Brussels Forum Session: Euro-Atlantic Security Outside the Box: High Ambitions, Different Formats

US Representative Chrissy Houlahan is an Air Force veteran, engineer, entrepreneur, and educator who is now the first woman to represent Pennsylvania's 6th District in Congress. She is a former member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee 

Houlahan has helped lead several thriving southeastern Pennsylvania companies including AND1, a basketball apparel company, and B Lab, the organization that launched the B Corporation movement. She went on to serve in Teach for America as a chemistry teacher in North Philadelphia and then led a nonprofit helping thousands of underserved students across the United States build literacy skills.  

While serving in Congress, Houlahan has been awarded the Abraham Lincoln Leadership for America Award, presented by the US Chamber of Commerce to honor lawmakers for their work supporting a free enterprise system, and three Congressional Management Foundation Democracy awards for outstanding achievement in transparency and accountability, constituent services, and workplace environment. She is the first member of Congress to win in two categories in a single congressional term.  

Houlahan holds an engineering degree from Stanford University and a master’s degree in technology and policy from MIT.

Brussels Forum Session: The Economic Counteroffensive: Rebuilding Ukraine

Valentyna Shulimborska is COO at Ro3kvit, a coalition of more than 100 professionals from Ukraine and other countries who create knowledge and methodologies for the rebuilding of Ukraine’s urban and rural landscapes and infrastructure.  

Shulimborska is a program and project manager with extensive experience in leading large-scale transformational projects in manufacturing and supply chains. Her background includes managing geographically dispersed stakeholders of various cultures and seniority.

Brussels Forum Session: The Economic Counteroffensive: Rebuilding Ukraine

Karl Jensen joined AECOM in 2020 to lead the national governments business line. He supports governments worldwide with solutions to complex water, environmental, transportation, building, and energy infrastructure challenges. He also oversees AECOM’s disaster resilience solutions practice, which is dedicated to responding to natural and human-caused disasters, restoring affected communities, and developing mitigation and resilience solutions to protect against future events.  

Throughout his career, Jensen has held leadership positions in engineering and construction, defense, and aerospace. Prior to AECOM, he led strategy and sales for the national governments sector of CH2M / Jacobs, with more than $2 billion in annual revenue and a sales team of nearly 100. His other roles within the defense industry have included deputy of corporate strategy at Raytheon and senior vice president of business development at CACI.  

Prior to his roles in industry, Jensen was a US Navy officer. He was part of the Navy Space Cadre and a designated acquisition professional, and led procurements for the intelligence community. He was a naval aviator with more than 40 combat flights in Iraq and Somalia.

Jensen holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the US Naval Academy, a master’s degree in astronautical engineering, and an aerospace engineers’ degree from the Naval Postgraduate School. He completed the advanced program managers course at the Defense Services Management College. He has held board positions with CH2M Hill Inc. and Master Singers of Virginia.

Brussels Forum Session: Spotlight: A Response

Ivan Krastev is a political scientist, chairman of the board of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, and a permanent fellow at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna (IWM Vienna). He is also the founder and member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the boards of the International Crisis Group and GLOBSEC. He regularly publishes articles in the Financial Times, The New York Times, and other international and Bulgarian media. 

Krastev’s latest books are: “Is it Tomorrow Yet? Paradoxes of the Pandemic”; “The Light that Failed”, co-authored with Stephen Holmes and winner of the Lionel Gelber Award for Best English Language Book on International Politics for 2020; “After Europe”; “Democracy Disrupted. The Global Politics on Protest”, and “In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don't Trust Our Leaders”. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages.  

Krastev is the 2020 winner of the Jean Améry Award for European Essay Writing.