Andrew Leon Hanna

Andrew Leon Hanna (born 1991) is an American social entrepreneur, author, and international human rights advocate. The son of immigrants from Egypt, Hanna was awarded the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize for 25 Million Sparks, his upcoming book on refugee-entrepreneurs around the world.[1][2][3][4] Hanna is the cofounder of DreamxAmerica, a social enterprise launched at the Harvard Innovation Lab that joins filmmaking and impact investing to highlight and support immigrant entrepreneurs.[5] He previously led the launch of Generation, the global youth employment non-profit founded by McKinsey & Company, in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, and founded the national education initiative IGNITE Peer Mentoring.[6]

Andrew Leon Hanna at The National Gallery, London, UK

In 2011, Hanna was one of two American delegates selected by the U.S. State Department to represent the United States at the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris, France.[7] He was a youth representative to the UN High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda's (later adopted by the United Nations General Assembly as the Sustainable Development Goals) meetings with youth in London, U.K. and Bali, Indonesia.[8]

Hanna is a Stanford Knight-Hennessy Scholar.[6] He received a J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was a Harvard Defenders student attorney, Harvard Law Review editor, Harvard African Law Association board member, and recipient of the Oberman Prize for Law and Social Change.[1] He received a bachelor's degree with honors with highest distinction in public policy from Duke University, where he was senior class president, a Robertson Scholar, a Chapel Scholar, and recipient of the Terry Sanford Leadership Award.[8]

In December 2019, Hanna was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 in Law and Policy.[9]