President / CEO / Executive Director

Dr. Oluremi “Remi” Alapo is an interdisciplinary scholar-practitioner, educator, and global civil society leader whose work focuses on education, gender justice, peacebuilding, and transnational policy engagement. She is Director of the Institute for Peace and Leadership USA (IPL USA), a Brooklyn-based organization advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through applied research, international policy advocacy, leadership development, and community-centered education.

Dr. Alapo serves as an Adjunct Professor within the City University of New York (CUNY) system and as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Africana and Latinx Studies Department at SUNY Oneonta, and she is a Visiting Scholar at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile – Ife, Nigeria. Her teaching and scholarship focus on Africa and the African Diaspora, migration and displacement, race and ethnicity, gender and leadership, global cultures, entrepreneurship, and social justice. She is engaged in curriculum innovation, including COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), DEI-centered and trauma-informed pedagogy, and zero-cost textbook and open educational resource development.

Dr. Alapo earned her Doctorate in Organizational Management and Leadership from the University of Phoenix (2011), an M.A. in African Studies from the State University of New York at Albany (2007), and a B.A. in French with minors in Political Science and Africana Studies from SUNY Albany (1998).

Her research interests include international and cross-cultural leadership, African and Afro-diasporic studies, women’s leadership, migration, peace education, and decolonial and Ubuntu-informed pedagogies. Her work examines diaspora governance, gender and decision-making, ethical leadership, collective leadership models, and education as a tool for peacebuilding and social transformation. A central dimension of her scholarship involves policy-oriented submissions and expert inputs to United Nations mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council, Special Procedures mandate holders, and the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

Dr. Alapo’s professional experience includes teaching Business Ethics and Social Responsibility in Haiti through a service-learning initiative focused on leadership development and community-based economic empowerment.

In 2016, she published Generation X: The Role of Culture on the Leadership Styles of Women in Leadership Positions. She has authored academic publications, UN-facing policy submissions, and educational resources. Her forthcoming work includes peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on decolonizing African knowledge systems, Ubuntu-informed leadership, African women’s political authority, migration and diaspora governance, and peacebuilding.

Dr. Alapo is an Ambassador for Peace with the Universal Peace Federation and a Global Interreligious Ambassador with Global Education for All Initiatives (Nigeria). She serves in leadership and advisory roles with African Views Organization, the New York African Studies Association (NYASA), the Women’s Federation for World Peace International, All Faith Seminary International, and the International Human Rights Commission.

Across her academic, policy, and civil society engagements, Dr. Alapo advances an integrated approach to education, leadership, and peacebuilding that bridges scholarship and multilateral action in pursuit of just and sustainable societies.