YPS Bios 2016
Said Abdu, Member of Parliament, Sweden
Said Abdu is a Swedish center-right Liberal Party politician and spokesperson on business and entrepreneurial issues, and has been a member of parliament since 2014. He is a member of the Parliament’s Traffic Committee, and deputy member of six other committees, including the EU-Council, the Business, and Industry Committees. Abdu started his own recruiting company, West Work, with a special focus on introducing immigrants to the Swedish labor market. He has chaired the local chapter of the Swedish Federation of Business Owners in the city of Trollhattan, and an Adult Education Association. Abdu holds a bachelor’s degree in business from University West in Trollhattan.
Paul Adamson, Chairman, Forum Europe
Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe, and founder and editor of E!Sharp, an online magazine. In addition, he is also a senior European policy advisor at Covington, a member of Rand Europe's Council of Advisors, the Washington European Society, and of the Brussels chapter of Women in International Security (WiiS). Previously, Adamson founded the consulting firm Adamson Associates. In 2012, he was recognized as an officer of the order of the British Empire (OBE). Adamson is a visiting professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES), and a fellow of the U.K. Academy of Social Sciences.
Nisha Agarwal, Commissioner, New York
Nisha Agarwal is a commissioner in the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs in New York City and one of the city’s leading advocates for immigrant communities. Most recently, she played a leading role in establishing the Immigrant Justice Corps, a non-profit that recruits law school graduates, and partners them with non-profit legal services providers to offer legal representation to undocumented immigrants. Previously, she co-founded the Center for Popular Democracy and served as director of the health justice program of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. Agarwal played a strong role in the establishment of a municipal ID card for the almost half million New Yorkers who are undocumented immigrants. She also works to establish a positive environment for immigrant-owned small businesses. She holds a bachelor’s from Harvard University and completed an advanced studies program at Oxford University.
Nada Mohammed Ibraheem Al-Jubori, Member, the Iraqi Council of Representatives and the Foreign Affairs Committee
Nada Mohammed Ibraheem Al-Jubori is member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives and on the Foreign Affairs Committee. She was also a member of the previous Iraqi Council of Representatives from 2006 to 2010 and on the Woman, Family, and Children Committee. In 2005, she founded the Iraqi Woman and Future organization, which works mainly on women’s empowerment, equity, widows, and orphans in Baghdad. Her organization has conducted research on the role of women in peace and security, and the changes in the communities in Arabic countries, primarily Iraq. Al-Jubori has also participated in many international meetings related to women’s human rights, conflict resolution, and women in politics. Professionally, she is a specialist doctor in intensive care and anesthesia; she has worked in the Jordanian Ministry of Health and the Medical City Hospital in Baghdad and Iraq.
Ali Aslan, TV Host and Journalist, Germany
Ali Aslan is a television presenter, and journalist. He has worked for global news networks such as CNN, ABC News, Channel News Asia, and Deutsche Welle TV, where he hosted the internationally acclaimed talk show “Quadriga.” In addition to his career in journalism, Aslan has also served as a policy and media advisor to the German government, including the Foreign Office. He has been recognized as a Young Leader by the American Council on Germany, the BMW Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Munich Security Conference, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the Atlantik-Bruecke. He is the first German recipient of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations International Fellowship, and an alumnus of the Koerber Network Foreign Policy. Aslan holds a bachelor’s in international politics from Georgetown, and a master’s in journalism and master’s of international affairs from Columbia University.
Rana Birden-Corbacioglu, Co-Founder, Women in Foreign Policy Initiative, Istanbul
Rana Birden-Corbacioglu is one of the co-founders of the Women in Foreign Policy Initiative in Istanbul. She also serves as director of projects of Turkey Europe Foundation, designing and implementing internationally funded projects. Previously, she served as executive director of the Global Relations Forum, and worked as senior consultant for UN agencies, European Union, and international foundations, such as the Open Society Institute, in many projects related to civil society development, women, and youth empowerment. Her previous professional experiences include director of ARI Movement, and coordinator of EU Research and Documentation Center of Bahcesehir University. Birden Corbacioglu also worked as key expert for the Civil Society Development Programme, one of the first countrywide projects implemented in Turkey with EU financing, and as researcher at the Economic Development Foundation (IKV). She holds a bachelor’s in international relations and a master’s in European Union from Galatasaray University, Istanbul.
