Security + Geopolitics

Vicky Masson is chief of staff to the acting president at GMF. She works closely with the executive team, assists in streamlining operations, and facilitates cross-functional collaboration. Vicky began at GMF as an intern in the Paris office in 2021, and moved to the Geostrategy Hub as Program Operations Manager.

Prior to joining GMF in 2021, Vicky was an intern at the Agence Française de Développement, where she contributed to a research project on the intervention of international stakeholders in countries in crisis, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. She holds a master’s degree in international security at Sciences Po Paris, where she specialized in diplomacy and African studies. 

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.

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".