McCosh Hall
50

Sponsored by the Alumni Association of Princeton University

Moderator

Nadia C. Crisan
Executive Director, Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination

Panelists

Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah ’94
Chief Executive Officer, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation

Zeynep Zehra Dereli ’99
Executive Board Member and CEO of the Industry Group at Calinos Holding

Jennifer Pan ’04
Sir Robert Ho Tung Professor of Chinese Studies, Professor of Communication, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor, by Courtesy, of Political Science and of Sociology, Stanford University

Peter Schram ’09
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University

Moderator

Nadia C. Crisan
Executive Director, Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination

As executive director of Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Nadia Crisan manages a comprehensive portfolio ranging from programming and research to communications, budget and financial management. In 2022, Crisan developed the International Policy Associates Initiative, an experiential learning program for Princeton undergraduates planning to pursue careers in foreign policy and international business. Previously, Crisan was senior vice president of international government affairs at a major U.S. law firm. She is a former diplomat, focusing on transatlantic security and economic policy matters. Crisan earned her master’s degree at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and taught international relations in the U.S., Europe and South America. She is also a foreign policy analyst and commentator, with a particular emphasis on Central and Eastern European affairs. At Princeton, she co-teaches “A Region at the Crossroads: Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Between Europe and the West.”

Panelists

Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah ’94
Chief Executive Officer, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation

Shaikh Nawaf S. Al-Sabah is deputy chairman and chief executive officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). A state-owned corporation, KPC optimizes the value of Kuwait’s hydrocarbons endowment by producing, refining, transporting and marketing these resources globally through eight operating subsidiaries. In his first year as CEO in 2022, KPC introduced its first net-zero carbon emissions policy as part of its efforts to remain a responsible and reliable energy producer. Prior to this appointment, Al-Sabah was CEO of KPC’s international upstream and downstream businesses. Previously, Al-Sabah spent 14 years at KPC, the last eight as general counsel. He holds an A.B., magna cum laude, from Princeton’s School for Public and International Affairs, where his thesis proposed and defended a new national security policy for Kuwait, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He is the father of Nasir, Class of 2025, and Azizi, Class of 2028.

Zeynep Dereli ’99
Executive Board Member and CEO of the Industry Group at Calinos Holding

Zeynep Dereli is an executive board member of Calinos Holding and CEO of the conglomerate’s agriculture, mining and energy businesses. She is also a non-executive board member at Odaș Energy and Çan2 Termik Ltd, a group of companies operating in the fields of energy and mining. She holds a master’s degree in development economics from SOAS University of London and an A.B. in economics from Princeton. She presented regularly on the weekly talk show “Leaders and Decisions,” which aired on Sky Turk and CNBC-e channels; in that role, she traveled the world and interviewed NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the president of Azerbaijan and the Turkish minister of justice, among others. Dereli is an active public speaker and author of “Digital Natives.” She is also one of the founding members of the global nonprofit Endeavor Turkey.

Jennifer Pan ’04
Sir Robert Ho Tung Professor of Chinese Studies, Professor of Communication, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor, by Courtesy, of Political Science and of Sociology, Stanford University

Jennifer Pan is a political scientist whose research focuses on political communication, digital media and authoritarian politics. At Stanford University, she is the Sir Robert Ho Tung Professor of Chinese Studies, professor of communication and (by courtesy) political science and sociology, and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute. Pan’s research uses experimental and computational methods with large-scale datasets on political activity to answer questions about the role of digital media in authoritarian and democratic politics, including how political censorship, propaganda and information manipulation work in the digital age and how preferences and behaviors are shaped as a result. After graduating from Princeton, she worked for four years at McKinsey & Company and then went on to receive her Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Department of Government. 

Peter Schram ’09
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University

Peter Schram is a political economist who studies international and intrastate conflict. He primarily examines the organizational economics of terrorist and insurgent groups and how the proliferation of conflict capabilities and technologies shapes deterrence and bargaining. His research, which utilizes game theory and statistical analysis, has been published in top political science and economics journals like the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and Games and Economic Behavior. Prior to Vanderbilt, he received his Ph.D. in political economics from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 2017, and his A.B. in politics from Princeton in 2009. When he is not working, he enjoys surfing, prone paddleboarding, playing volleyball, traveling and exploring Nashville’s outstanding music scene.