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All the Photos credits go to Marie Lina Excellent
Marie Lina Excellent’s experience at the Global Leadership Forum – Presidential Precinct at
the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, VA, March 29-30, 2016.
As a Fulbright Scholar from Haiti pursuing a Master in Public Health Leadership at the University of
North Carolina-Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, I was fortunate to have my proposal
accepted for an Ignite Talk on “Insights into Effective Leadership” and received full sponsorship from
the U.S. Department of State through IIE Fulbright. My definition of leadership is the art of inspiring
others to follow your vision without using authority or manipulation. Therefore, my top two leadership
values are Compassion and Integrity. My philosophy is: Know to Better Serve Others in need!
My Ignite talk was drawn from my professional experience and training where I identified for women,
youth and minority groups the top three global challenges that they may confront by 2025 if as leaders
we do not take actions now! The barriers included access to: Education, Healthy food and Healthcare. I
was thrilled to share the stage with these brilliant leaders (from left to right): Yee Ling Chua,
Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye, Han Win Htat and our moderator Gregory Fairchild, Associate Professor of
Business Administration, Academic Director, Institute for Business in Society, Darden School of Business,
The University of Virginia. I concluded with this message: Leaders are not required to change the world
overnight but are expected to launch and implement interventions that aim to address health disparities
everywhere for healthier lives by 2025. So, let us merge our expertise and means to shift health systems
into people-centered care worldwide, so that future generations may thank us for at least trying!

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All the Photos credits go to Marie Lina Excellent
The last session of this Forum was on “Design
Thinking Lab” which can also be called
“stakeholders engagement, aimed to provided us
with tools and tactics on how to design solutions
that are users friendly. The circle included:
“Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test”. To
achieve that, as leaders we need to keep asking
ourselves questions and listen to others’ stories
and experiences to develop a deep empathy. In
design thinking, keep in mind that there is place
for divergence {people who come up with a lot of
ideas} and convergence {people who seek to find
patterns among the ideas}.
Besides my visit of the nice campus of the
University of Virginia, I managed to attend three
of the workshops in this Forum addressing:
“Governance, Rule of Law and Stability. Economic
Growth and Entrepreneurship. Inclusion of
Women, Youth and Minority Groups”. One of the
message was that because the globalization
connects us more than we were in the past, we
hope that it will also help us reduce unhealthy
Some quality time at the Stettinius Award Reception and Networking at the University of Virginia.
The photo on the left shows from left to right: Marie Lina Excellent, Foreign Fulbright, University of
North Carolina; Han Win Htat, Foreign Fulbright, Johns Hopkins University and Kate Balcerzak, U.S.
Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The photo on the right shows from left to right: Nancy Hopkins, Presidential Precinct Director of
Programs; Marie Lina Excellent, Foreign Fulbright, University of North Carolina; Diana Potjomkina,
Foreign Fulbright, George Mason University; Fadia Hayee, Foreign Fulbright, Georgetown
University and Han Win Htat, Foreign Fulbright, Johns Hopkins University.

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All the Photos credits go to Marie Lina Excellent
competitiveness and maintain stability across
nations.
I believe that effective leaders, besides their passion, possess qualities and skills that included: Clear
vision, Commitment as change agents, Cultural humility, Ability to develop and sustain strong
partnerships through dialogue, Political savviness, Integrity and Compassion.
Knowledge is Power which drives the Future, therefore as knowledgeable leaders we need
to collaborate with communities’ key stakeholders to identify communities’ priorities and develop
interventions aiming to improve societies globally by 2025.
The photo on the left was with the recipient of the Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. Prize for Global
Leadership, Dr. Madeleine K. Albright who was the 64th
Secretary of State of the United States and
contributed substantially to international peace and democracy. The photo in the middle was with
the recipient of the 2016 Presidential Precinct Young Leader Award Ms. Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye,
from Nigeria, Editor, Sunday Punch Newspaper, Presidential Precinct 2014 Mandela Washington
Fellow. The photo of the right was with one of the prestigious former Senator of the State of Virginia.

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All the Photos credits go to Marie Lina Excellent
My take aways from this Summit are as follows:
- The Honorable Evan Ryan, Assistant Secretary of
State for Educational and Cultural Affairs left us
with this inspirational message: “Like Thomas
Jefferson, we must solve problems, not resign
ourselves to them”.
-This Forum represents a great opportunity to
launch lasting ties among well-seasoned and
emerging leaders like me.
- “The legacy of leadership is: From Promise to
Progress” {Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. former
Secretary of State of the United States}
-As leaders we should connect with the global
community then share our expertise, initiatives
and challenges and make the learning of new
skills a priority to be up-to-date on the latest
research in our respective field in order to
effectively contribute to the solutions of the most
pressing local and global challenges of our time.
-If we look deep inside ourselves, we may be
surprised to discover our hidden leadership
potential, so let’s let it shine!
This photo displays a mixed of experts like Dr. Steve Hanson on the right end who serves as Vice
Provost for International Affairs, Director of the Reves Center for International Studies, The
College of William and Mary and emerging leaders who happened to be two Fulbright Scholars
{Han with the gray suit and Marie Lina on the left end.
My understanding is that great leaders tend to start off as great followers, therefore we not just
Marie Lina, and I mean we (knowledgeable leaders) are accountable for the future of the world!

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All the Photos credits go to Marie Lina Excellent