2012 Executive Board

John J. "Ian" Kelly IV
Symposium Co-Director | kelly.ianj@gmail.com
Ian is a bachelors candidate of International Relations and Environmental Studies, with concentrations in Security Studies and Economics at Tufts University. He is completing coursework at the School of Arts and Sciences and the Fletcher School of International Affairs. He has recently conducted research in North Korea, South Korea, Beijing and Colombia at the following universities: Seoul National, Yonsei, Peking, and Stanford. He has also recently finished an internship as a summer field researcher for the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Last year he was a member of the programming and operations teams for the annual EPIIC symposium, Our Nuclear Age: Peril or Promise?

Ye Shen
Symposium Co-Director
Ye is a bachelors candidate of International Relations, with concentrations in Global Health, Nutrition and the Environment at Tufts University. As the panel coordinator for “China and South China Sea,” she was part of the programming team for the Tufts 4th Annual China-US Symposium last year. Ye is a Chinese national from Nanjing. She is active on and beyond campus in seeking the resolution of global issues through connecting future key players of all backgrounds for better understanding and relations. Last summer, she worked with five peers on an education initiative that provided necessary US college related resources for outstanding prospective students from China.

Albert Buixadé Farré
Co-Head of Strategic Development, Head of Economics and Business Panel
Albert is a masters candidate of International Relations, specializing in geopolitics, public policy, and Pacific Asia at the Fletcher school. Albert is from Spain, where he earned a Bachelors degree in Business. Upon graduation Albert moved to Berkeley, California, where he studied one year of international business and finance, and went on to work in a CPA firm in San Francisco for three years.

Yihao Li
Board Member; Representative of Tufts GCC to the Symposium
Yihao is a bachelors candidate of International Relations with a minor in entrepreneurial leadership at Tufts University. He is originally from Beijing, China but has lived and studied in 4 countries around the world. His research paper on Sino-U.S. relations has been published on nationally circulated journals. He is the co-founder and co-president of Tufts Global China Connection, part of the world’s largest student-run non-profit that’s dedicated to the promotion of China-Global relations. He was elected treasurer of the Sophomore Class Council, programming university-wide events. He was also the chief designer for the Tufts Energy Conference 2011.

Jiefei (Faye) Yuan
Head of Law and Development Panel
Faye is a first year Master's candidate at the Fletcher School of Law of Diplomacy studying International Business Relations and Law and Development. Born in Shanghai, China, Faye grew up in the States earning her Bachelor's degree at Wellesley College in Political Science and Economics. Prior to matriculation at Fletcher, Faye worked at a private law firm before joining the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission where she investigated antitrust cases and reviewed M&As in Washington, D.C..

Philip Ballentine
Head of Military Security Panel; Representative of ALLIES to the Symposium
Philip is a bachelors candidate in International Relations with a concentration in East Asia and in Chinese at Tufts University. A sophomore from Denver, Colorado, he is taking Mandarin and will be studying abroad in China next fall. He is the secretary of Tufts ALLIES (The Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services), a civil-military relations discussion and advocacy group, through which he has been involved with conferences like the 2011 ALLIES Intellectual Roundtable and held weekly discussion meeting and events.

Simon Henderson
Co-head of Diplomacy and Engagement Panel
Simon is an LLM student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, specializing in public international law. He has a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws from The Australian National University. Simon is admitted as a lawyer of The Supreme Court of The Australian Capital Territory. He studied business and economic development in China as an exchange student at The University of Hong Kong. In 2008, Simon returned to Hong Kong working as a Research Assistant Intern at Human Rights in China. He has since worked at the Law Council of Australia as a Policy Lawyer and has been a volunteer with the Australia-China Youth Association. He has travelled extensively throughout East Asia and speaks intermediate Mandarin and basic Cantonese.

Grace Choi
Co-head of Diplomacy and Engagement Panel
Grace is a master’s candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy pursuing concentrations in Pacific Asia, Conflict Resolution, and Forced Migration. She graduated from Boston College with a degree in International Affairs. At Fletcher, she has served as Professor Sung-Yoon Lee's Teaching Assistant for two courses: "International Relations of the US and East Asia" and "Politics of the Korean Peninsula." Before Fletcher, she worked for two years at a litigation law firm conducting pro bono, legal research for Asian refugees. This past summer, she interned with the Refugee Affairs Division at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and worked on projects related to the Asia Desk Officer position.

Yunmo Ben Wang
Board Member; Representative of Tufts GCC to the Symposium
Ben is a bachelors candidate of International Relations, with a concentration in East and Southeast Asia at Tufts University. Born in Nanjing, China, he grew up in Toronto, Canada before moving back to Shanghai. Ben serves as the co-President of the Tufts University Chapter of Global China Connection, and is also a part of the organization's central management team. He has been working at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative's Satellite Sentinel Project, a group initiated by George Clooney to monitor war crimes and threats to security in Sudan. Ben speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, intermediate French, and beginner Japanese.

Saman Nargund
Assistant Coordinator of Operations, Marketing and Programming
Saman is a bachelor’s candidate of International Relations with a minor in Philosophy. Singaporean by birth, Saman has extensive cultural experience in Dubai, Moscow, Paris, Cairo, Amman, and Beirut, as well as in India and Pakistan. Saman is intrigued by the study of culture, international politics, history, and their interactions. Her fascination with the role of media in international dialogue has taught her the strong affects of film, literature, and photography on social movements such as the Arab spring, which she has researched and written about. Saman has experience in South Asian media corporations, photograph production and administration, and has interned at a branch of Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry. She is currently the photography editor for Hemispheres, the Tufts Journal of International Affairs. Saman is a native speaker of Hindi and English, and is currently learning French.

Xiaoyue Hou
Head of Marketing, and Web design teams
Xiaoyue is a Research Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy focusing on climate-smart agriculture. Prior to joining Fletcher, she worked at the World Bank in the Agriculture and Development Department on knowledge sharing, marketing, and online communications. She holds a joint bachelors degree of Economics and International Studies from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. She has also studied abroad in Japan and England. In 2008, she was a volunteer for the 2008 Summer Olympics, working as an interpreter and an assistant to the Deputy Director of the Media Center.