Milena Bešić
Director, Center for Democracy and Human Rights - CEDEM
Chief Operating Officer, Partnership on AI
Samir is Chief Operating Officer of the Partnership on AI, where he establishes and directs the organization’s financial and people strategy and assists in efforts that promote AI’s applications around social good.
Prior to joining PAI, Samir was a consultant on business, human rights, and technology issues for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Labour Organization, United Way Worldwide, Humanity United, the Ethical Trading Initiative, and others. Prior to that he was a Sales Director at LexisNexis, where he directed a team that managed a portfolio of U.S. Government contracts with the Agency for International Development, State Department, Department of Defense and Intelligence Communities, and developed their rule of law business line. He also served as the company’s Director of Corporate Responsibility, where he integrated CSR into business development efforts across the company.
As a Managing Director of the Individuals and Communities at Risk Program at Amnesty International USA, Samir oversaw a crisis response unit that responded to 500 human rights incidents each year. Previously, Samir co-founded his own non-profit organization in Illinois where he organized survivors and led coalitions that transformed the State’s response to human trafficking.
Samir has testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress. His opinion pieces have been published in the Guardian, The San Francisco Chronicle, CNN.com, World Affairs Journal, and other outlets. Samir also teaches a class on corporate social responsibility at Rutgers University.