Watson Events

Careers in Policy, Politics and Development — A CareerCon event

Stephen Harrington, 2013, MPP, serves as the Director, Engagement and External Affairs at the Greater Washington Partnership, a civic alliance of leading employers including Amazon, Capital One, and Exelon. His work with major employers, business groups, and advocates resulted in historic legislation that secured long-term funding for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority across Maryland, Virginia, and the District. Additionally, Stephen leads the Partnership’s Framework for Regional Housing that aims to stabilize and improve the Washington area’s housing market. Previously Stephen worked for the National Governors Association (NGA) where he advised governors on legislative strategy and policy. While at NGA he managed a five-state initiative to improve coordination between government agencies to increase access for low-income families to employment, education, and social services.

Ellie Adair, 2018, Public Policy, is the Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a non-profit that works to evaluate the value of new interventions on the health care system. Prior to coming to ICER, Ellie was the Director of Membership for the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation (NEHI), a national health policy think tank working to break down the silos in health care.  Previous to that, she was the Executive Director at the Massachusetts National Organization for Women (Mass NOW), which works to advance intersectional justice for all those who identify as women in Massachusetts. She currently serves on the board of the Mass NOW Foundation as an at-large member.

Sabin Ray, 2015, International Relations, is a Research Manager for Cities4Forests, an initiative focused on helping cities better conserve, manage, and restore urban green spaces, nearby watersheds, and tropical forests. She works with 60+ cities in 26 countries to deliver actionable insights for municipal governments to maximize the benefits from trees for health, water, biodiversity, climate, and economic development. Sabin previously worked with WRI’s Global Restoration Initiative, where her research looked to accelerate landscape restoration globally. She specialized in governance, monitoring, and movement building. Before joining WRI, Sabin worked on a consumer-focused innovation strategy for CDP in Berlin and helped U.S.-based non-profit Ecotrust with its communication and outreach initiatives. Sabin holds a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University. A dual national of the United States and Germany, Sabin grew up in between Oregon, France, and Japan. She’s lived and worked in six international cities: Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Washington, DC, São Paulo, and now San Francisco. She speaks fluent French, Spanish and Portuguese and conversational German, and Japanese.

Julia Ladics, 2017, Development Studies and Economics, 2018 MPA, is a Research Fellow at Evidence for Policy Design at the Harvard Kennedy School, working with Professor Asim Khawja on projects related to education financing and state authority in Pakistan. Prior to joining EPoD, Julia was a consultant in the Education Global Practice of the World Bank, examining the use of classroom observation tools for teacher evaluation in developing countries. She graduated from Brown with a BA in Development Studies and Economics in 2017, and an MPA also from Brown in 2018. While at Brown, Julia was a member of the Brown Taekwondo Team and illustrated for the Brown Political Review.

While at Brown, Tolu Sogade, 2019, International Relations and French, was involved with many student groups and centers, notably the BCSC, the Swearer Center, and the League for United Black Women. She also had the privilege of writing for various publications, such as Fashion at Brown, the Brown Political Review, and the Swearer Center. She worked as an RPL for three years and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. During her junior year, she studied abroad as part of the Brown in Paris program, completing courses at the Sorbonne, Paris 8, and l’Atelier des Beaux-Arts while also volunteering at a center for immigrant families. During the summers, she interned at the House of Representatives, at the C.H.H. Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School, and on a gubernatorial campaign in Atlanta. She thoroughly enjoyed photographing various events while at Brown and continues her passion for photography now in New York. She currently works at Bloomberg as a News and Economic Product Analyst and participates in various Bloomberg Philanthropy projects.