The Seventh Cohort
Stockholm School of Economics Fellows
Thomas Atherton is a Masters student at the Stockholm School of Economics, currently pursuing a degree in Economics. He previously graduated from Durham University with a BA in Economics, and is one final exam away from becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Mr. Atherton’s experience is varied, beginning with an internship in a Kosovan think tank and continuing with a graduate role on the London trading floor of U.K. investment bank HSBC. For 3 years, Mr. Atherton worked at HSBC in the Equity Sales team as well as building and leading the industry’s first ESG Sales franchise. In this position, he brokered sustainable investing trade ideas to institutional investors and advised global corporates on ESG considerations in strategy and capital markets transactions. Subsequently, Mr. Atherton created an ESG advisory franchise for corporates and investors at Global Counsel, a political consultancy.
As a Wallenberg fellow, Mr. Atherton hopes to have a positive impact at the intersection between business, politics, and sustainability, including via an internship at GEF Capital Partners, a sustainable private equity firm. Mr. Atherton is a native English speaker, with working proficiency in Swedish and basic French.
Başak Edizgil is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at Stockholm School of Economics with a specialization in International Economics. Before coming to Sweden, she studied at St. Lawrence University in Upstate New York where she majored in Economics and Mathematics with a minor in Arabic Studies as a Davis United World College Scholar.
During her time at St. Lawrence, Ms. Edizgil studied abroad in London where she interned at Afghanistan and Central Asian Association working on issues affecting the refugee community in London and in greater Europe. She also completed an Independent Research Project on the Turkish government’s specific agenda behind pursuing EU membership.
Ms. Edizgil sees growing wealth and income inequality as the defining feature of the modern world. Therefore, her work experiences have generally been concentrated on inequality as a political and an economic problem. After graduating from St. Lawrence University, she worked as a program associate at BOC Capital, a microfinance institution dedicated to bettering the lives of disadvantaged communities in New York City.
This summer, Ms. Edizgil will be interning at Limiar Capital where she will be researching several emerging markets to evaluate macroeconomic conditions and political risk in order to develop an investment thesis for these countries. She is very excited for the internship; it will be her first experience in the area of investing in emerging markets. She is also looking forward to the case intensive classes at Georgetown University and to leveraging them to become better at turning ideas into projects. Ms. Edizgil grew up in Turkey and is a native Turkish speaker. She is also proficient in English and Arabic.
David Huber is a Master of Science in Economics with specialization in International Economics and Data Analytics candidate at the Stockholm School of Economics. He previously graduated top of his class with a Bachelor in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, where he was also a member of the University’s talent coaching program, and spent one semester studying at Bocconi University in Italy.
Mr. Huber’s professional working experience includes working in both the private sector and diplomacy. Before starting his master at the Stockholm School of Economics, he spent six months working for the diplomatic corps at the Swiss Embassy in Argentina, where he advised the Ambassador and the first Diplomat on economic and political topics and represented Switzerland at diplomatic events.
Alongside his studies in St. Gallen, he co-founded the global umbrella organization of all WTO student simulations and presided over the biggest simulation worldwide taking place at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization in Geneva. On the private sector side, David worked for seven months in financial consulting in Zürich and São Paulo and three months for a healthtech startup in Geneva, completing the Future.Preneurship program in social entrepreneurship.
Through his experience in the private and the public sector, David saw the potential of an improved cooperation of the two sectors in solving many of our most pressing problems. He hopes that his studies at Georgetown and his internship at the IFC will help him to further deepen his understanding of the complex relation between the private and the public world. David is a native Swiss German speaker, fluent in German, English, Spanish, Portuguese and proficient in French, Italian and Swedish.
Georgetown University Fellows
Justin Faulhaber is a 26-year-old Master’s candidate in German and European Studies at Georgetown University and will be beginning his studies toward a dual degree in Law in the fall. At Georgetown, he is also pursuing a certificate in International Business Diplomacy. Before coming to Georgetown, Justin worked as a paralegal at a preeminent immigration law firm in Cleveland, Ohio, where he prepared applications for asylum and cancellation of removal as well as writing legal briefs and motions under the supervision of senior attorneys. Previously, he taught English for a year in France and China. For his undergraduate studies in History and French, Justin attended The Ohio State University, graduating summa cum laude in 2017.
Justin is interested in international law and environmental policy and is planning on a legal- focused internship in Stockholm this summer at EQT. Adding to his fluency in French and advanced proficiency in German and Spanish, Justin has been working to pick up some Swedish before the trip. He is excited about the opportunity to work and learn beside eminent international leaders and likeminded students while exploring Swedish culture.
Jessica Meyerzon is a Masters candidate in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she is also pursuing a certificate in International Business Diplomacy. Her academic and professional interests include public and cultural diplomacy, business relations in Eurasia, and building private-public partnerships to help combat complex global issues.
Ms. Meyerzon previously graduated from Lewis and Clark College in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Foreign Languages (Russian/Spanish). After graduating, she spent one year teaching at Baranovichi State University in Belarus as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. She has also worked for American Councils for International Education, where she was a participant recruiter for their Future Leaders Exchange program (FLEX) in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Estonia. Ms. Meyerzon has also worked at the University of Washington in Seattle as the Program Coordinator of the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies and the Center for West European Studies. She also enjoys dancing salsa and bachata, as well as hiking in different parts of the world.
Ms. Meyerzon is a native English speaker, and is fluent in Russian and Spanish. Her fellowship internship in Stockholm this summer will be at Ericsson, where she will be supporting the internal incubation hub Ericsson ONE. She is looking forward to gaining experience and practical skills in an authentic international business environment.
The Wallenberg International Fellows Program 