English

J. Robinson West (Chair Emeritus)

Alberto Tagliapietra is Senior Program Coordinator at the Mediterranean Policy Program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) in Brussels. His research interests focus on EU policies, migration, and the intersection between technology and migration.

Alberto joined GMF in 2019. He holds a BA in international relations and an MSc in European and international studies from the University of Trento.

Paul Costello is a Berlin-based senior program manager for GMF Cities. He leads the team’s City Directors of International Affairs (CDIA) Network and contributes to GMF Cities’ democracy, disinformation, migration, and Ukraine projects.

Costello has a background in public policy and prior work experience in sustainability and public diplomacy programs.  He holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and a bachelor’s degree in political science from McGill University in Montreal.

Steven Bosacker oversees the GMF Cities program.  He was previously director of public sector innovation and strategic partnerships at Living Cities, a collaborative of philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing the income and wealth gap among people in US cities.

Bosacker built a career in Minnesota as the city coordinator of Minneapolis, chief of staff to Governor Jesse Ventura, and executive director and corporate secretary to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. He has held leadership roles on the advisory boards of the Congressional Management Foundation, the National Civic League, and CityHealth, which recommends the best policy solutions to ensure all people can make good health choices.

Bosacker holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Metropolitan State University.

Adrienne Goldstein is a Senior Program Coordinator with GMF Technology, focusing on disinformation and social media platforms. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in History from Middlebury College, where she was a member of the Media Portrayals of Minorities Project lab.  

Annika Vollmer is a Brussels-based program officer for GMF’s Leadership Programs. She oversees the EU-US Young Leaders Seminar, and designs and implements other programs, including the Marshall Memorial Fellowships, the Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network, and the Schuman Challenge. All the programs foster skills development, critical thinking, and cross-cultural understanding among next-generation leaders.

Fluent in German and English, Vollmer holds a master’s in international relations with a specialization in security studies from Leiden University and a bachelor’s degree in European studies from Maastricht University.

Joerg Forbrig is the managing director of the European Resilience program, GMF’s long-term effort to empower democratic societies amid rising authoritarianism, increasing hybrid threats, and growing geopolitical tension. Based in GMF’s Berlin office, he oversees several targeted initiatives and specialized teams, including Engaging Central Europe; the Fund for Belarus Democracy; Ukraine: Relief, Resilience, Recovery; the ReThink.CEE Fellowship; and the Bulwark project on societal and democratic resilience across Europe’s East. He also works closely with GMF’s Balkan Trust for Democracy and Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.

Forbrig’s analytical and policy work focuses on the easternmost members of the EU and NATO, the EU’s eastern and southeastern neighborhoods, and Russia. He has published widely on democratic processes, reform and resilience, civil society and citizen participation, and Central and Eastern European affairs. Forbrig studied political science, sociology, and Eastern European affairs at universities in Germany, Poland, and Hungary. He holds a PhD in social and political sciences from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and a Master’s degree in political science from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.