Global Power Shifts

Elene Kintsurashvili is a Warsaw-based senior program coordinator on GMF’s Transatlantic Security team, focusing on research and convening activities. Her areas of expertise include NATO and EU engagement in the Eastern Partnership countries. She also follows the South Caucasus and Black Sea regions, Georgian domestic and foreign policies, and Russian hybrid warfare and its impact on European security and democratic resilience.

Kintsurashvili previously served as assistant to the deputy secretary-general of the Georgian parliament. Outside her professional work, she has been involved in civic initiatives advancing democracy and Georgian aspirations to integrate into the Euro-Atlantic community.

Kintsurashvili received her master’s degree in European interdisciplinary studies from the College of Europe, where she specialized in European neighborhood policy and the Eastern Partnership, and was awarded an honorary bachelor’s degree in international relations from Vistula University. She speaks fluent Georgian, Russian, and Polish.

Vicky Masson is the Paris-based senior manager for operations. She leads high-impact transformation initiatives and brings operational coherence to GMF's transatlantic presence.

Masson was previously chief of staff to GMF President Dr. Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer. She began her GMF career as an intern in the organization's Paris office before becoming a program operations manager. Before joining GMF, she was an intern at the Agence Française de Développement and contributed to a research project on the intervention of international stakeholders in countries in crisis, particularly in the Middle East and Africa.

Masson holds a master’s degree in international security from Sciences Po Paris, where she specialized in diplomacy and African studies.

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı is the managing director of GMF South and Wider Europe and the regional director for Türkiye. Prior to joining GMF, he was the manager of the Resource Development Department of the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey. Previously, Ünlühisarcıklı served as director of the ARI Movement, a Turkish NGO promoting participatory democracy, and as a consultant at AB Consulting and Investment Services.

Ünlühisarcıklı is an expert on transatlantic relations and Turkish foreign policy, domestic politics, democratization, and civil society. He is quoted frequently in international media including The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Deutsche Welle, and the BBC.

After graduating from the Robert College (Istanbul), Ünlühisarcıklı received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Marmara University and his master's degree from Koç University. He speaks fluent English in addition to his native Turkish.

Dr. Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer is GMF’s president. In her previous capacity as senior vice president for geostrategy, she led GMF’s geostrategy policy and risk advisory initiatives across Europe, the United States, and the Indo-Pacific. Her areas of expertise encompass European affairs, transatlantic and international relations, and corporate diplomacy.

With more than 15 years’ experience in senior advisory and executive roles, Dr. de Hoop Scheffer advises governments, multinational corporations, and financial institutions on the political, geopolitical, and macroeconomic trends that shape their operations and strategies. She helps them develop early-warning systems and forward-looking decision-making processes.

Dr. de Hoop Scheffer serves as an independent board director on the supervisory board of Meridiam and the French Treasury Strategic Committee, among other bodies. She is also chair of the advisory board of the French Chief of Defense Staff and a member of the board of the France-Nederland Cultuurfonds, the advisory board of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, and the editorial board of The Washington Quarterly. She is a member of the Trilateral Commission.

Prior to joining GMF in 2012 as its Paris office director and as a senior fellow, Dr. de Hoop Scheffer held key advisory positions in the French government, academia, and international organizations, including with the French foreign ministry’s policy planning staff (2009-2011), NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (2010-2013), the French Ministry of Defense (2006-2009), and UN peacekeeping operations (2006). She also served as an associate professor at Sciences Po Paris and as a research fellow at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales.

A dual French-Dutch citizen, Dr. de Hoop Scheffer holds a PhD in political science from Sciences Po Paris and is the author of “Hamlet en Irak”. She is a frequent public speaker and writer.

She is a recipient of the French National Order of Merit for her role in strengthening transatlantic relations.

Emiliano Alessandri is a visiting senior fellow at GMF. He is also a senior adviser with the Agency for Peace Building and an associate fellow with the Middle East Institute. His expertise is in the field of international security and multilateral cooperation with a particular focus on transatlantic relations, European affairs, and the Mediterranean/Middle East North Africa.

Alessandri was a resident senior transatlantic fellow with GMF between 2010 and 2013, working primarily on Mediterranean affairs and Türkiye. He subsequently served three successive secretary generals of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as a senior officer between 2013 and 2023. He also held positions with the International Center for Migration Policy Development, the Brookings Institution, and the Institute of International Affairs of Rome, and taught at the College of Europe and Central European University.

Alessandri holds a PhD in international history from the University of Cambridge and a master’s degree in international economics and US foreign policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).