Charlotte Brandsma, Program Coordinator, German Marshall Fund of the United States
Charlotte Brandsma joined GMF in 2011. Based in Brussels, she coordinates GMF’s work on the Mediterranean region. Her main focus is on energy politics in the Mediterranean and U.S. and European policy toward the Mediterranean and Middle East. Brandsma’s work includes managing GMF’s Eastern Mediterranean Energy Project, which promotes the conditions for the peaceful development of new energy opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean and to encourage regional cooperation on energy issues. In addition, she coordinates GMF’s Mediterranean Strategy Group meetings. Prior to joining GMF, Brandsma worked for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels on the European Neighbourhood Policy, human rights and migration policy. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s in international relations from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Brandsma speaks Dutch, English, French, German, and basic Arabic and Spanish.
Peter W. Brorsen, External Relations and Europe Director, The European Institute of Peace
Peter W. Brorsen is the director for external relations and Europe at the European Institute of Peace. He develops EIP’s Addressing Radicalization in Europe program. During his 20 years in international affairs, he has been stationed in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia for several United Nations agencies, European governments, and research centers. A mediator by training, he has facilitated a diverse set of agreements such as Israeli-Palestinian access to the Jordan River, inter-communal cooperation on the Indonesian Maluku islands, and equal Croatian and Serbian access to exhume missing soldiers from the Balkan wars. Brorsen has authored various reports on EU mediation capacity, and also engages with European, and EU institutions to create greater coherence on third-party efforts. He has studied at Aarhus, Harvard, and Oxford with a focus on political theory and empirical analysis.
Jonathan Capehart, Editorial Board Member, The Washington Post
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jonathan Capehart is a member of The Washington Post editorial board and writes about politics and social issues for the PostPartisan blog. He is an MSNBC contributor and has served as a substitute anchor on The Cycle, Martin Bashir, and Way Too Early. He also has been a member of the Reporters Roundtable on ABC News’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, and substitute host on The Brian Lehrer Show and The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC. Capehart was the deputy editorial page editor of New York Daily News from 2002 to 2004, and served on that newspaper’s editorial board from 1993 to 2000. In 1999, his 16-month editorial campaign to save the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem earned him and the board the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing.
Paula de Castro, Project Manager and Researcher, Barcelona Centre for International Affairs
Paula de Castro works as a project manager and researcher at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB). Since 2014, she has worked as the project manager of the Atlantic Future project – a project funded by the EU’s 7th Framework Programme. Prior to this, she served as assistant project manager of the “The Northern Africa Security Continuum: The Dynamics of Instability and the Search for Effective Responses” initiative. Her previous professional experience includes acting as an assistant analyst on political and security issues at Spain’s Ministry of Defense, in the Division of Strategic and Security Issues, where she was also a Ministry representative at the European Union project about Open-Sources Intelligence (OSINT). She worked in the production of a documentary for public television in Colombia, “Jaime Garzón, Especial,” which received the India Catalina award of 2015 for the best journalistic production of 2014.
Roger Dassen, Global Vice Chairman of Risk, Regulatory and Public Policy for Deloitte
Roger Dassen is the global vice chairman of risk, regulatory and public policy for Deloitte. He has been a member of Deloitte’s global executive committee for more than a decade, including two terms as CEO of Deloitte Netherlands. He also has been an audit partner since 1996, serving top tier clients across several industries. Dassen is a frequent speaker at conferences, and author of several textbooks on audit innovation, the future of professional services, and key trends driving change in a post-recession economy in English, Mandarin, and Dutch. Dassen has served as a member of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), chairman of the International Federation of Accountants’ (IFAC) Transnational Auditors Committee, and chairman of the Dutch Auditing Standards Board. He is a professor of auditing at the Free University of Amsterdam.
