About Us
Engage-AI is committed to promoting the responsible use of AI/ML technologies to drive positive social impact and environmental sustainability.
MISSION
We seek to promote the responsible use of AI/ML technologies to drive positive social impact and environmental sustainability.
VISION
We envision a future where communities worldwide use AI/ML to prosper while safeguarding the planet.
VALUES
Our values reflect a commitment to promoting inclusive social and economic progress, human-centered AI/ML development, and collabortion for collective impact.
Our Team
Our team includes experts in various fields, including social and economic development, technology, data science, and communications.
They drive our mission forward and their contributions to advancing AI/ML innovation for sustainable development.
Emad Tinawi
Executive Director
Emad Tinawi is Engage-AI’s founder. He has more than 30 years of experience in social and economic development, including as a senior partner in the government consulting practice of Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) in Dubai; as director of thought leadership for PWC’s Middle East Public Sector Institute; and as managing partner for the Middle East and North Africa at the Monitor Group. Mr. Tinawi has worked closely with senior government leaders on economic growth and social fairness and has led economic development projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other governmental institutions. He was a senior advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the Middle East and a member of the World Bank's Advisory Panel on the Middle East and North Africa.
Ryan T. White, PhD
Senior Advisor on Data Sciences
Ryan T. White is a mathematician, researcher, and consultant with expertise in machine learning (ML) and probability theory, along with private-sector experience in algorithm development and data science. Dr. White is an assistant professor of mathematics at the Florida Institute of Technology, where he leads an active research program centered on stochastic analysis and related algorithms. Dr. White also heads private-sector contracts in ML and participates in numerous scientific and engineering research projects. He is authoring two textbooks, and teaches ML, neural networks, probability, and statistics at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Art Westneat, PhD
Senior Development Economist
Art Westneat is a political economist with a 40-year career working on African economic issues, particularly in agriculture and the private sector. Dr. Westneat has a strong background in field research, economic analysis, capacity development, communications, and project management and evaluation; he has more than a decade of long- and short-term work experience in multiple countries in sub-Saharan Africa. His Ph.D. is a jointly conferred degree in public policy and political science. Dr. Westneat also holds degrees in economics and agricultural economics. He has extensive training in statistics and econometrics and was an award-winning statistics instructor at Indiana University.
Cynthia Almansi, MA
Communications Advisor
Cynthia Almansi is a communications strategist focusing on social good and the arts. She became involved with the international development sector during her time in Washington DC, where she worked on projects mainly in Latin America and Africa for clients such as USAID, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. She holds an MA in Arts, Culture and Society from Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands) and while in Europe gained experience as a cultural organizer and docent. Ms. Almansi is currently a PhD Candidate in Social Anthropology at Universidad Nacional de San Martín (Argentina) researching sociability among artists in the city of Buenos Aires.
Maia Dolinko
Contributing Editor
Maia has been a human rights lawyer and consultant for more than 26 years, and has worked on legal and human rights issues in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines and Cambodia. Her main areas of expertise are in economic, social and cultural rights, including land rights, rights of indigenous peoples and environmental issues. She also has experience in the fields of rule of law and access to justice as well as other civil and political rights. She has taught and designed educational materials on law and human rights for formal and informal educational courses. In the past 10 years she has been editing articles, reports, and both fiction and non-fiction books. She does copy editing, developmental editing and proofreading, and aims to assist authors in finding their voices and express themselves and their ideas in a clear, consistent and engaging manner.
Advisory Committee
Engage-AI's Advisory Committee includes leaders and experts in various fields including education, data technology, and the United Nations. They assist the team in guiding strategic direction and initiatives.