Tolga Turker, Ph.D.
Director of Global Entrepreneurial Programs
Email: atturker@uconn.edu
Tel: (860) 486-5184
Tolga Turker is the Director of Global Entrepreneurial Programs at UConn Global Affairs and oversees the Global Training and Development Institute`s global operations and portfolio. He collaborates across UConn to initiate and enhance international partnerships and programs, as well as with incubators and accelerators to help them navigate political and regulatory landscapes. Before joining UConn Global, Tolga managed University of Arizona`s programs in Europe and Central Asia and served as a full-time faculty member in Turkey and Kazakhstan, where he led efforts for university`s integration into the European Higher Education Area. In addition to teaching courses on regional security structures at University of Arizona`s International Security Studies (MA) program, he is passionate about building partnerships between universities, businesses, and policymakers to promote development of sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Roy E. Pietro, Ed.D.
Project Director/PI, Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI)
Email: roy.pietro@uconn.edu
Tel: (860) 486-4252
Dr. Roy Pietro has served as the Principal Investigator for numerous professional and academic exchange programs for UConn, funded by the U.S. Department of State. During his 20-year tenure at UConn, Roy has led efforts to secure approximately $20 million in federal and state contract awards, which promote GTDI's mission to provide transformational learning experiences to international participants. In 2008, he was selected as New England’s nominee for the prestigious Adelle F. Robertson Professional Continuing Educator Award.
Roy has also initiated academic partnerships and educational collaborations with various national and international higher education institutions, including the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS); the University of Maryland; Brown University; the University of Texas at Austin; the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel; Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, Turkey; Hong Kong Baptist University in Hong Kong, China; the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa; and the UN-mandated University for Peace in Ciudad Colón, Costa Rica. He has also established partnerships with several highly regarded international NGOs, including TechnoServe, Ashoka, the Junior Chamber International (JCI), and the Institute for International Education (IIE).
Roy holds a Doctor of Education degree in International Education from the University of Bath in the UK, Master's degree in Public Administration from UConn, Master's degree in Education from Springfield College, and Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from UConn. His research interests include transformative global citizenship, critical service-learning, and sport for development and peace (SDP).
Glenn E. Robinson, M.A.
Academic Director, Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI)
Email: glenn.robinson0427@gmail.com
Glenn has over four decades of senior management experience, delivering innovative leadership solutions to businesses globally to help them transform and succeed in challenging, dynamic environments. His experience includes capacity-building; directing sales, marketing, and customer response teams; and providing oversight at multinational corporations, including Dell Computer, Sun Microsystems, and Apple Computer. He is a consultant to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Washington, DC, and is a charter staff member of the NSF’s Convergence Accelerator. He designed a curriculum to train incubator managers on setting up incubation processes to recruit and develop both “deep tech” and social entrepreneurs. He is the founder of the Global Acceleration Lab, which assists emerging technology startups with entry into the global marketplace. He has held executive management positions in the non-profit sector, and is also a seasoned entrepreneur, having launched profitable companies on three continents.
Glenn holds a dual Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in English and Spanish Philology from San José State University, and a Master of Arts degree in Spanish Literature from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain. Previously, he worked at the University of Texas at Austin as the director of global innovation.
Glenn is the Academic Director for UConn’s cohorts of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative since 2022, helping young entrepreneurs learn how to plan, govern, fund, and implement their social enterprise business plans.
Laura Labato, M.A.
Assistant Director, UConn Global Training and Development Institute (GTDI)
Administrative Director, Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI)
Email: l.labato@uconn.edu
Laura is the Assistant Director for UConn’s Global Training and Development Institute (GTDI). She provides administrative and program support for the Global Training and Development Institute’s programming for international participants. She holds a Master of Arts degree in International Studies with a focus on cultural studies, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Studies with a focus on diversity. Additionally, she has completed three Graduate Certificate programs at UConn in Human Rights; Culture, Health, and Human Development; and College Instruction. She enjoys learning about other cultures and working with the international participants involved in educational and professional exchange programs implemented by UConn GTDI.
Mohit Mukherjee, M.Ed.
Facilitator, UConn Global Training and Development Institute (GTDI)
Email: mmukherjee@upeace.org
Mohit Mukherjee is the Founding Director of the Center for Executive Education at the University for Peace, established by the United Nations. He is also the Founder of Changemakers International and a Senior Consultant with FranklinCovey, where he leads clients through “The Four Disciplines of Execution,” “The Speed of Trust,” “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” and “Four Essential Roles of Leaders.” Mohit finds that leaders who create the conditions for well-being in their teams enjoy the journey more and also get better results.
Mohit’s past work experience includes management consulting with AT Kearney, leading a global non-profit in Costa Rica, managing a private-public partnership at Florida International University, leading curriculum design for an incubator for social entrepreneurs in Colorado, and teaching Master’s-level students in Responsible Management in Costa Rica. Mohit authored a handbook for social entrepreneurs that is being used as in the curriculum of the YSEALI program. Mohit holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a Master’s degree in Education from Harvard University.
Mohit has been conducting interactive education workshops for UConn GTDI for over 15 years, working with hundreds of entrepreneurs from 25 countries to provide training on the principles of Design Thinking for innovation. He currently serves as an instructor for the Nexus 3.0 program, teaching the fundamentals of pitching and sales strategy to startups in India.
Kelly Suprenant, MFA
Cultural Ambassador, Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI)
Email: kelly.suprenant@uconn.edu
Kelly earned her MFA in Fiction Writing at Brooklyn College, where she taught for many years before coming to UConn. She is a third-year MA/PhD student in the English department, where she also teaches first year writing. Her research examines the history of spectacle, medical humanities, and gothic literature in American culture. Her work is featured in the Winter 2023 issue of the Journal of Shirley Jackson Studies. Kelly has been working with GTDI's short-term international exchange programs since 2023, including 78 undergraduate students from China and 74 academic fellows from 11 Southeast Asian countries.