Since 2013, co-convener of the E15 Initiative with the WEF involving over 400 experts on policy dialogue and future of global trade. Co-founder of the Fundacion Futuro Latinoamericano (Quito) and of the RTA Exchange, a systematic review of provisions in preferential integration schemes with the Inter American Development Bank (IADB). Has launched in 2017 an initiative on Migration, Trade and the Global Economy in cooperation with IOM and started his career as Head of Administration of the Office of the President of Colombia.  

He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia, then worked for a refugee resettlement NGO based out of Nairobi, Kenya. He has also worked at the US Army Special Operations Command and at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.

He was the Convener of Ghana's Economic Advisory Council, a member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana National Petroleum Company and Chairman of the Sino-Ghana Presidential Task Force which negotiated the $US 3 billion Chinese Infrastructure Loan for Ghana. He led international negotiation missions and served as emissary to a number of African Heads of States. Dr. Atta Mills worked for the World Bank for over 20 years at various positions, and for 12 years as a lecturer in the UN African Institute for Development and Planning (IDEP).

From 2012 to 2013 he promoted the International Treaty for a Global Dry Land Alliance (GDLA) and was member of the high level advisory panel of the President of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly.