Carmela Lopez - Edward Gallagher - Gladys H. Morales

Carmela Lopez

Carmela Lopez is a former intern at IFAD, in the Change, Delivery and Innovation Unit. She holds a master’s degree in International Politics and Markets from the University of Bologna. During her master’s, she was awarded a scholarship to study abroad at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also focused on technology and public policy; and was awarded a grant to complete her thesis in Brussels. During her master’s she did two internships: one in a startup incubator in Italy and the other at the Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union, focusing on digital and innovation policy.

After finishing her master’s, she started working as a trainee in the Economic Section of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations in Geneva, where she dealt with a wide-ranging policy portfolio, including digital affairs, climate and energy.

She is passionate about how innovation can help solve global challenges.

Edward Gallagher

Edward Gallagher is Lead Officer of Change, Delivery and Innovation Unit (CDI) at IFAD. An Irish national, he took up his position as the Lead Officer in January 2019. Before his current role, Edward was the project manager of IFAD’s Operational Excellence for Results (OpEx) initiative – an eighteen-month change and reform programme that aimed at positioning IFAD as an internationally recognized best-in-class performer and partner of choice across its spectrum of operations. He has worked in various roles with IFAD over 13 years including internal audit, treasury, and more recently within the budget function. Prior to joining IFAD, he was the Deputy Finance Director in Barclays Insurance (Barclays Bank PLC). He also worked for five years with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he qualified as a chartered accountant. He is a fellow member of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Gladys H. Morales

Gladys H. Morales is Senior Innovation Adviser at the Change Delivery and Innovation Unit at the Office of the President and the Vice-President of IFAD. She has led the digital transformation of Government and UN agencies’ projects in Latin America, Asia and Europe. She is also familiar with the startup eco-system having worked in a management position for a digital advertising startup while she was living in Indonesia and founding her own startup in Italy. Before joining IFAD, Gladys was an Advisor at the International Poverty Reduction Centre in China (IPRCC) where she led the design of digital platforms and established partnerships and knowledge networks for the Global Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth (GPIG) Portal. She is the Regional Ambassador in Italy of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC). Gladys is a graduate from the Executive Programme on Digital Business Leadership at Columbia Business School, Columbia University in New York; and the Executive Programme in Artificial Intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachussets. Gladys also has a Master in Development Economics and International Cooperation from University of Rome, Tor Vergata and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and International Economics from Georgetown University.