Ala Qasem

Ala Qasem is a public policy maker and member of the Economic Team advising the Presidential Leadership Council and senior cabinet members in the Republic of Yemen. Ala is also CEO of DeepRoot Consulting, a prominent social enterprise that is focused on Yemen’s development. He previously served as Managing Director of Yemen’s delivery bureau where he led government negotiation efforts to develop a rapid stabilization program for the interim capital Aden, secure debt relief from the IMF, and participate in the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative. In 2013, Yemen went through its largest ever political dialogue exercise which included 556 delegates from all political parties and factions. Ala served as the Technical Advisor for the Consensus Committee of the National Dialogue Conference where he helped members of the committee negotiate and reach agreements on disputed issues. Ala has founded and sits on the board of a number of civil society organizations in Yemen, including Resonate Yemen, the Civil Alliance for Peacebuilding, and Yemen Youth Observatory. He has an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.