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Filiep Decorte is currently the Chief (oic) of UN-Habitat’s Programme Development Branch and acting Emergency Director. 

During his career, Filiep has predominantly focused on urban initiatives in conflict- and crisis-affected countries, specializing in urban planning, land, and housing issues. He globally focuses on migration, displacement, land and conflict and the humanitarian, development and peace nexus. He is Chair of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises. He has worked for UN-Habitat for more than twenty years in different capacities, including long-term assignments in Haiti, the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia, and Morocco. He also acted as coordinator for UN-Habitat’s Global Disaster Management Program. He was trained as a civil engineer, architect, and urban and regional planner with advanced master’s degrees from the Universities of Ghent and Leuven in Belgium.

Bogdan Zawadewicz is the Head of Geopolitical Risk Analysis at the Polish Development Bank (BGK). He graduated from the Institute of Political Sciences of the University of Warsaw. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked at the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) and at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg, where he was a member of the research group "Frozen and Unfrozen Conflicts." Additionally, he participated in scientific and research internships at institutions such as the London School of Economics IDEAS, the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow, the Center for Southeast European Studies in Graz, the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, as well as universities in Niš, Novi Sad, and Bucharest. He was also a scholarship holder of the German BAYHOST. Furthermore, he collaborated as a consultant with the Goethe Institute in Tel Aviv on the project "Negotiations Matter," which focused on the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Jaine Archambeau is an Trainee on the GMF North team.

After serving in Congress for 26 years, Mac Thornberry continues to work at the intersection of technology and national security.  He serves various companies and non-profit organizations as a board member and advisor.   

A former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, he was also a member of the House Intelligence Committee for more than a decade. The Almanac of American Politics 2020 called Mac “one of Congress’ brainiest and most thoughtful members on national and domestic security issues.”   Widely respected across the political spectrum as an innovator and a strategic thinker, Mac has led on strategic nuclear issues, homeland security, cyber and space issues, as well as enhancing innovation and improving acquisition to benefit the men and women who serve and the nation.

In December 2021, Mac received the Peace Through Strength Award from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.  He is also the recipient of Distinguished Service Medals from the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, as well as awards and recognitions from a number of other organizations.  On a bipartisan basis, Congress named the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act for him.

Prior to his election to Congress, Mac served in the State Department during the Reagan Administration, as staff on Capitol Hill, and practiced law. Raised on the family ranch in Donley County, Texas, Mac graduated from Texas Tech University and received a law degree from the University of Texas. He and his wife, Sally, have two children.

Dr. Sharinee L. Jagtiani is a Berlin-based fellow with GMF Technology. Her work focuses on the geopolitics of technology, particularly the impact of the US-China strategic rivalry on global tech ecosystems, the role of middle powers in this evolving landscape, and the potential of technology to advance democratic values.

Since joining GMF in 2024, Dr. Jagtiani has advanced the team's research on the geopolitics of China’s technological engagement in Europe. She also contributes to the team’s work on democracy-affirming technologies, including the piloting of content authenticity tools for the 2024 election cycle.

Dr. Jagtiani was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering at the University of Potsdam, where she conducted research and put forward policy recommendations on global technology governance, cloud computing, and digital public infrastructure. She holds a PhD in international relations from the University of Oxford, where her dissertation explored the rise of emerging powers and their quests for great power status, with a focus on India.

Dr. Jagtiani has over a decade of experience in academia and policy research, and has held roles at institutions including the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and Berlin. She has published widely on Asia-Pacific security, European security, and the US-China strategic rivalry.

Amandine Gnanguênon is a GMF Risk and Strategy nonresident fellow, and a senior fellow and head of the Africa Policy Research Institute’s (APRI) Geopolitics and Geoeconomics Program. She is also an associate research fellow at the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies.

Before joining APRI, Gnanguênon was an independent adviser to governments, think tanks, German foundations, African regional organizations, the EU, and the UN. She also worked at the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Institute of Security Studies in Dakar. She established and led the sub-Saharan Africa program at the Institute of Strategic Research at the École Militaire in Paris.

Gnanguênon’s research and analysis has been published on academic, policy, and media platforms. Her areas of focus include regional integration, peace and security, governance, digitalization, climate-related issues, and EU-Africa cooperation. 

Brussels Forum Session: Euro-Atlantic Security Outside the Box: High Ambitions, Different Formats

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett represents communities from Austin in the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves as Ranking Member of the Health Subcommittee on the House Ways & Means Committee. Doggett also serves on the Ways and Means Tax Subcommittee, the Joint Committee on Taxation, and the House Budget Committee.

Aaron Chang has over three decades of global event planning, production, and logistical experience in a variety of government, political, corporate, and professional sports settings. The Founder of First Generation Strategies, LLC, Chang has worked on four presidential campaigns. Most recently, he served as Director of Operations for Vice President Mike Pence’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Chang served as Director of Advance for Vice President Pence at the White House, for the Secretary of Homeland Security, and as Acting Deputy Chief of Protocol for the United States. He also facilitated the start-up operation of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team after a 34-year absence from the nation’s capital. 

A magna cum laude graduate of The George Washington University, Mr. Chang holds a Master’s Degree in Political Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science.