and maintain connections between our past fellows and partners to ALI.
Prior to working at ALI, Kelsey was an account manager for a small, female minority-owned business in North Texas. She assisted state agencies, primary and higher educational institutions, and local municipalities with achieving their diversity spending and socioeconomic goals.
Kelsey has her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of North Texas.
p: 617.495.3365
Claudia Cabral
University Engagement Coordinator
Claudia Cabral identifies and builds connections with faculty, centers, and students across campus, helping ALI Fellows navigate and tap into Harvard resources to maximize their social impact.
Prior to ALI, Claudia served as the Co-Director of the Social Sciences at the Pre-College Research Institute, a student-run nonprofit that provides research methodology education and mentorship to high school students from underrepresented groups in academia. She led lecture designs, training for assistant directors and mentors, and organizational logistics for the education committee. She also served as the Program Administrative Assistant for ALI to provide technological support for fellows and data entry and revision of the CRM system.
Claudia has a B.A. in Sociology from Harvard College (cum laude).
p: 617.384.9533
Joe Chen
Administrative Assistant
Joe Chen provides administrative support to the ALI team, assists with daily office needs, and manages ALI’s general operational activities.
Prior to joining ALI, Joe was an operations assistant at a legal services company in New York City, responsible for all the administrative functions that facilitate the smooth running of a busy Midtown office. Joe also worked in the External Relations department at Columbia Business School, providing administrative support, quality assurance, and research support for a team of five donor relations professionals.
Joe holds an M.B.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
p: 617.495.7084
Mike Emery
Senior Director for Recruitment and Coalition
Mike Emery is responsible for expanding ALI’s capacity to identify, engage, and deliver portfolios of distinguished Fellowship candidates that result in the selection of exceptional cohorts of Advanced Leadership Fellows committed to positive social impact.
Prior to ALI, Mike conducted retained executive search for entrepreneurial, high growth companies nationwide, working first in-house at the venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, and later in boutique search practices. Previously, he led market research activities at Telecommunications Cooperative Network, a start-up provider of technology services to underserved nonprofit organizations, and directed fundraising research services at Harvard during what was, at the time, the largest campaign in higher education history.
Mike has bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Geography from Boston University.
p: 617.495.7731
Denise LiGreci
Curriculum Manager
Denise LiGreci manages the design and delivery of ALI’s Core Curriculum and related programming, supporting ALI cohorts in their learning journey throughout the year.
Prior to ALI, Denise managed a journalism fellowship program focused on social impact issues at The GroundTruth Project. Previously, she was a Program Officer at the Scholars at Risk Network, a network of higher education institutions including Harvard University dedicated to protecting scholars suffering grave threats and promoting the freedom to think, question, and share ideas. She also held roles coordinating global programs and services at New York University.
Denise received her M.A. in International Education from New York University, where she was a Provost Global Research Fellow. She received her B.A. in English Literature and International Studies from Fairfield University.
p: 617.496.5499
Bryan Panzano
Fellowship Director
Bryan Panzano leads the team to support ALI Fellows and Partners during their fellowship year. He provides overall management of ALI programming and operations and develops connections with faculty, centers, and students across campus, helping ALI Fellows navigate and tap into Harvard resources.
Prior to his work at ALI, Bryan was a consultant for The Boston Foundation, developing case studies and teaching guides for the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He developed a passion for social impact while working as a Teach for America Corps Member, teaching 7th and 8th grade English in Denver, Colorado. While in Colorado, he also served as an Urban Leaders Fellow for Senator Mike Johnston, and a Policy and Advocacy Fellow for Leadership for Educational Equity.
Bryan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in Romance Languages and Literature, and from the Harvard Kennedy School with a Masters in Public Policy.
p: 617.384.9002
Victoria Royal
Senior Program Coordinator
Victoria Royal works to design and deliver innovative programming for ALI cohorts and Coalition members across a wide array of topics and learning formats throughout the year.
Prior to ALI, Victoria was an editorial assistant at Bedford/St. Martin’s, a college textbook publisher. She assisted with the development of American, Western Civilization, and world history textbooks, in addition to handling administrative tasks for the History Department.
Victoria has a B.A. in English from Wellesley College.
p: 617.496.8496
Tina Tourt
Senior Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Tina works on managing multi-media communications to advance ALI’s goals for recruitment, brand positioning, and thought leadership on social impact leadership and innovation. She creates and disseminates content, materials and messaging for ALI and its broad constituents.
Prior to joining ALI, Tina was a program coordinator for the Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator at Harvard Business School where she executed events that brought together influencers and industry leaders in the disease-curing space. She created content for newsletters, social media, and digital channels that shared key insights for further collaboration. Tina also spent two years working in the health care sector managing operations for the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorder group.
She holds a BA degree in Biology, and MS in Management from Boston University.
p: 617.496.5498