BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Al Khalafalla
President and CEO
Dr. Al Khalafalla is an American international affairs, public policy, and strategic relations expert with extensive experience across the United States, the Middle East, and Africa. He leads the American Global Institute (AGI), a U.S.-based organization focused on public relations, strategic consulting, business development, congressional and government relations, cultural engagement, and global education. Over the course of his career, Dr. Khalafalla has built extensive relationships with policymakers, business leaders, academic institutions, and civil society organizations in the United States and internationally.
For more than two decades, Dr. Khalafalla has been actively engaged with the U.S. Congress and the Washington policy community, working to strengthen American political, economic, educational, and cultural engagement with the Middle East and Africa. He has organized and participated in numerous congressional and high-level delegations, policy forums, educational initiatives, and international exchanges designed to strengthen dialogue between the United States and its international partners.
Dr. Khalafalla has held leadership positions in a number of American and international organizations. His roles have included President of the American Global Institute, Chairman of the Humpty Dumpty Institute, President of the Bahrain American Council, Chairman of the IBN Cultural Center, and service on the boards and leadership teams of several nonprofit, educational, and international organizations. His work has consistently focused on international engagement, public diplomacy, education, economic cooperation, and building relationships between American institutions and partners abroad.
Dr. Khalafalla is a member of the Board of Trustees of the King Hamad Global Center for Coexistence and Tolerance. He previously served as an Advisor for Strategic Affairs at Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has served as an advisor to the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat). These roles have complemented his broader work on U.S. foreign policy, international relations, regional security, and relations between the United States, the Gulf, and Africa.
A frequent commentator on international affairs, Dr. Khalafalla has appeared on media platforms in the United States, the Arabian Gulf, and the broader Middle East. He has been interviewed and featured by outlets including NBC, Alhurra, and Al Jazeera, and his opinion and analytical articles have appeared in publications including The Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Fox News, The Tribune, and Alayam. His writing and public commentary have addressed U.S. foreign policy, Africa, the Middle East, immigration, international relations, interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and peaceful coexistence.
Dr. Khalafalla has participated in major international policy and security forums, including the United Nations General Assembly, IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, IISS Manama Dialogue, and Munich Security Conference. He has also delivered keynote addresses and presentations at international academic, policy, interfaith, and cultural forums in the United States and abroad.
His contributions to humanitarian work, international engagement, and public service have received recognition in both the United States and internationally. In 2009, he received a Humanitarian Award from the Governor of Virginia in recognition of his humanitarian activities. In 2012, he received recognition from the U.S. Congress for his role in organizing congressional delegations and strengthening engagement between American leaders and counterparts in the Middle East and Africa. In 2018, he was awarded the Order of the Two Niles, First Class, one of Sudan’s highest civilian honors, in recognition of his work and contributions toward the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Sudan.
Dr. Khalafalla has also maintained a longstanding commitment to higher education and professional development. He spent approximately a decade leading training and development initiatives at Virginia Commonwealth University and has held senior leadership and board positions with educational institutions in the United States and internationally. In 2016, AUW University for Women awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his contributions to higher education. His work and international initiatives have also received recognition from institutions including the University of Louisiana, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Richmond, and the University of Bahrain.
Dr. Khalafalla earned his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MBA from Frostburg State University, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Louisiana.
Based in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Dr. Khalafalla remains active in the local community as well as Washington’s policy, business, educational, and international affairs communities. He lives in McLean with his wife and two children and continues to work on initiatives connecting American institutions and leaders with partners throughout the Middle East, Africa, and the international community.
