WEInstitute administration

The Staff of the WEInstitute include an executive level of administration assisted by the coordination and expertise of regional and programmatic directors. The focus regions where the WEInstitute operates include the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region), the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC region), and South East Europe (SEE region), the East African region and the Southeast Asia regions. The programmatic areas include program development for partnerships with international organizations, intercultural relations, judicial development, educational programming development, institutional business development, inclusive programming development and inter-governmental affairs.

Major General (Ret.) Charles E. Tucker, Jr., J.D.
Executive Director / Chief Executive Officer

Major General (Ret.) Charles E. Tucker, Jr., JD, is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the World Engagement Institute ("WEInstitute"). He previously served as the Executive Director of the International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI), Chicago, Illinois.  General Tucker's mission is to develop and promote the fundamental rights of peoples around the world through education, research, documentation, capacity-building and advocacy. To accomplish this, he and the WEInstitute engage in contemporary human rights and rule of law research, training and advocacy, as well as in post-conflict justice capacity-building programs and large-scale human rights documentation projects throughout the world. General Tucker prepares international students, professionals and scholars for institutional capacity-building, rule of law and human rights careers by administering international institutional development projects, fellowship programs, special courses, internships and research opportunities in Chicago and abroad. Prior to founding the WEInstitute, General Tucker served as an international rule of law and humanitarian law practitioner, mostly with the U.S. Government. 

He was routinely seconded to the U.S. State Department and various International Organizations. He served multiple tours of duty with the United Nations in various countries and served as Economic and Legal Adviser for the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also served as an International Law Adviser in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense. Additionally, he served as Legal Adviser for the U.S. Ambassador in Iraq, as well as for State Department and DOD missions in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Central and South America. In his civilian capacity, he served as a Senior Field Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, where he oversaw the NLRB General Counsel's adjudication of complex labor rights cases. General Tucker is an accomplished lecturer and has authored numerous articles and manuals on international legal matters.  He has served as an Assistant Professor of Law at the U.S. Air Force Academy, as well as Course Director of the Academy's Comparative International Law Program. He is the founding Co-Editor of the USAFA Journal of Legal Studies. And he served as Adjunct Professor of Management for Bradley University and as an Adjunct faculty member for Wayland College. He is a 1979 graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA, Government), a 1982 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law (JD) and a 2003 graduate of the US Air War College. Prior to his retirement from the military in April 2009, Major General Tucker served on the joint staff of the National Guard Bureau. As the Director of Joint Doctrine, Training and Force Development, he was responsible for developing training and exercise policies and programs to ensure joint units of the National Guard were ready to respond to their homeland defense and homeland security missions. In addition, he formulated National Guard Joint Professional Military Education policy, coordinated periodic review of all Joint Professional Military Education curricula, and provided Joint Staff oversight to National Guard Homeland Defense and Joint Inter-agency Training Centers.

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Dr. Karen Hunt Ahamed, Ph.D.
Deputy executive Director

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• Karen Hunt Ahmed is Assistant Professor of Finance and Management at DePaul University.  She received a BA and MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MA and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She has worked in the banking sector in Chicago and in private equity in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  She is currently teaching Islamic Finance, Microfinance and Business Ethics at DePaul University’s College of Commerce.  Her research interests include culture and identity, financial empowerment, Islamic finance, microfinance, globalization, and the sociocultural implications of business practice; she is working on an edited volume entitled Contemporary Islamic Finance. Dr. Hunt Ahmed is a Faculty Fellow of DePaul’s Egan Urban Center and serves on the advisory committee of DePaul’s Center for Financial Services. She serves as Treasurer of the Board of Refugee One and is a member of the Board of Haven Youth Services in Wilmette, IL. She is the President of Chicago Islamic Microfinance Project, a not for profit economic development organization that provides Shari'a compliant microcredit to entrepreneurs in Chicago.  Karen lives in Wilmette with her daughters and enjoys karate.  She lived in Dubai for many years and has traveled extensively in the Middle East, Pakistan, Africa and Europe.

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Mrs. Sawsan Alfayez
Programing Director for Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA)

Mrs. Sawsan Alfayez is a Board Director of the Jordanian Alliance Against Hunger (JAAH), a coalition of organizations dedicated to food security and sustainable agriculture in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. She is currently working with Regional Centre on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development for the Near East (CARDNE) and other regional organizations for the development of the Regional Alliance Against Hunger. Previously Mrs. Alfayez served as JAAH’s Director and worked with Jordan’s Ministry of Agriculture for over 20 years serving in various managerial capacities including Regional Director and Gender Unit Director. Mrs. Alfayez developed, coordinated, and provided training to numerous project related to gender development in Jordan and the region in collaboration with national, international, and UN agencies and program.  She is an active member on distinguished boards and organizations including The Jordanian National Committee for women (JNCW),

The Jordanian National Forum for Women (JNFW), Tele-Food and World-Food Organizing Committee, Gender Mainstreaming Committee (MOA), Bio-Diversity Committee NCART&UNDP, Training Committee (Jordanian Agricultural Engineers Syndicate). Mrs. Alfayez utilized her education, experience, and training to lead and successfully run a number of national projects including:  Action Plan for Gender Mainstreaming in Rural Development / Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Strengthening Gender Unit in MOA / World Food Program (WFP), The Danish Regional Agricultural Development /Women Component, Head of Women Component in the Region (Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Palestine), Telefood projects / FAO, Rural Women- Income Improvement in the Eastern Districts / FAO , Rural Women Exhibition / WFP, Building Capacities for Women in the Agricultural Sector with Jordanian Agricultural Syndicate.  Mrs. Alfayez also supervised the following projects in collaboration with international agencies: Poultry Raising with Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization, Goat Raising with Swiss-Agency, the Permanent Rural Exhibition with Arab Agricultural Organization, Home Garden with FAO. 

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Mr. Eldin Kajevic, M.B.A.
Executive Vice President for South Eastern European (SEE) Affairs

Mr. Eldin Kajevic, MBA is the Executive Vice President for South Eastern European Affairs for the World Engagement Institute.  He previously served as the Consul General of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Chicago. In this capacity, he was responsible for developing educational, scientific, economic, trade and cultural exchange between Bosnia and Herzegovina and 24 U.S. States. Prior to his diplomatic post, Mr. Kajevic served on the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees of Bosnian American and Bosnian Canadian NGO’s advocating for Bosnians and Herzegovinians in the U.S. and Canada by fostering democratic policy, encouraging respect for human rights, and initiating educational and developmental programs. Before joining diplomacy, he held various corporate management positions in the U.S. and Canada where he was responsible for marketing, merchandising, vendor relations, P&L management and contract negotiations; he managed all aspects of business performance related to $400 million business categories. With the in depth knowledge of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, combined with his international diplomatic and corporate experience, Mr. Kajevic joins WEI team to foster relationships, promote economic development and build capacities of South Eastern European region.

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Lawrence H. (Larry) Rubly, M.A., M.S., M.B.A.
Executive Vice President for Business Development and Distance Education
Senior International Fellow

Lawrence H. (Larry) Rubly is a career educator and international training program developer with two Masters Degrees in Linguistics and an MBA in Marketing and Finance. He has been an industry practitioner since 1974 and adjunct professor at Oakton Community College since 1983. After completing military service as a Linguist in Germany, he joined the Language House division of Telemedia, Inc., where he developed an, at the time, innovative form of distance learning by implementing portable cassette and 800# technology to teach foreign languages to US executives, doing business abroad. As Bid & Proposal Manager for Telemedia,, Inc., he created a helicopter-specific pre-technical EFL program for 5-year, $80 million subcontract to Bell Helicopter International under an FMS case to build the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) and developed and negotiated 3-year, $100 million contract to build and run the language & technical training center at Dammam for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF). As Contracts Manager for EG&G/InterTech, he provided management support to the US Navy under $3.1 billion Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case to enhance the RSNF as a component of the Saudi Naval Expansion Program (SNEP).

Together with another practitioner colleague, Professor Rubly launched the Global Business Studies (formerly International Trade) Program at Oakton Community College and created the Certificate in Global Business that allows students anywhere in the world to earn a US academic credential entirely online within 12 months. A pioneer in distance education, Mr. Rubly built the online delivery organization for DeVry University’s Keller Graduate School of Management division and grew it into what is now DeVry University Online. Mr. Rubly’s governance work includes Chairmanship of the Board of Directors of Heartland International, a Chicago-based NGO, dedicated to promoting worldwide civil society; Membership of the Board of Directors of The Cradle, the oldest adoption agency in the US and Chair of the Board Committee for Adoption Learning Partners, the online and onsite training arm of The Cradle and Membership of the Board of Directors of Study Illinois, a not-for-profit consortium of Illinois colleges & universities, dedicated to bringing international students to Illinois post-secondary institutions.

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Prof. Patricia A. Szczerba, M.A.
Director of International Organizations Partnership Development
Vice President for United Nations Relations

Prof. Patricia A. Szczerba is Vice President for United Nations Relations and Co-founder of the World Engagement Institute (WEInstitute). She began her career as a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools and later was the United Nations Representative for a NGO in New York and was a senior writer for The World section for the Universal Almanac and The New York Times Almanac.  As an Adjunct Instructor at DePaul University School for New Learning she facilitated SNL’s association with the United Nations Department of Public Information in 1997 and established two ongoing UN related courses and designed a number of programs whereby DePaul students and faculty in several colleges provided pro bono services for several UN offices, including internships.  She created the first university course taught by UN ambassadors and senior officials via video conferencing and created the first university course that includes attending the annual UN conference for NGOs affiliated with the Department of Public Information (DPI) with students and faculty traveling to New York, Paris, Mexico City and Bonn, Germany.  She designed and taught online courses on globalization and human rights and in the classroom taught courses on United Nations and international business, human rights and computer technology. She also taught in a master’s program in Bangkok, Thailand.