Sudha David-Wilp, Senior Transatlantic Fellow & Deputy Director, Berlin Office, GMF
Sudha David-Wilp is a senior transatlantic fellow & deputy director of the GMF’s Berlin office. She oversees GMF’s Congress-Bundestag Forum, a joint program with the Robert Bosch Foundation, and engages with the media as an expert on German-U.S. relations. Before moving to Berlin, she was the director of international programs at the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress in Washington, DC. David-Wilp has worked as a marketing and business development manager for leading IT and multimedia companies such as Lufthansa Systems and Aperto. David-Wilp commented on the 2012 U.S. election for the German media, and has written for various news outlets on transatlantic relations. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international relations.
Carlo D’Asaro Biondo, President EMEA, Strategic Relationships
Carlo D’Asaro Biondo joined KPMG Consulting Italy in 1994, where he became chief executive officer for France in late 1998. Following the sale of KPMG Consulting, he joined Unisys as vice president and MD EMEA Telecommunications and Media at the end of 2001. In February 2004, he joined AOL Europe as senior vice president in charge of strategy. A few months later, he was appointed CEO of AOL France, and moved on to become CEO of AOL Europe in 2006. In early 2007, Biondo became CEO of international operations at Lagardère Active Digital, before joining Google in July 2009 where he managed operations in Southern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for five years. Since January 2015, he has been president of strategic relationships for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Google. Biondo graduated from La Sapienza University in Rome (Italy).
Karen Donfried, President, German Marshall Fund of the United States
Karen Donfried is president of The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). Before assuming this role in April 2014, Donfried was the special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs on the National Security Council at the White House. In that capacity, she was the president’s principal advisor on Europe and led the interagency process on the development and implementation of the president’s European policies. Prior to the White House, Donfried served as the national intelligence officer (NIO) for Europe on the National Intelligence Council, the intelligence community’s center for strategic thinking. As NIO, she directed and drafted strategic analysis to advance senior policymakers’ understanding of Europe. Donfried first joined GMF in 2001 after having served for ten years as a European specialist at the Congressional Research Service. From 2003 to 2005, she was responsible for the Europe portfolio on the U.S. Department of State's Policy Planning Staff. Her second term of service at GMF was 2005 to 2010, first as senior director of policy programs and then as executive vice president. Donfried is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, vice chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the United States, and a member of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Advisory Board.
Steven Erlanger, London Bureau Chief, The New York Times
Steven Erlanger became the London bureau chief of The New York Times in August 2013, after five years as bureau chief in Paris and, before that, four years as bureau chief in Jerusalem. He has served as Berlin bureau chief, bureau chief for Central Europe and the Balkans based in Prague, and chief diplomatic correspondent based in Washington. From 1991 to 1995, he was posted in Moscow, after being Bangkok bureau chief and Southeast Asia correspondent from 1988 to 1991. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, he graduated from Harvard College in 1974 and studied Russian at St. Antony’s College, Oxford.
Trevor Gandy, Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Culture Officer, Chubb
Trevor Gandy is senior vice-president and deputy chief culture officer at Chubb. He works closely with Chubb’s senior leadership and employee resource groups to ensure that the company is viewed by its employees, customers, and partners worldwide as an organization that promotes and leverages the business value of diversity and inclusion. He serves as executive committee chair of The Conference Board Council of U.S. Diversity & Inclusion Executives, and has been featured in articles published by the Chicago Tribune, TheGlassHammer.com, and Diversity Inc Magazine. Additionally, he represents Chubb as a co-chair on the Center for Talent Innovation Task Force for Talent Innovation, and on the Catalyst Organization’s Expert Community. Gandy received his bachelor’s degree from Pepperdine University and has completed an executive education program for senior human resources executives at Stanford University.
