Brussels Forum Session: Security South: Transatlantic Strategy in a Time of Crisis

Stefano Sannino has served as secretary general of the European External Action Service (EEAS) of the EU since January 1, 2021. Previously, he held the post of deputy secretary general for economic and global Issues at the EEAS. Prior to that, he was Italy’s ambassador to Spain and Andorra and Italy’s permanent representative to the EU in Brussels.  

After a period at the Cabinet of the President of the Commission,  Sannino joined the Directorate General for External Relations (2004–2010) as director for crisis management and representative at PSC, then director for Latin America, and finally as deputy director general for Asia and Latin America . In 2010 he moved to the Directorate General for Enlargement as deputy director general and later as director general, a position he held until June 2013.    

Earlier in his career, Sannino served as the diplomatic advisor to the Italian prime minister and his personal representative to G8 summits. He has also held the position of ambassador and head of the OSCE Mission in Belgrade.  He has held several positions within the Italian Diplomatic Service: deputy head of mission of the Italian Embassy in Belgrade; head of the Secretariat of the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;; and diplomatic advisor and head of the cabinet of the minister of foreign trade. Beyond his native Italian, Sannino is fluent in Spanish, English, and French.   

Jan Hoogmartens has been the chief of staff to the Belgian minister of foreign affairs, European affairs and foreign trade in Brussels since July 2023. A career diplomat, he was before that ambassador to China and Mongolia and ambassador to COREPER I and deputy permanent representative of Belgium to the EU. Other previous diplomatic assignments include another tour of duty at the Belgian Permanent Representation to the EU and one in Japan. Hoogmartens has also served as chief of staff to the Belgian minister of home affairs, deputy chief of staff to the foreign minister, and diplomatic advisor to the prime minister. Holder of a PhD (law) from the University of London and a master’s degree in laws from the University of Hong Kong and KU Leuven/Heidelberg University/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Jan Hoogmartens is concurrently pursuing an active academic career in Belgium, the United States, and China and has authored several articles and books on EU trade law.  He is fluent in Dutch, French, English, and German.

Brussels Forum Session: Fresh Off the Campaign Trail: Stories From the 2024 US Primary

Olivia Perez-Cubas is a strategic communicator with more than 10 years of experience effectively messaging for corporations, politicians, and public policy initiatives. She is currently a managing director at Bullpen Strategy Group, advising on the public affairs needs of corporate and issue-advocacy clients in the energy, finance, and entertainment sectors. Most recently, she worked for Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign, where she operated as primary spokesperson and advised on strategic messaging.  

Perez-Cubas got her start in politics upon joining Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s communications team, serving as media director for his presidential campaign and communications director for his Senate office. Following her time on Capitol Hill, she spearheaded a press operation for the first SuperPAC dedicated solely to electing Republican women. Roll Call named her one of the top Latino staffers on Capitol Hill. Her career began as a news writer at WSVN, the FOX affiliate in Miami, Florida. She is a graduate of Florida State University. 

Brussels Forum Session: Eastern Flank in Front 

Radosław Sikorski has served as Poland’s minister of foreign affairs since 2023. He held the same position previously (2007–2014). He has also served as Poland’s minister of defense (2005–2007), and speaker of the Sejm (2014–2015). From 2019 to 2023, he was a member of the European Parliament, sitting on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Security and Defence Subcommittee. He chaired the delegation for relations with the United States.

As Poland’s minister of foreign affairs, Sikorski launched, together with Carl Bildt, the EU’s Eastern Partnership. He also proposed and helped to establish the European Endowment for Democracy and the Solidarity Prize.

During the 2014 “Revolution of Dignity”, he headed an EU mission to Kyiv that ended the bloodshed on the Maidan.

Sikorski is a senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, and has been listed among Foreign Policy magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers for “speaking the truth, even when it is not diplomatic”.

From 2002 to 2005, Sikorski was a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, and the executive director of the New Atlantic Initiative.

He served as a war correspondent in Afghanistan and Angola from 1986 to 1989.  

Sikorski is the author of several books, including Dust of the Saints: A Journey to Herat in Time of War, Full Circle: A Homecoming to Free Poland, The Polish House: An Intimate History of Poland, Poland Can Be Better: Behind the Scenes of Polish Diplomacy, and Poland: The State of the State. 

