Our third cohort of Wallenberg International Fellows comprises Stockholm School of Economics and Georgetown University students who are citizens of Germany, Latvia and the United States.
Stockholm School of Economics Fellows
Beatrice Gohdes is a Masters student at the Stockholm School of Economics pursuing a degree in Economics. She previously graduated from Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich with a B.Sc. in Economics and a B.A. in Chinese Studies and Philosophy. She is highly passionate about Chinese culture and politics and has lived in China multiple times. Ms. Gohdes has extensive work experience in both the public and private sectors such as the Sino-German Cultural and Economic Association in Taipei or Jebsen&Jebsen, a Hamburg based international trading company. Most recently, she helped coordinate an international cooperation project between the Deutsche Bahn and China Railways and helped building the digital healthcare startup Kaia Health. In her free time Ms. Gohdes has been engaged in numerous projects such as founding the Economics Society at SSE or participating in the HULT Prize social entrepreneurship challenge. She is a native German speaker, is fluent in English and Mandarin and has basic knowledge in both French and Swedish.
Agris Jomerts is a Masters student at the Stockholm School of Economics, studying Finance. He graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Bocconi University in Milan, where he had been selected to receive the Bocconi Merit Award scholarship. As an undergraduate, Mr. Jomerts worked at Mediobanca S.p.A. within the Debt Capital Markets team, supporting the operations related to multi-billion bond offerings. After his Bachelors studies, Mr. Jomerts joined the EY Transactions Advisory office in the Baltics, where he was involved as the lead analyst on M&A deals in various industries such as telecommunications, real estate, e-commerce and biofuels. Mr. Jomerts is a native Latvian speaker, speaks English fluently, has an intermediate knowledge of Italian and a basic knowledge of Russian and Swedish. Before going to Washington D.C., Mr. Jomerts will also be doing a two-month internship at Cushman & Wakefield in Stockholm, supporting the work of its Capital Markets team which is providing real estate transaction advisory services in the Nordics.
Mats Kröger is a Masters student at the Stockholm School of Economics, pursuing a degree in Economics. He also holds a Bachelor in Economics from Humboldt-University in Berlin and holds a prestigious scholarship from the German National Merit Foundation. Mr Kröger has a strong interest in the issues of climate change and extensive professional experiences in the private as well as the public sector. These experiences include internships at top-class consulting firms BCG and EY as well as the German development bank KfW, where he worked on financing solutions in the wind energy sector. Working at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy allowed him to further pursue his interest in economic policies. Mr Kröger is native in German, fluent in English and Spanish, and has basic knowledge in French and Swedish
Georgetown University Fellows
Gregory Bernstein is a Masters in Foreign Service candidate at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he studies Global Politics and Security and is pursuing a certificate in International Business Diplomacy. Mr. Bernstein attended the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as an undergraduate, where he studied Government with a concentration in International Relations. While at the Academy, Mr. Bernstein was selected as a 2010 – 2011 Presidential Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress in Washington D.C. and was published in the Center’s Review for his Fellowship thesis on U.S. international development policy. Following graduation, Mr. Bernstein served in the U.S. Coast Guard for five years, achieving the rank of Lieutenant. From 2011 to 2013, Mr. Bernstein was assigned aboard the USCGC Morgenthau where he conducted counter-narcotic operations in the Pacific waters of Central and South America. Between 2013 and 2015, Mr. Bernstein was the Commanding Officer of the USCGC Terrapin, where he led operations in search and rescue, counter-narcotics, and national defense. In 2015, he transferred to Washington D.C. and completed his military service in the Office of the Deputy Commandant for Operations as a member of Executive Staff and the Military Aide-de-Camp to the Deputy Commandant for Operations. Mr. Bernstein is a native English speaker and is fully proficient in Spanish.
Kathleen Burke is a Masters in Latin American Studies candidate at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she studies Political Economy and is pursuing a certificate in International Business Diplomacy. Ms. Burke is also a graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 2016. She also studied for a semester at the National University of Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina, where she conducted an interactive research project comparing Argentina and Chile with respect to business, trade, and finance. Ms. Burke received the Lauren Bessette Memorial Prize in Economics, in addition to the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Book Prize for her essay on Haitian literature and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon. She has worked as a Marketing intern at global architecture firm Gensler in New York, where she produced case studies for senior associates and translated selected marketing materials for Latin America offices in Spanish. Ms. Burke has also served as a research volunteer at the Latin American Cultural Association in Buffalo, NY.
Christian Conroy is currently a dual Master in Public Policy (MPP) and Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) candidate at Georgetown University, where he is focused on using econometric analysis to advise foreign companies entering emerging markets. Prior to Georgetown, Christian most recently served as the GM for the Shanghai office of CRCC Asia, where he led efforts to provide global recruitment consulting to more than 200 host companies across 14 different sectors and organized panels on topics such as mobile technology and entrepreneurial opportunities. He has held several other positions in the private sector, including Supply Chain Security Risk Analyst at BSI Group, Technical Advisor for Psychometrics and Analytics at GSX Inc., and freelance contract writer for Smartbug Media. Christian was also previously a Fulbright Fellow based in Xi’an, China, where he studied the decentralization of education policy with a focus on the distribution of authority between county bureaus of education and primary schools in rural China. During his time in Xi’an, Christian worked with Shaanxi Normal University’s Center for Experimental Economics in Education and Stanford University’s Rural Education Action Program to organize and analyze extensive data on human capital in rural China collected through large-scale fieldwork projects. His policy interests include technology disruption, smart city solutions, international development, big data, and just about anything related to China.