James Bindenagel is a U.S. Ambassador (ret.), whose 30-year Foreign Service career included assignments in West, East, and united Germany. He is currently a Senior Professor at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategy, and Integration Studies at Bonn University.
Germany
Hanna Kovhan is a Berlin-based senior program coordinator with GMF’s Leadership Programs team. She supports the organization’s work on fellowship and alumni programs for leaders from the United States and Europe, including the Marshall Memorial Fellowship, the Policy Designers Network, the Leadership Lab, and the Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network. She previously led the Transatlantic Information Media Program and served as GMF’s liaison to the Bundeswehr for the Manfred Wörner Seminar.
Her regional areas of expertise encompass the Commonwealth of Independent States and the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries.
Kovhan holds a bachelor’s degree in translation studies from V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University in Ukraine, a master’s degree in intercultural communication from European University Viadrina in Germany, and an executive diploma in the art of diplomacy from the European Academy of Diplomacy in Poland. She also spent a year studying international relations at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in Georgia and a semester at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.
Corinna Blutguth is a program manager in GMF's Berlin office. She coordinates programming and research on U.S.-German relations, transatlantic security, and German domestic and foreign policy. She supports the Alliance for Securing Democracy’s work on the German Elections, identifying and analyzing information manipulation targeting Germany’s elections. Before joining GMF, Corinna worked as a program officer for a public-private-partnership of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Robert Bosch Foundation, and the German Council on Foreign Relations. She also gained experience working for the Kolleg-Forschergruppe Transformative Power of Europe at Freie Universität Berlin. Corinna holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Potsdam and studied European Studies in Magdeburg and Brno. Next to her native German, she speaks English and Spanish and has a basic knowledge of French and Czech.
Sophie Arts is a Washington, DC-based fellow with GMF’s Transatlantic Security team. She leads the team’s research on Nordic and Arctic security and geopolitics, covering North American homeland defense against conventional and hybrid threats, and cooperation with allies and partners. She also focuses on Russian and Chinese activities in the Arctic region.
Arts serves as co-chair on the task force for global peace and security for the Think7 (T7), the official G7 group that brings together the world’s leading think tanks and research centers. Her writing and commentary are featured regularly in international media.
In 2017, Arts joined GMF's security and defense policy team, focusing on transatlantic security within and outside NATO. Her prior research covered the alliance’s partnerships and flexible formats, the impact of emerging technologies on NATO defense and deterrence, the dynamics of escalation within the cyber domain, and strategic stability in a multipolar world.
Arts previously worked at the Atlantic Council, GMF’s Brussels office, Spiegel Online International, and Kantar Media. Originally from Germany, she holds a master’s degree from Humboldt University in Berlin and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Freiburg. She completed coursework at Connecticut College and the University of Virginia, where she also worked as a research assistant in the media studies department and in the university’s Center for Politics, supporting Larry J. Sabato's work on "The Kennedy Half-Century".