From child refugee to U.S. presidential appointee, Hamse Warfa's life and career has navigated some astonishing twists and turns. A passionate leader, he has more than 25 years of global leadership experience across federal and state governments, philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, and in the private sector as a successful tech entrepreneur. Warfa's mission is to inspire a more prosperous world by encouraging leaders to translate intangible organizational and societal challenges into tangible solutions and impact. He accomplishes this by providing leadership strategy, training, and innovative leadership technology tools designed to accelerate impact.
In January 2022, the U.S. President appointed Warfa as his senior advisor in the U.S. State Department to advance a global democracy agenda including the 2023 Summit on Democracy supported by 74 nations. Warfa received a State Department 2023 Meritorious Honor Award for innovation and advancing equity in the Department's work. Prior to joining the federal government, Warfa was the Deputy Commissioner for Workforce Development at the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) in Minnesota. Appointed by Governor Tim Walz in April 2019, Deputy Commissioner Warfa served as the highest ranking African immigrant official in the Minnesota executive branch of government. In this position, he oversaw Minnesota State's Employment and Training programs, the Office of Economic Opportunity, Minnesota's 51 job centers, the Governor's Workforce Development Board, and the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.
In addition to his public sector work, Warfa is an innovative and successful serial entrepreneur. He's the co-founder and the executive vice president at BanQu Inc., a software company selected for an Innovation Award by the Obama Administration and by MIT. He also founded Tayo Consulting Group, which helps philanthropic clients refine their goals and identify program activities to fund.
Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Warfa worked in philanthropy as a senior program officer at the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, leading the foundation's domestic and international Children & Families grantmaking programs. Warfa holds a Masters in Organizational Management and Leadership from Springfield College in Massachusetts, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from San Diego University. He also completed executive education at Harvard Business School as part of the Young American Leaders Program.
Warfa is a 2016 Bush Foundation Fellow, a recipient of the 2017 Minnesota Statewide Facing Race Award, and an Ashoka Global Fellow for his social entrepreneurship work. In addition to his new book, "The Transformational Leader: Twelve Practices for Driving Lasting Change", Warfa is the author of "America Here I Come: A Somali Refugee's Quest for Hope", and the producer of an upcoming documentary film.
