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Brussels Forum Session: A Conversation with Darren Woods

Darren Woods joined Exxon Company International in 1992 as a planning analyst. He then held a number of domestic and international assignments for Exxon Company International, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, and ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company.

Woods has been chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil since 2017. He became president and a member of the board of directors in 2016. Prior to that, he held the positions of senior vice president and vice president, and president of ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company. He has also been that company’s vice president of supply and transportation, and director of refining for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Woods was earlier vice president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company, managing global specialty-chemical businesses. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Brussels Forum Session: A Conversation with Keith Kellogg & Euro-Atlantic Security and Ukraine: Scenarios for the Future

General Keith Kellogg is assistant to the president and special presidential envoy for Ukraine. During President Donald Trump’s first term, he served as the national security advisor to the vice president and as the executive secretary and chief of staff of the National Security Council. He has co-chaired the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute. A statesman, diplomat, and retired US Army lieutenant general, he has extensive experience in military and foreign affairs, national security, and international business.

Kellogg retired from the military in 2003 after a distinguished 36-year career that included several overseas deployments. He has wide-ranging experience in Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. He is also a noted author and Fox News contributor. He graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in political science and later earned a master’s degree in international studies from Kansas University.

Brussels Forum Session: Euro-Atlantic Security and Ukraine: Scenarios for the Future

Benjamin Haddad is the minister delegate for European affairs in the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Between 2022 and 2024, he represented Paris’ 14th constituency in the National Assembly, where he was a member of the Foreign Affairs and European Affairs committees. He was also spokesman for the National Assembly's Renaissance group, chairman of the body’s France-Ukraine Friendship Group, and vice-chairman of its France-Poland Friendship Group.

Prior to his election to the National Assembly, he was La Republique En Marche's representative in Washington, DC and, before that, the first national secretary of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. He was also a fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center.

Haddad is the author of “Paradis Perdu: l'Amerique de Trump et la fin des illusions europeennes”. He graduated from Sciences Po Paris and HEC Paris, and he taught international relations at Sciences Po.

Brussels Forum Session: Where Did the Political Center Go?

Sergey Lagodinsky is a German lawyer, author, and member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA). He is chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the EU-Türkiye Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Greens/EFA spokesperson for EU-Türkiye and EU-Russia relations. He is also first vice-chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and works for the Committee on Foreign Affairs as well as the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs.

Dr. Lagodinsky studied law in Göttingen and public administration at Harvard University. From 2003 to 2008, he served as program director and later as consultant to the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee. He then worked as a lawyer at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP. From 2012 until joining the European Parliament in 2019, he was director of the department Europe/North America of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Lagodinsky is a regular guest and commentator in numerous media outlets.

Lucy Okumu is a visiting fellow with GMF Leadership Programs. She is a global strategic communications leader and founder of Create Change Consulting, a boutique consulting firm dedicated to helping leaders and organizations communicate clearly. With over 20 years of experience across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, she has guided senior leaders, universities, government agencies, and nonprofits through transformations, growth, and crisis.

Okumu previously served as communications director in Stanford University’s Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research. Before that, she spent nearly a decade at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, where she served as chief of staff and director of operations in the Office of the President and later as director of the International Office at KAUST, she also expanded academic partnerships, launched global public relations campaigns, and led crisis communications. Her earlier career profile includes senior roles at the California Institute of Technology, with the Los Angeles Unified School District, and in the public policy and nonprofit sectors.

Okumu was a GMF Marshall Memorial fellow and an American Council Young Political Leader fellow. She has served on boards, including the University of Southern California (USC) Price School alumni advisory board, New Village Girls Academy board of directors, and the Para Los Niños advisory board. She holds a master’s degree from USC and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis.

Brussels Forum Session: Where Did the Political Center Go? 

Bio forthcoming

Brussels Forum Session: Civil Society’s Role in Building Democratic Resilience: Lessons from Central and Eastern Europe

Stanley Pignal writes the Charlemagne column on European affairs and serves as The Economist’s Brussels bureau chief. His previous postings include covering economics and business from Paris and Mumbai. Prior to that, he was the banking editor, overseeing coverage of financial institutions from London.

Pignal joined The Economist in 2012 from the Financial Times and previously worked as an investment analyst in the energy sector. 

Brussels Forum Session: Rebalancing Power, Restoring Trust: The GMF
Transatlantic Taskforce Report

Meredith Berger is the former assistant secretary of the US Navy (Energy, Installations, and Environment). In that role, she served as its first chief sustainability officer, a position she established.

Berger is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center and a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. She previously served in key roles at Microsoft, the US Department of Defense, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and with the State of Florida. She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.