Congressman Dan Burton (Retired)
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Honorable Dan Burton is the Chairman of Board of Directors of the American Global Institute. Dan Burton is a former United States Representative from Indiana’s Fifth Congressional District. His first term in Congress began in January of 1983. When Congressman Burton assumed the Chairmanship of the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform in the 105th Congress, he became the first Hoosier Republican to Chair a full House Committee in more than sixty years. The last was Congressman William Robert Wood, who chaired the Committee on Appropriations during the 71st Congress (1929-1931). Congressman Burton served as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia. Also, he was a Senior Member on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Congressman Burton received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humanities from Capitol University of Integrative Medicine on December 17, 2000. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Political Science from the Graduate School of Dongguk University in the Republic of Korea (2009). He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Indiana Wesleyan University (2005). As a proud veteran of our Armed Forces, Dan served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Army Reserves (1957-1962). Before his election to Congress, Mr. Burton held office in the Indiana State Senate (1969-70 and 1981- 82), as AGI as in the Indiana House of Representatives (1967-68 and 1977-80). The Burton family resides in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Congressman Solomon Ortiz (Retired)
Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors
Honorable Solomon Ortiz is the Vice Chairman of Board of Directors of the American Global Institute. Congressman Solomon Ortiz represented the State of Texas in the U.S. Congress for 28 years; prior to that, he was in law enforcement and served in the United States Army.
He served on three major congressional committees, including: the Armed Services Committee (governing military and national security policy), the Natural Resources Committee (which controls oil and gas policy – plus matters related to oceans and water resources), and the Transportation Committee (responsible for all transportation policy, building of infrastructure).
Ortiz’ primary expertise centered on U.S. military readiness and national security matters.
In Congress, Ortiz was an influential player, with close friends throughout the Congress and high ranking members of the Obama Administration. Internationally, Ortiz is well known throughout the Far East, Central Asia, Europe and South America, from decades of travel associated with U.S. military policy and private business development. He also served on a number of informal –– Congressional caucuses that exercised clout at the highest levels on matters related to border security, oil and gas policy, free trade, international affairs, domestic law enforcement, and many more.
A longtime supporter of free trade, Ortiz supported – and got other Members of Congress to support – the 2006 Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the United States.
He remains active in national affairs since his retirement from Congress, working with international partners in educating new congress members about international affairs, transnational security, and global energy policy.
Joe Merante
Executive Director of the Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI)
Joseph “Joe” Merante is the executive director of the Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI), a New York nonprofit involved in humanitarian aid, education, cultural diplomacy and international development.
Previously, he was a career U.S. Foreign Service officer. He served in Europe, Africa and Asia, worked at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican. At HDI, he manages relationships with Congress, the United Nations and international partners. Official 2024 records show that he remains HDI’s executive director.
Dr. Michael Czinkota
Director, the Board of Directors
Dr. Czinkota teaches international business and marketing in the Graduate School of Business at Georgetown University, where he also served as the chairman of the National Center for Export-Import Studies. He also holds the chair in international marketing at the Birmingham Business School in the U.K. Fluent in Spanish and German, he has held professorial appointments in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.
Dr. Czinkota served in the U.S. government during the Reagan and Bush Administrations, heading the Office of Trade Finance. He was also the delegate to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In the Bureau of Export Administration he was senior advisor for export controls. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce he was responsible for trade analysis and retaliatory actions. He also was head of the U.S. Delegation to the OECD Industry Committee in Paris and led several trade missions to Asia.
Dr. Czinkota was a partner in a fur trading firm and in an advertising agency. His academic work has focused on export development and the internationalization of small and medium sized firms. He was named as one of the top three contributors to the international business literature and was the 2007 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Global Marketing presented by the American Marketing Association.
Dr. Czinkota has worked with the U.S. Department of State on terrorism preparedness and has testified before Congress on the topic. He is the author of Global Business: Positioning Ventures Ahead(Routledge, 2011)which reflects the challenges of international management in a world of conflict and uncertainty. He also wrote two leading college texts, International Marketing 9th editionand International Business, 8hedition.
Dr. Czinkota serves on the Global Advisory Board of the American Marketing Association, the Global Council of the American Management Association, and on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science. He is a member of the American Council on Germany. He was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Academy of Marketing Science and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Czinkota serves on several corporate boards particularly in the export financing and small business export development area. He has also worked with corporations such as AT&T, IBM, GE, Nestle, and US WEST. He has advised the Executive Office of the President and the U.S. General Accountability Office on trade policy issues. He also serves as advisor to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
Dr. Czinkota was born and raised in Germany and educated in Austria, Scotland, Spain, and the United States. He is fluent in English, German and Spanish. He studied law and business administration at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg and was awarded a two-year Fulbright Scholarship. He holds an MBA in international business and a Ph.D. in logistics from The Ohio State University.