Our Team

About

Elana Banin is the Managing Editor of the Reboot Democracy blog at the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University and The Governance Lab. In addition to leading editorial strategy and overseeing the content for the blog and related social media, she supports the Governance Lab and InnovateUS communications on emerging AI and democratic governance developments for policymakers and public-sector leaders. She previously served as the Center’s Interim Director of Communications.

Elana is a global policy researcher and strategist specializing in crisis response and emerging innovation with over 16 years of experience across more than 30 countries. She also currently leads strategy and partnerships at the Multifaith Alliance and provides strategic communications for the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds. She has published on AI governance and international security for the Council on Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum, the Arab Gulf States Institute, AI Policy Bulletin, and Capita, among others.

Prior to her current work, Elana was a Policy Advisor at the International Rescue Committee, where she directed a $200 million evidence-to-action agenda reaching millions of women and children and secured $8.4 million in new World Bank financing for vulnerable families. Earlier roles include Strategic Planning Specialist at UNICEF, where she established the organization’s first global advocacy prioritization framework across 192 markets, and Senior Policy and Advocacy Associate at PATH, where she mobilized $20 million from the Gates Foundation and helped secure $700 million in new U.S. Congressional funding for infectious disease programs.

Elana holds an MA in Security and Diplomacy Studies, Magna Cum Laude, from Tel Aviv University, and a BA in International Studies, Business, and Media & Communications, Cum Laude, from Muhlenberg College. She graduated with distinction from the Center for AI and Digital Policy’s AI Policy Clinic and served as a SPAR Fellow researching the intersection of military action and AI, including a case study on the US-Iran-Israel war.