MEET THE HELLO EUROPE TEAM
KENNY CLEWETT: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Kenny leads Hello Europe as the Executive Director, providing resources and leadership to the different accelerators around Europe as well as the European Migration Summit. He is based in Madrid, Spain. Before joining Hello Europe, Kenny led a number of initiatives within Ashoka, including Search and Selection in Spain, Start Empathy in the US and helped found Young Changemakers. He has also worked in strategic consulting as well as with a faith-based organisation. He has a degree in Humanities from the University of Alcala de Henares and a Masters in Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago.
“A few years ago, through a family member, my eyes were opened to how privileged I was as a white European, and how different life experience was for those labelled as the “other” by majority society, namely minorities and many migrants. As I saw these new realities, I started seeing, admiring and wanting to support powerful change leaders within these “othered” groups.”
SERENA MIZZONI: PROGRAMME + OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Serena has been with Ashoka since 2011 in which time she spent 7 years leading the Irish office. Before joining Ashoka, Serena ran her own talent consultancy company, setting this up just out of college. She holds a B.A in Human Resource Management and a M.A in Strategic HRM. She regularly lectures on topics including Social Marketing, Human Rights and Social Entrepreneurship. She joined the Hello Europe team as Programme and Operations Director at the beginning of this year, co-leading the programme as it enters this exciting phase of strategy and growth.
“I joined Ashoka 8 years ago because it combines two things I’m immensely passionate about: innovative solutions and the belief in the potential of all. The reason I have stayed is the same. Working with Hello Europe gives me the opportunity to support in scaling proven solutions for integration and to change the narrative surrounding migrants to one which recognises the potential in and contribution of those on the move.”
ELENA ARÈNE: HELLO EUROPE EU DEVELOPMENT + RELATIONS
Elena leads Hello Europe and Ashoka in Belgium. Before joining Ashoka, Elena worked as a diplomat for El Salvador in Sweden and Belgium, and also in different private sector organisations in the field of communications and public affairs. As a diplomat, she was responsible for all relations between Swedish and Nordic NGOs as well as EU and commercial affairs. With NGOs, Foundations and Family Offices, Elena implemented and managed projects, developed new fundraising strategies and held philanthropic advisory roles. She holds a degree from the London School of Economics (LSE).
“I love building bridges and bringing people to work and collaborate together. At Ashoka we bring together innovative solutions that have a track record of proven impact, solving the complex challenges throughout the full migration spectrum. Policy makers are often not aware of the brilliant solutions that our Ashoka Fellows throughout the Globe have developed. Bringing the policy making world together with the existing innovations exited me because collectively we can solve this increasingly complex puzzle.”
ALESSANDRO VALERA: MIGRATION POLICY LEAD
Alessandro leads Hello Europe and Ashoka in Italy. He studied in Italy, Canadá and UK and specialized in Politics and Communication at the LSE. After working in London in the field of Communication Research, he founded his own communication consultancy company. Returning to Italy, he became the Director of Policy and Participation for European Alternatives, a youth-led civic society organisation seeking greater democracy in the European Union. Since June 2014, he has been assigned the task to take to Italy the ground-breaking work that Ashoka Italia has carried out across the world.
“I am married to a migrant, I was a migrant myself for 12 years. This issue is close to my heart. The polarisation between “migrants go home” and “poor migrants, we have to help them” misses out the main point. Migrants are de facto entrepreneurial as they have all preferred the challenge of the unknown than their status quo. We need to help shape an ecosystems in which both migrants and non-migrants can thrive and find solutions to our social and environmental problems.”
LAURA BATALLA ADAM: MIGRATION POLICY REPRESENTATIVE
Laura Batalla Adam has many years experience working in a number of European institutions. She has worked as a senior policy advisor to different members of the European Parliament and established her own initiatives, such as the European Parliament-Turkey Forum. She speaks and publishes regularly on a variety of international topics. Laura graduated from Pompeu Fabra University with a double bachelor degree in Political Science and Journalism and specialised in European Affairs at the College of Europe.
“Along with Hello Europe team, I will contribute to untap the full potential of migration. I am fascinated by the intersection between social entrepreneurship and policy and my position at Hello Europe will allow me to bring my expertise on migration into innovative policy solutions at the European, national and local level.”