Italian
Maya Fenyvesi is a Berlin-based program assistant with GMF’s Engaging Central Europe program, responsible for grantmaking activities and for fostering relationships with Hungarian grantees.
Before joining GMF, Fenyvesi worked at Amnesty International Hungary, coordinating EU- and GMF-funded educational projects. They started their career working and volunteering in small civil society organizations.
Fenyvesi holds a master’s degree in human rights, culture, and social justice at Goldsmiths University of London, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and French from King's College London.
Sayuri Romei is a Washington, DC-based senior fellow in GMF’s Indo-Pacific program. She leads work on Japan and heads the Japan Trilateral Forum. Her research focuses on US-Japan relations and security issues in the Indo-Pacific.
Romei was previously an associate director of programs at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, where she was responsible for the Next Generation of US-Japan Nuclear Experts program and the Mansfield Forum on Energy and Climate Change, among other initiatives. She was also a Stanton nuclear security fellow at the RAND Corporation, a public policy fellow at the Wilson Center, the fellow for security and foreign affairs at Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, and a MacArthur nuclear security fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.
Romei holds bachelor’s degrees in English language and literature from the University of Sorbonne, and in international relations from the University of Roma La Sapienza, and a master’s degree in international relations and a PhD in political science from Roma Tre University. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Kyodo News, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and The Air Force Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, among other media outlets. She has appeared on BBC World News, the BBC World Service, and the PBS NewsHour to comment on security issues in East Asia. She speaks Italian, French, and Japanese, and is studying Korean.
Oscar Luigi Guccione is a program assistant in GMF’s Transatlantic Security Program in Warsaw. He is also a junior fellow with NATO. His work involves research on Poland and Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on European defense-industrial policy, EU–NATO coordination, and Poland’s domestic and foreign policy. He contributes to GMF’s research and policy engagement through analytical briefs, high-level convenings, and outreach to stakeholders in government, industry, and civil society.
Previously, Guccione worked at the European University Institute in Florence and at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Secretariat in Vienna, and served on Reuters’ Global Picture Desk in Gdańsk, Poland.
Guccione is a PhD candidate in Social Sciences at the University of Warsaw, where his research examines gender representation and the radical right in Europe. He holds an advanced professional master’s degree in international relations and diplomatic affairs from LUMSA University, and a double master’s degree in European Studies from the Jagiellonian University and the University of Padua.
Adam Hsakou is a former Program Coordinator at GMF.
Gunnar Wiegand is a visiting distinguished fellow in the Indo-Pacific program since November 2023. From 2016 to 2023, Wiegand served as the managing director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service (EEAS). In this function, Wiegand was a key contributor to the EU’s policy orientations on EU relations with China and India, the Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Europe Asia Connectivity Policy (the precursor for the Global Gateway initiative), and enhanced security engagement with Indo-Pacific partners. He was also the EU's senior official for the Asia Europe meetings (ASEM) and EU-ASEAN relations. Among other tasks, he served as the EU's chief negotiator for the new EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement. Prior to that, Wiegand served as EEAS director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia, OSCE and Northern Dimension (2011–2015).
Wiegand held various senior positions at the European Commission, including director for Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus, and Central Asia at DG RELEX (2008–2011), head of unit for Relations with Russia and the Northern Dimension at DG RELEX (2006–2008), head of unit for Relations with the United States and Canada (2003–2006), and spokesman for Lord Chris Patten, EU Commissioner for External Relations (1999–2002).
Wiegand holds a law degree from the University of Hamburg and a master’s degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. He is a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, and the Paris School of International Affairs in Paris, France.