The Bell

The Bell is a newsletter produced by members of the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. This newsletter will attempt to provide short, accessible Op-Eds, interviews, and briefings on pressing and emerging public policy challenges, both here in Canada and at the global level. 

The Bell is produced and edited by Gianna Formica, Aftab Ahmed, Nicole Simineri, Elisa Alloul, Sokhema Sreang, Imani Thomas, Jack Burnham, Hayley Krieger and Andrew Potter. If you have any feedback or would like to contribute to this newsletter, please send an email to maxbellnewsletter@gmail.com

Gianna Formica: Gianna is an MPP candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and Co-Editor of The Bell. Her interests include global affairs and political communications.

Aftab Ahmed: Aftab is an MPP candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and Co-Editor of The Bell. With over 100 published commentaries for two leading Bangladeshi media outlets and as a Canadian banking professional, Aftab’s interests lie in foreign affairs, public service delivery and policy innovation in finance and economics.

Nicole Simineri: Nicole Simineri is an MPP candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and an Assistant Editor at The Bell. With a background in law and finance, Nicole is excited to learn more about how the two intersect with public policy and especially with healthcare and taxation to progress policies in local communities.

Elisa Alloul: Elisa is an MPP Candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and an Assistant Editor at The Bell, with prior experience in the non-profit field, the Ontario public service, and the Parliament of Canada. Elisa is especially interesting in global and educational policy.

Sokhema Sreang: Sokhema is an MPP candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and an Assistant Editor at The Bell, with previous experience as a Staff Writer for the Catalyst Newsletter and Economic Intern at the UNDP. Her interests include issues pertaining to the Global South, and viewing issues of social justice with an EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) lens.

Imani Thomas: Imani is an MPP Candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and the Marketing and Analytics Manager at The Bell. With professional experience as a management consultant, her interests include public sector transformation, economic policy and innovation in policy design.

Jack Burnham: Jack is an MPP Candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and a Production Manager at The Bell, after previously being a Junior Research Fellow at the NATO Association of Canada. His research interests include Canadian foreign policy, US politics, and international security. Jack hopes to contribute to the conversation around great power competition and emerging threats

Hayley Krieger: Hayley is a cooperative masters candidate at Johns Hopkins SAIS (Masters of International Affairs) and McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy (Masters of Public Policy), and a Production Manager at The Bell. Previously, she was an AmeriCorps member with San Francisco Unified School District and a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru. In the future, she would like to work on international policy and conflict resolution.

Andrew Potter: is an associate professor (professional) at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and Editor-In-Chief at The Bell. A former journalist, between 2011 and 2016 Andrew Potter was managing editor and then Editor-in-Chief of the Ottawa Citizen, and from 2006 to 2011 he was a public affairs columnist for Maclean's Magazine. He is also a former Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. Potter is the author of The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves, and the co-author, with Joseph Heath, of the best-selling book The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed.