NATO

Maurizio Geri is a visiting fellow with GMF South. He is also an Italian navy lieutenant reservist, working as a foreign policy adviser for the Italian defense ministry’s general staff, and an EU Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at George Mason University in the United States and Ca’ Foscari in Italy, where he researches EU-NATO cooperation against Russian and Chinese hybrid warfare, especially that targeting the energy and technology sectors.

Geri is a former analyst for different NATO bodies in the United States (Allied Command Transformation), Italy (Centre for Maritime Research and Exploration and Joint Force Command Naples), and Brussels (alliance headquarters). He has worked at US and Italian think tanks including the Carter Center, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Global Policy Institute, the Center for Media and Peace Initiatives, and the Center for the Innovation of Defense and Euro Gulf Information Center. Prior to that, he worked as a field officer in the “Global South” with NGOs including Peace Brigades International and Nonviolent Peace Force.

Geri holds a PhD in international security from Old Dominion University in Virginia, a master’s degree in cultural studies, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Florence.

Dr. Claudia Major is GMF's senior vice president overseeing transatlantic security initiatives and is an executive team member. Previously, Dr. Major was the director of the International Security Division at the German think tank Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin. Her research, advisory work, and publications focus on the field of German security and defense policy, European security and defense policy (NATO, the EU, role of the United States), deterrence and nuclear (dis)order, and the Franco-German relationship. Currently, she is particularly focused on the repercussions of Russia’s war against Ukraine for Europe, the transatlantic relationship, the nuclear order, and international relations; options to end the war in Ukraine; and how to ensure the long-term security of Europe and Ukraine.

Dr. Major previously held positions at the Center for Security Studies at the ETH Zurich, the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the EU Institute for Security Studies (Paris), the NATO Department of the German Foreign Office, and Sciences Po Paris. She was and is a member of various committees, such as the Advisory Board for Civilian Crisis Prevention of the German Federal Foreign Office (2010–2024), the Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Defense on "leadership development and civic education" (Innere Führung) (since 2023) and the German-British Königswinter Conference. She holds a diploma from the Free University of Berlin and Sciences Po Paris and a PhD from the University of Birmingham (UK).

Dr. Major was made a Knight of the French Order of Merit (Chevalier dans l'ordre national du Mérite) and has been awarded the Estonian Cross of Merit.