Lila Abed is the director of the Mexico Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. Prior to joining the Dialogue, she served as director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute. Abed was a White House correspondent for the international news channel NTN24. Before this role, she was a public policy advisor for Latin America at the international law firm Covington & Burling in Washington, DC.
She gained extensive experience in various public institutions, serving as general director for international cooperation at Mexico’s Office of the Attorney General and as chief of staff to the attorney general. She also held the role of international affairs advisor to the attorney general.
After running for a seat in Mexico City’s local congress, Abed became secretary of international affairs for the executive committee of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) and served as senior advisor to the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies. She has also worked in diplomatic posts at the Mexican embassies in Canada and the United Kingdom.
An avid international analyst, Abed shares her expertise across a range of media networks in both the United States and Mexico. She has been featured on NPR, CBS, PBS, CNN, Telemundo, Univision, Al Jazeera, BBC, Radio Fórmula, ADN40, El Heraldo de México, and Opinión51.
She holds a master’s degree in Latin American studies and government from Georgetown University. She graduated magna cum laude from Boston College with a major in international studies and Hispanic studies, and a minor in Chinese.
As Executive Director of Future Borders Coalition, Dr. Laura Dawson works with a binational coalition of government and industry leaders in order to build better borders for travel and trade. Prior to her appointment to FBC, Dr. Dawson led the North America office of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Institute, facilitating public sector digital transformation. Other prior posts include director of the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., founder of Dawson Strategic, and senior economic advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Canada. Dawson serves on the teaching faculty at the Master of Public Policy program at McGill University in Montreal and is a board member of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. In addition, Dawson was jury co-chair for the Government of Canada’s 2022 New Frontiers in Research Fund and was named 2021 Person of Distinction by the Public Affairs Association of Canada. Dr. Dawson holds a PhD in Political Science from Carleton University. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Our Moderator
Dr. Laurie Trautman engages in a range of research activities focused on the U.S. – Canada border, particularly in the Washington – British Columbia region. Topics include trade, transportation, security, and human mobility. In addition to working with faculty and students, she collaborates with the private sector and government agencies to advance policy solutions that balance cross-border flows with the need for efficiency and security. Laurie participates in working groups that are actively engaged in the U.S. – Canada relationship, including the International Mobility and Trade Corridor Program and the Canada – U.S. Transportation Border Working Group. She co-chairs the Border Issues working group of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region and was recently appointed to the steering committee for the Cascadia Innovation Corridor. Laurie is currently a Global Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center and a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Oregon, a MSc. from Montana State University, and a BA from Western Washington University in Environmental Economics.