Stephanie Siemek is a trainee in the Strategic Demoracy Initatives Program.
English
Sherrese Smith is the global managing partner of Paul Hastings, a global law firm. She helps direct its growth, management, and strategy. She previously served as the vice chair of its data privacy and cybersecurity practice.
Smith is known as one of the country’s preeminent data privacy and cybersecurity, and media and technology, attorneys, and is consistently ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA and Legal 500. Before joining Paul Hastings, she served as chief counsel to Chairman Julius Genachowski at the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to joining that agency, she was vice president and general counsel of Washington Post Digital.
Smith serves on the board of directors of Gen Digital and Cable ONE. She is also vice chair of the Northwestern Pritzker Law Board and a member of the University of Maryland’s journalism school board. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina and a law degree from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
Iana Pancenco Democracy and EU Enlargement Officer for Young Professionals in Foreign Policy.
Born the son of immigrants from Colombia and Mexico and raised by a single mom, Senator Gallego knows what it means to live the American Dream. In the Senate, he’s fighting to ensure every Arizonan can live theirs, too.
After growing up poor and working every job he could find to help support his mom and three sisters – working at a pizza joint, construction sites, and a meat-packing plant – Sen. Gallego became the first in his family to attend college, graduating from Harvard University.
Motivated to give back to the country that had given him such opportunities, Sen. Gallego enlisted in the Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq in 2005 as an infantryman, serving with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines.
His Company saw some of the worst fighting of the Iraq War, losing 22 Marines and a Navy Corpsman to enemy action in eight months. Following his experience in Iraq, Sen. Gallego committed to ensuring that servicemen and –women are never sent into harm’s way without a plan for winning the fight and securing their wellbeing.
Sen. Gallego was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2010 where he pushed to expand Medicaid and worked across the aisle to secure in-state tuition for all veterans.
In 2014, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Over his ten years in the House, Sen. Gallego fought tirelessly for hardworking Arizonans – distinguishing himself as the highest-ranking Latino on the House Armed Services Committee and defending Arizona’s water supply and natural beauty as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.
In November 2024, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He was sworn in on January 3, 2025, with the promise to fight for all Arizonans.
Sen. Gallego lives in South Phoenix with his wife, Sydney, son, Michael, and daughter, Isla.
Tudor Petru Fabian is a Policy Officer at the European External Action Service.
Nathaniel Myers is a visiting fellow within the Transatlantic Trusts at GMF, where his research focuses on foreign digital interference in democratic information spaces, democratic resilience, and exiled political movements. He brings over 15 years of experience integrating diplomacy, political analysis, and on-the-ground program management across multiple continents, with particular expertise in Eastern Europe.
Prior to joining GMF, Myers was a senior transition advisor and country representative at the US Agency for International Development, where he led and advised multimillion-dollar grant programs in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. He previously served as a policy advisor and speechwriter at the US Mission to the UN, as an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His writing on governance, democracy, and conflict issues has appeared in Foreign Policy, International New York Times, the Washington Post, and other outlets. He holds an MPA from Princeton University and a BA from Harvard University.
Colleen Scribner is deputy director of the Indo-Pacific Program at GMF. Prior to joining the organization, she served as senior program manager for Asia programs at Freedom House, where she led strategy and oversaw human rights and democratic resilience programming across the region. Before that, she worked on Freedom House’s Emergency Assistance Program, rising from senior program associate to program manager. She designed and implemented rapid response grantmaking, civil society protection, and socio-political change programs for at-risk civil society organizations and human rights defenders in restrictive environments globally. She has also held roles at the Public International Law and Policy Group and the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery.
Scribner was a 2023 Penn Kemble Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and the 2020 Young Professionals in Foreign Policy Rising Experts Human Rights Fellow. She holds a master’s degree from American University’s School of International Service in global governance, politics, and security and a bachelor’s degree from Occidental College in diplomacy and world affairs.
Meaghan Mobbs, PhD, is an experienced nongovernmental, policy, and political leader, widely published on topics related to national security, defense, and psychological impacts of war. A graduate of West Point, she holds a master's degree in forensic psychology from George Washington University and a doctorate in clinical psychology from Columbia University. As a Tillman Scholar and George W. Bush Veteran Leadership Scholar, she serves as a Presidential appointee to the United States Military Academy - West Point Board of Visitors and is a Gubernatorial appointee to the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors.
As a former Army officer, small business owner, and the leader of a multimillion-dollar private operating foundation, she has spearheaded significant security and humanitarian efforts globally. She has established pivotal relationships with the U.S. Government, multinational governments, nongovernmental organizations, and has advised numerous business leaders and government officials on defense, national security, and public safety issues.
Her insights into national security and foreign policy are deeply informed by her background in psychology and military experience. A former paratrooper and combat veteran, Dr. Mobbs has testified before Congress on these issues. Her peer-reviewed research on the unique psychosocial stressors experienced during wartime service has pioneered the concept of ‘transition stress.’ Dr. Mobbs' relentless dedication to enhancing the effectiveness of military and humanitarian policies, coupled with her unwavering commitment to supporting those who have served, make her a distinguished leader in her field. Her ability to integrate her extensive academic research with practical, real-world solutions continues to impact and shape the landscape of global security and the welfare of veterans worldwide.
George Chewning is the Founder and Executive Director of the US-Ukraine Veterans Bridge, a nonprofit organization which connects the American veterans community with partners in Ukraine to help build an effective veteran support ecosystem. George is a US Army veteran and served as an Infantry Officer in Afghanistan. After leaving the military, he led machine learning solutions in large-scale computing environments at Facebook. George is a former White House Presidential Innovation Fellow and co-founded the first artificial intelligence office at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. He has also led strategic advisory for government service providers and domestic and foreign nonprofit organizations.
George earned a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy, a Master of Business Administration from the George Washington University, and a Master of Arts in Public Leadership from the University of San Francisco.
John W. Boerstler currently serves as the Head of Public Sector at Ipsos Public Affairs. Prior to his role at Ipsos, John served as the Chief Experience Officer at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In this role, John provided oversight of the qualitative design and quantitative survey capabilities housed within the Veterans Experience Office and worked collaboratively within VA’s leadership to help achieve greater access and health outcomes for Veterans. Prior to his appointment at VA, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Combined Arms, a disruptive technology company that ensures the social determinants of health (SDOH) are uniquely addressed for underserved populations. John is also a recipient of both the Eisenhower and Marshall Memorial Fellowships, having traveled globally to compare and develop military to civilian reintegration systems. As the first Marshall Prize recipient, John completed a 3-year project in Ukraine to assist in the development of their Ministry of Veterans Affairs – the first of its kind in Europe. John is a native Texan who served honorably in the U.S. Marine Corps as an infantry unit leader in the Iraq War and in East Africa. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Texas A&M University and teaches a course on Customer Experience at Georgetown University.