Hannah Hopko, Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee, Ukrainian Parliament
Hannah Hopko is the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Ukrainian Parliament. She was one of the leading members of the civic sector of EuroMaidan (Nov. 21, 2013 - Feb. 22, 2014). She helped launch the Reanimation Package of Reforms initiative — a coalition of Ukrainian experts, activists, journalists, scientists, and human rights advocates focused on the efficient implementation of the most important reforms in Ukraine. She was also a member of a panel of experts for the inter-factional parliamentary group, Platform of Reforms. She was designated head of the Foreign Affairs Committee on Dec. 4, 2014. In 2014, Hopko was named a “Leading Global Thinker” by Foreign Policy magazine and was honored with the National Democratic Institute Democracy Award for her efforts to further the cause of democracy in Ukraine.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner, Ambassador, U.S. Mission to the European Union
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner has been the U.S. ambassador to the European Union since 2014. Previously, he was managing director at Palamon Capital Partners and served as executive director in the leveraged finance departments of Bank of America and GE Capital. He has also worked as a senior associate at international law firms in London, Paris, New York, and Brussels, and dedicated more than 20 years of his career to U.S.-European affairs, as a government official, lawyer, and investor. Gardner is the author of A New Era in U.S.-EU Relations? The Clinton Administration and the New Transatlantic Agenda, along with numerous articles on EU affairs. He has a bachelor’s in government from Harvard University, a master’s in international relations from Oxford University, a JD from Columbia Law School, and a master’s in finance from London Business School.
Geraldine Gardner, Director, Urban and Regional Policy Program
Geraldine Gardner is the director of the Urban and Regional Policy program. Before joining GMF in May 2012, she held in a variety of planning and economic development positions in the District of Columbia Government, including serving for five years as an associate director of the Office of Planning (DCOP). In her tenure at DCOP, she led the successful completion of over 18 neighborhood and revitalization plans. Gardner has also worked in a variety or research and planning capacities in Los Angeles, New York, and Berlin. She was also the recipient of a Bundeskanzler/German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to support a year-long research project to track the development of the creative economy in post-Wall Berlin.
Madeleine Goerg, Program Officer, The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Madeleine Goerg is a program officer for GMF’s Wider Atlantic Program where she contributes to research and programming on North-South and South-South relations. Ms. Goerg leads GMF’s work on West and Southern Africa, as well as the Emerging Leaders component of the Atlantic Dialogues. Prior to joining GMF, she worked for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and at the European Commission’s representation office in Berlin. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international development, history, and contemporary German studies from McGill University, and a master’s degree in European studies from the University of Bath. Her research focuses on development cooperation, South-South relations, African regional integration, and emerging powers in Africa.
Nik Gowing, International Presenter
Nik Gowing was a main presenter for the BBC’s international 24-hour news channel BBC World News from 1996 to 2014. He has presented The Hub with Nik Gowing, BBC World Debates, Dateline London, plus provided location coverage of major global stories. For 18 years, he worked at ITN where he was bureau chief in Rome and Warsaw, and diplomatic editor for Channel Four News. He has been a member of the councils of Chatham House, the Royal United Services Institute, the Overseas Development Institute, the board of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, and the advisory council at Wilton Park. In 2014, he was appointed a visiting professor at Kings College, London in the School of Social Science and Public Policy. He was awarded honorary doctorates by Exeter University in 2012 and Bristol University in 2015 for both his ongoing cutting edge analyses and distinguished career in international journalism.
Edita Hrda, Ambassador to the United Nations, Czech Republic
Edita Hrda is the Czech ambassador to the United Nations, and was appointed managing director for the Americas for the European External Action Service (EEAS) in 2015. Previously, she was the permanent representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations. Hrda has held many positions in the Czech Republic's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which she joined in 1992. Before assuming her post in New York in 2011, she was director-general of the Minister's Section. Prior to that, Hrda was director-general of the Economic and Cultural Section, director of the American Department, and director of Multilateral Economic Affairs. In 1999, she was her country’s ambassador to Argentina and Paraguay. From 1996 to 1998, she was chief negotiator of the Czech-German post-World War II indemnification, in 2006 and 2007 member of Supervisory Boards of the Export Bank, the Czech Export Guarantee, and Insurance Corporation.
