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Irina Neagu is a senior program coordinator for the Black Sea Trust (BST), administering its Empowering Youth through Capacity Building, Collaboration, and Peace Initiatives project. She also plays a key role in BST’s Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership project. 

Neagu has expertise in youth engagement and cross-border issues in the Black Sea region, with a focus on the South Caucasus. She heads a Romanian NGO that supports civic activities and youth education.

Neagu holds a master’s degree in comparative politics and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and European studies from the University of Bucharest. 

Laurențiu Pleșca is a scientific researcher and PhD candidate of the Doctoral School of Political Sciences at the University of Bucharest. His main areas of expertise are Russia's geopolitics in the Black Sea, the Eastern Partnership, EU common policies (foreign and security policy, and the Eastern Neighborhood), and the internal and external policies of the ex-Soviet states. 

Pleșca has a master's degree in international relations and European studies, and a bachelor's degree in political science, from the University of Bucharest.

Joanna Kopacka, as a senior program coordinator in GMF's Engaging Central Europe (ECE) initiative, is responsible for some of the key segments of all ECE programming. Her primary focus lies on Poland and strengthening the resilience of civil society within the region.

Shawn Turner is the general manager and director of broadcasting at WKAR Public Media and a professor of strategic communication at Michigan State University. His prior positions include deputy White House press secretary for national security, director of communications for national intelligence at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and deputy press secretary for foreign affairs for the National Security Council (NSC).

Yuliia Korotia is an office manager at the GMF Warsaw office. 

Louis Savoia is a program coordinator for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at GMF, where he serves as the lead author of the program's weekly newsletter, the Securing Democracy Dispatch.

Savoia holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from American University’s School of International Service. His studies focused on the EU and NATO, US foreign policy, and democratic governance. His capstone project investigated patterns of hostage-taking by US adversaries, and he was among a team that presented their research to the White House special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. He spent a semester studying European affairs in Brussels.