Samar Ali ‘06 (BS’03), international counsel at Bass Berry & Sims, was selected by the World Economic Forum for its Young Global Leaders Class of 2017. The 100 members of each class of the Young Global Leaders are selected from among rising professionals under age 40 considered the most innovative, enterprising and socially minded men and women in their regions. Ali is one of 24 young global leaders selected for the Class of 2017 from North America.
Members enter a five-year leadership program that includes executive education at leading universities worldwide, leadership summits, group expeditions and opportunities to collaborate on projects and test ideas to improve the state of the world
Read a Business Insider article about 20 U.S. Global Young Leaders from the Class of 2017
The World Economic Forum is funded by its 1,000 member companies, typically global enterprises with more than $5 billion in turnover. These enterprises and individuals rank among the top in their industry and/or country and play a leading role in shaping the future of their industry and/or region.
A Tennessee native, Ali earned her undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt, where she became the first Arab American student body president. After earning her J.D., she served as a law clerk to Judge Gilbert S. Merritt Jr. ’60 of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and for Judge Edwin Cameron, now of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. She then practiced with Hogan Lovells US, where she helped establish the firm’s first Middle Eastern presence in the United Arab Emirates. In 2010, she returned to the United States to work as a White House Fellow in President Barack Obama’s administration.There she worked closely with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and gained experience with bi-lateral negotiations on behalf of the U.S. government.
Ali later served as Assistant Commissioner of International Affairs to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and managed Tennessee’s global relations where she developed Tennessee’s five-year international strategy plan, which laid the framework for the state’s international economic development footprint.
In addition to her legal practice, Ali is a managing director of the Lodestone Advisory Group, a consulting firm that specializes in internationalization, investment advisory and strategy, and is an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt Law School, where she teaches courses on international relations and negotiations.