Facilitators and Mentors

Alumni often tell us that GES is able to achieve such a personalized and impactful result because it’s a conference designed for students and run by students. But as students, we don’t always have all the answers. That’s why we find professionals from the field and bring them to the Summit to facilitate all Summit programming from workshops to mentorship. Our facilitators have years of experience in a wide range of industries — from consultants specializing in nonprofit clientele to CEOs of successful solutions-driven startups — and provide delegates with valuable feedback on their projects through an experienced business lens.

Throughout the Summit, all delegates have the chance to interact with these experts in a variety of settings: in 10-person workshops, during talks and seminars and through one-on-one mentoring sessions.

Facilitators travel to the Summit from all over the world specifically to meet delegates and engage with their projects, and these unique, personalized, professional connections often extend beyond the Summit. In other words, when you graduate from GES, you join a family of global changemakers dedicated to sharing ideas and assets.

Facilitator Spotlight: Laura Lucas Magnuson

Laura Lucas Magnuson is the Executive Vice President for Global Programs at the Obama Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation in May 2021, she served as the Vice President for Communications and Strategy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

Laura was a Foreign Service Officer focusing on public diplomacy at the U.S. State Department for more than a decade, serving at the U.S. embassies in Nepal and the Czech Republic and in the office of NATO affairs. She served as the spokesperson for the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and the press unit chief for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

Laura holds an Executive MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BA from the University of Oregon. Laura has hosted her workshop, “Nonprofit Management,” at multiple Summits, helping delegates identify two key management areas of focus to build more efficient, sustainable, and focused operations.

Should you have question about becoming a facilitator or mentor, please reach out to content@thegesnu.org.