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Louise Langeby is Deputy Managing Director of the GMF Brussels Office as well as Managing Director of GMF’s Strategic Convening. She leads GMF’s annual flagship event Brussels Forum as well as directs the operations of the Brussels office. She has extensive project management, operations, and leadership experience, particularly focused on U.S. politics and transatlantic relations, having worked in the public sector and non-profit field for over 10 years. Louise is also a co-founder of the Brussels Binder, an online database of female policy experts. Louise has a master’s as well as MBA degree and studied at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, Uppsala University, Sweden, and Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Veronika Zimova is a Program Coordinator at GMF's Engaging Central Europe program in Berlin. She is responsible for the program's grantmaking activities and for fostering relationships with grantees.
Zimova is a highly experienced project manager. At the Adventist Development and Relief Association in Slovakia, she coordinated EU-funded projects that collaborated with grassroots organizations worldwide. She began her career as a volunteer Project Assistant at ADRA Albania, during which she was named SlovakAid Volunteer of the Year (2018–2019) for her field work with vulnerable groups.
Zimova holds a master's degree in international relations from Matej Bel University in Slovakia. She wrote her bachelor's thesis on the transition to democracy in the early 1990s in central Europe.
Nikki Garza is a development operations coordinator at GMF. She is concurrently a graduate student at American University's School of International Service, studying ethics, peace, and human rights. Her professional experience includes supporting federal and state policy objectives and leading projects for her own startup, which promotes paid internships at international organizations, and for mid- to senior-level leaders in the public and private sectors. Garza began her career conducting research on perceptions of climate change at Lund University in Sweden before joining the American Red Cross. Her expertise includes nonprofit management, cross-cultural awareness, strategic planning, operations management, and social science research. Garza holds a bachelor's degree (cum laude) in sociology and psychology from the University of Houston.
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.