Leadership

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Sean Parker is a philanthropist and entrepreneur with a record of launching genre-defining companies. The co-founder of Napster at age 19 and Plaxo at 21, in 2004 he joined with Mark Zuckerberg to develop the online social network Facebook and served as Facebook's founding president. In 2007, Mr. Parker co-founded Causes on Facebook, which registered 180 million people to donate money and take action via Facebook; and, in 2014 announced his backing of a new initiative called Brigade an online platform for civic engagement. Mr. Parker is also a board member at Spotify. Mr. Parker has been recognized for his leadership in funding and promoting research into the relationship between the immune system and cancer, and helping to establish the Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C) Immunotherapy Dream Team. In 2013, he was honored by the Cancer Research Institute with the Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research. Mr. Parker has continued to advance critical research in life sciences with a recent pledge of $24 million to the Stanford University School of Medicine to launch the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford University.  

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John Lettieri is Co-founder and President of the Economic Innovation Group (EIG). He leads EIG’s policy development, economic research, and legislative affairs efforts to study and address regional inequality and the decline of economic dynamism in the United States.

John's career in public policy has included time in both the public and private sectors working with a diverse set of policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors, and global business leaders.

Prior to EIG, John was the Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for a leading business association, the Organization for International Investment (OFII), where he led the organization's state and federal policy work on such issues as tax reform, trade, investment promotion, and manufacturing. Before joining OFII, John was Director of Public and Government Affairs for a global aerospace manufacturer. He previously served as a foreign policy aide to former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, who was then a senior member of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

John's commentary and research have been cited in the AP, The Atlantic,  Bloomberg, Daily Beast, Fast Company, Financial Times, Fox News, The Hill, NPR, New York Times, Time, USA Today, Vox, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, San Francisco Chronicle, and others.

John is a graduate of Wake Forest University where he studied political science and global commerce. He serves on the Board of Regents at The Fund for American Studies, the Board of Directors for Lincoln Network, and the Board of Directors for Friends of the National Zoo. He lives with his wife and children in Washington, D.C.

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Amanda Byrd is a seasoned communications and public affairs strategist with wide-ranging experience in driving media and influencer engagement for global corporations, startups, advocacy groups, academia and nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining EIG, Amanda was a director at Spectrum, where she worked with healthcare and science clients driving thought leadership and navigating government and public policy issues. Prior to joining Spectrum, Amanda was a director at 463 Communications, where she oversaw public affairs campaigns for technology, energy and political clients including Fortune 100 corporations, startups and industry associations. Amanda holds a Masters degree in Integrated Marketing Communications with a concentration in new media and holds BA degrees in Political Science and Communications from West Virginia University.  

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Milica Cosic is the Director for Events and Operations at the Economic Innovation Group. She has researched and published on a range of economic and international security issues for the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Brookings Institution. Milica received her B.A. in Political Science with Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is currently working towards her M.A. in Security Studies at Georgetown University.

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Kenan Fikri serves as EIG’s Director for Research and Policy Development.  Prior to joining EIG, Kenan was a Senior Policy Analyst and Associate Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.  There he was responsible for conceptualizing and executing a wide array of economic research and policy projects.  An expert in place-based economic analysis, Kenan has considerable experience advising state and local officials on economic development and regional competitiveness strategies.  Kenan has also served as a consultant with The World Bank Group’s competitive cities team. Kenan obtained his Masters Degree in Local Economic Development from the London School of Economics and his Bachelor’s in International Relations and Economics at American University.