Brussels Forum Session: Euroatlantic Security Outside the Box: High Ambitions, Different Formats 

Benjamin Haddad was elected to the parliament of France in June 2022. He is a member of both the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Affairs Committee, as well as spokesperson for the Renaissance Party parliamentary group.

He carried the bill concerning the "Prevention of the dissemination of terrorist content online" on July 19, 2022.

A graduate of Sciences Po Paris and HEC, Haddad is an expert in international relations. He has also taught international relations at Sciences Po.

From 2014 to 2018, he was a fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC.

In February 2019, he was appointed senior director of the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council. In his work, he has argued for transatlantic unity in response to Russian aggression, greater European responsibility, and investment in strategic issues.

Haddad is the author of Le paradis perdu : L'Amérique de Trump et la fin des illusions européennes (Paradise Lost: Trump's America and the End of European Illusions) in 2019. In this book, he analyzes the historical and geopolitical forces that determined the transition from a long period of liberal optimism to an era of retrenchment in the US and Europe. 

Brussels Forum Session: NATO at 75: Past, Present, Future — Part I & II

Teri Schultz has been covering the EU, NATO, and the BeNeLux region since 2007, appearing regularly on National Public Radio, CBS Radio News, and Germany’s public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. She has a particular interest in Afghanistan, having made six reporting trips there, and in Russia and the Nordic region, having lived and worked in Moscow and Helsinki.  

Schultz helps teach media literacy and counter-disinformation to schoolchildren with the Lie Detectors organization and has held journalism fellowships in Russia and Pakistan. She holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Helsinki and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from New Mexico State University. 

Brussels Forum Session: NATO at 75: Looking Ahead to the Washington Summit 

Celeste Wallander is assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in the US Department of Defense’s Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy. She was previously special assistant to the president, senior director for Russia/Central Asia on the National Security Council, and the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia. Outside government, she served as president and CEO of the U.S. Russia Foundation, a professor at American University, a visiting professor at Georgetown University, director for Russia/Eurasia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relation, and a professor of government at Harvard University.  

Wallander is the author of more than 80 publications on European and Eurasian security issues with a focus on Russian foreign and defense strategy. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Atlantic Council of the United States, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.  

Wallander holds a PhD and two master’s degrees from Yale University, and a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) from Northwestern University.  

Brussels Forum Session: On the Frontlines of Democracy: Bolstering Trust in Elections Across the Atlantic 

Amelia Powers Gardner is an elected Utah County Commissioner and is committed to the implementation of cutting-edge solutions in governance. Prior to that position, she served as Utah County Clerk/Auditor. Her experience spans engineering, manufacturing, and business development. Powers Gardner has been at the forefront of innovative initiatives, for example pioneering online marriage licenses and introducing blockchain-enabled voting systems.  She is actively engaged in preparing Utah County for growth, seeking solutions to the housing crisis, and safeguarding property rights. 

Brussels Forum Session: Allied Competitiveness: Can It Be Achieved? National vs. Allied Approaches to Competitiveness  

US Congressman Dan Kildee serves on the House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee and the Budget Committee. Before being elected to Congress in 2012 by his Michigan constituency, he co-founded and served as the president of the Center for Community Progress, a national nonprofit organization focused on urban land reform and revitalization. He also founded Michigan's first land bank, the Genesee County Land Bank, which is responsible for tens of millions of dollars’ worth of redevelopment in the city of Flint. The bank later served as a model for more than 250 other land banks across the United States.

Kildee also previously served as the Genesee County treasurer, on the Genesee County Board of Commissioners, and on the Flint Board of Education. He worked for eight years at the Whaley Children's Center, a residential treatment facility in Flint for children who have experienced trauma and abuse. 

Brussels Forum Session: On the Frontlines of Democracy: Bolstering Trust in Elections Across the Atlantic 

Adrian Fontes was elected Arizona's 21st secretary of state in 2022. He is a US Marine Corps veteran who served on active duty from 1992 to 1996 and was nominated for a meritorious commission.  

After graduating from law school, Fontes worked as a prosecutor with the Denver (Colorado) district attorney before moving to the Maricopa County (Arizona) attorney’s office. He later led the international prosecution unit in the Arizona attorney general’s office. He practiced law for 15 years before being elected Maricopa County recorder in 2016. In that position, he enhanced ballot tracking technology and increased process transparency, winning awards from election organizations across the United States.

Fontes testified before Congress about threats to election officials during the 2020 campaign.