Katie Crisalli is senior development manager for foundations at GMF. Based in Washington, DC, she leads engagement with North American foundations to mobilize resources to support the organization’s mission.

Prior to joining GMF, Crisalli was associate director for foundation relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she managed foundation and NGO donor portfolios for 43 policy programs including international security, development, technology, and geopolitics. Her responsibilities included coordinating fundraising strategies and donor engagement, supporting prospect research, and managing grant compliance and reporting.

Crisalli has also held multiple roles at CARE, where she led resource development, grant management, and stewardship for a global food and nutrition program operating in 33 countries. She secured funding to support program expansion and contributed to donor reporting, proposal development, and strategic planning for institutional and foundation funders.

She holds a master’s degree emergency and disaster management from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in media production from Pepperdine University.

Beniamino Irdi is a nonresident senior fellow with GMF’s Global Power Shifts team. His areas of expertise include the geopolitics of the Mediterranean, great-power competition, democratic resilience, and hybrid threats. He is the founder and chief executive officer of HighGround, a political-risk consulting firm based in Milan and Rome.

Irdi spent 17 years in the Italian government focused on foreign policy, national security, and strategic affairs. While in government, he worked in the prime minister’s office, where he advised senior government officials on great-power competition, foreign malign influence, and Russia's war in Ukraine. He also served as special adviser to Italy’s foreign minister and was posted to Italian embassies in Tokyo and Washington, DC.

Irdi began his career as Middle East analyst, and is the author of a book that examines the use of military force against terrorist organizations.

Irdi holds a master’s degree in international policy and practice from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and strategic studies from Rome’s LUISS University. His analyses have appeared in outlets including Bloomberg, the Financial Times, The New York Times, and POLITICO.