INTERNATIONAL
MAYORS SUMMIT 2021

Jaroslawa Z. Johnson was appointed WNISEF President and CEO effective January 1, 2015. Ms. Johnson directs, oversees and provides overall management for the WNISEF program activities and remains a member of the Fund’s Board of Directors in addition to her role as President and CEO.

Ms. Johnson was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the U.S. as a child. She is a graduate of Goucher College and University of Wisconsin Law School, where she was editor of the law review and earned a J.D. in 1977. After law school, she served as law clerk to Chief Judge Thomas E. Fairchild, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and practiced corporate law with several Chicago law firms.

She is a founding member and former chairperson of America Ukraine Business Council, which sponsored the first American visit of a Ukrainian president in 1991, and she organized the first Ukraine-U.S. Trade Conference for American companies in 1992. She was appointed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton to the Board of Directors of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund in 1994, serving as an active member of the Board since its inception.

Prior to her appointment as President and CEO of WNISEF, Ms. Johnson was managing partner of an international law office in Kyiv, Ukraine, which she launched in the early 1990s. Ms. Johnson’s extensive international corporate practice included counseling corporations in many countries on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, financing transactions, project finance and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance in the US and Central and Eastern Europe.

Over the course of more than two decades of international corporate legal work, Ms. Johnson advised many Fortune 500 companies and other Western multinationals on cross-border transactions with Ukraine. During her many years as an international corporate attorney in Ukraine, Ms. Johnson was consistently recognized by international legal directories as a leading lawyer in Ukraine’s corporate, banking and finance and energy sectors.

In August 2016 Jaroslawa Z. Johnson was awarded a Commemorative Medal on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence by President Petro Poroshenko in recognition of her contribution to Ukraine over the past 23 years.

Iryna coordinates the Local Economic Development Program under which Western NIS Enterprise Fund supported a number of projects. In particular, the e-public procurement system ProZorro, ProZorro.Sale 1991 Open Data Incubator, Technovation Challenge project, CANactions Scholl of Urban Studies, reconstruction of schools in post-war territory, “Hub Schools” project and others.

Previously, Iryna worked at ADETEF, a public agency of French international technical assistance under the Ministry of Finance of France that ensures intergovernmental cooperation between the two countries at the national and regional levels in the field of public finance, audit, public service reform, energy efficiency and transport.

She is a member of the Board of the Professional Government Initiative, which brought together graduates of foreign universities to support the reforms. Iryna conducted a study on the role of graduates of foreign universities as change agents in Ukraine, the results of which were provided to the team of reformers at the Presidential Administration.
Master of Advanced European Studies at College of Europe (Warsaw), Iryna taught European integration policy at the National Academy of Public Administration, where she did her thesis.

Ahmed Aboutaleb (born 1961 in Beni Sidel, Morocco) has been Mayor of Rotterdam since 2009.

Previously, he represented the PvdA (Labor Party) as State Secretary for the Ministry of Social Affairs and

Employment in the fourth Balkenende cabinet (2007-2008) and as an alderman in Amsterdam (2004-2007). At the age of fifteen, Aboutaleb came to the Netherlands for family reunification. The family resided in The Hague, where Aboutaleb successively attended Junior Technical School, Intermediate Technical School and Technical College, graduating in Telecommunications in 1987. Ahmed Aboutaleb is a poetry enthusiast.

1985 – 2007

In the mid-1980s, Aboutaleb started his career in journalism. He was a discussion leader for RVU Television,

made programs for Radio Stad Amsterdam and Radio NoordHolland, and reported for Veronica Radio, NOS Radio and RTL News. In 1991, he moved to public services, holding positions with the Ministry of Welfare, Health and Culture, the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) and Statistics Netherlands (CBS). In 1998 he became an administrator for the Forum institute for multicultural development, and in 2002 he became director of the City of Amsterdam’s sector of Social, Economic and Cultural Development (MEC).

Rotterdam

Mayor Aboutaleb strongly advocates the values enshrined in the Dutch Constitution: freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the principle of non-discrimination. In his view, obtaining Dutch citizenship entails a responsibility to respect and uphold those values and to take part in building the We Society. The more people take part in which, the stronger and more resilient that society will be, both in good and bad times. He’ll regularly take neighborhood strolls throughout Rotterdam to have talks with residents about what concerns them. In 2015, Aboutaleb published two books: an HJ School Reading (published by Elsevier magazine) titled De roep van de stad (“The City’s Call”), covering the leading role cities and urban regions can play at the national and international level, and Droom & Daad (“Dream & Deed”), which was published for the History Week of the Collective Promotion of the Dutch Book foundation (CPNB). In Droom & Daad, he tells a Rotterdam war story to present how to ensure a stable, peaceful society.

Erion Veliaj was born in Tirana in 1979. He was elected as the 42nd Mayor of Tirana in June 2015. Veliaj’s leadership is focused on the implementation of child-friendly policies aimed at transforming Tirana into a long-term sustainable city. As part of his vision of giving the city back to its citizens, Veliaj’s administration worked on the complete renovation of the city’s central square, the Skanderbeg Square, which was awarded the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2018. During his term in office, another major project that has been undertaken by Mayor Veliaj’s team is the Orbital Forest; a two-million tree belt that will serve as a pivotal element in addressing the environmental concerns of the city by 2030.

Veliaj served as Minister of Social Welfare and Youth from September 2013 through April 2015. During his tenure, he introduced sweeping reforms in pensions, welfare payments, employment opportunities and professional education.

In the parliamentary elections of June 2013 Veliaj was elected Member of Parliament for the district of Gjirokastra. His main focus during the electoral campaign was the organization of the voting process for the Albanian immigrants, which resulted in more than 70,000 immigrants voting in elections.

In 2011 Veliaj joined the ranks of the Socialist Party of Albania as Secretary for Youth and Immigration. For the first time, he structured the Socialist Party’s branches in countries where the Albanian Diaspora resides, particularly in Greece and Italy.

In 2003 Veliaj founded the movement “MJAFT” (i.e.: “Enough”), a civic organization which unified activists to raise awareness and inspire peaceful protest for social, educational and political issues in Albania. “MJAFT” gained huge popularity as a youth movement and in 2004, it was granted the United Nations Award for Civil Society by the former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, for its novel methods of peaceful protest. At the time, Veliaj became well-known for his innovative leadership focused on team-work and the delegation of tasks. Veliaj earlier worked with several international humanitarian organizations in the Americas, Eastern Africa and Kosovo.

Veliaj holds a Master’s degree in European Integration from the University of Sussex, UK and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Grand Valley State University, Michigan. In April 2017 Veliaj received the “Doctor Honoris Causa” degree, extended by the Grand Valley State University for his contribution to the improvement of the quality of the public services in Tirana.

Mayor
Year 1960
Member of the City Council for the Social Democrats
Personal votes in the November 2017 elections: 8,024

Blansskov 15, Blans
6400 Sønderborg
Phone: 27 90 02 06
borgmester@sonderborg.dk

• Chairman of the Finance Committee
• Chairman of the  Land Purchase Board
• Chairman of the  Emergency Commission
• Chairman of the Supervisory Boardin Sønderborg Vækstråd
• Member of the University of Southern Denmark’s Board of Representatives
• Member of the Circuit Council regarding the activities of the police
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Project Zero Foundation
• Member of KL’s Board of Representatives
• Member of the Border Triangle Commission – Aabenraa, Sønderborg municipalities and Flensburg city
• Delegated to the Municipal Policy Summit
• Member of the steering committee of AlsFynBroen
• Member of the Southern Traffic Representative Board
• Member of the Board of Directors of Sønderborg Havneselskab A / S
• Member of the EUC South Board
• Member of the Southern Jutland Coordination Committee
• Member of the Board of Directors of Sct. Jørgens Hospital
• Chairman of the Election Board
• Delegated to the Municipal Policy Summit

Member of the Board of Directors of Sønderborg Airport A / S