Igor Ivanov, President, Russian International Affairs Council
Igor Ivanov is president of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and a professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Previously, he served as minister of foreign affairs, and secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. He took part in the work of several U.N. General Assembly sessions and co-chaired the Bosnia settlement talk in Dayton, Ohio. From 1991 to 1993, he represented the USSR and then Russia as ambassador to Spain. Ivanov is a member of the Board of Directors of the Russian Company LUKOIL. He also serves on a number of think tanks’ boards of directors, including the Nuclear Threat Initiative, United Nations Foundation, and European Leadership Network (ELN). He has a Ph.D. in history and is a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences with a number of published books and articles on the history of Russian foreign affairs and foreign policy.
Adnan Kifayat, Senior Resident Fellow, The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Adnan Kifayat is a senior resident fellow at GMF, where he advises the organization on both its efforts to strengthen leadership development and next generation strategies in the transatlantic region and its joint work in programming the OCP Policy Center Atlantic Fellowship in Europe, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. He also contributes to the continued development of GMF’s Leadership, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiative. Over the last 15 years, Kifayat has held senior positions in public service, including at the White House, U.S. Department of State, and Treasury Department, where he established partnerships with strategic allies to cooperate in trade, finance, development, counterterrorism, and national security. He has helped develop innovative and sustainable mechanisms to counter the spread of violent extremism and prevent the flow of funds to terrorist organizations.
Videesha Kunkulagunta, Principal-Buy-Out, Growth and Venture Investor, Redstone Digital GmbH
Videesha Kunkulagunta is the principal-buy-out, growth, and venture investor at Redstone Digital GmbH, with over a decade of professional working experience in the areas of finance, corporate strategy, and venture capital. At the start of her career, she worked as a credit analyst for Lehman Brothers, and transitioned to private banking at Barclays Wealth in London and Singapore. Kunkulagunta also served as associate for a London-based Venture Capital fund, PROfounders Capital. Previously, she was an entrepreneur in residence for FTSE 250 Telco TalkTalk Plc reporting to the board and senior management.
Ahmed Larouz, Entrepreneur
Ahmed Larouz is a social innovator, entrepreneur, and strategic creative communication and marketing manager. He founded Bridgizz, a communication and marketing agency based in Amsterdam with a satellite office in Casablanca (Morocco), focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. Previously, he founded a consultancy company, Mexit, focused on diversity management and communication. He was active in the field of diversity business, communication, recruitment, and coaching for over 15 years. Larouz also initiated and organized the Ramadan Festival, which focuses on making the daily lives and experiences of Muslims more transparent and accessible to non-Muslims. The festival offers over 1,000 activities in more than 42 Dutch cities, and also in international cities such as London, Lausanne, and Stavanger. He is a board member with various organizations.
Merle Maigre, Security Policy Adviser, Estonia
Merle Maigre is security policy adviser to the president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik, being responsible for informing and advising the president on internal and external security policy issues. Previously, she served as a policy adviser at the Policy Planning Unit, Private Office of NATO Secretary General. She also worked as a deputy head of the NATO Liaison office in Kyiv, and in the Estonia Ministry of Defense, NATO department in 2000. In 2009, Maigre also advised Ukrainian government on NATO integration, and Annual National Program drafting process, as well as the government on Montenegro on Euroatlantic integration. She has written articles on political developments in hybrid warfare, Ukraine and Crimea, energy security in the Baltic States, and on the relationship of NATO with Estonia. In 2012, she was selected as Ron Asmus Policy entrepreneurs’ fellow of The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
James Manyika, Director, McKinsey Global Institute
James Manyika is a director (senior partner) at McKinsey and director of the McKinsey Global Institute. As director (senior partner) at McKinsey, based in Silicon Valley, for 20 years, he has advised many of the world’s leading technology companies and their chief executives. He was appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2012 to serve on the U.S. President’s Global Development Council at the White House and has served since as the vice chairman of the Council. In addition, Manyika is on the boards of The Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Institute, the Oxford Internet Institute, MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, UC Berkeley’s School of Information, and Harvard’s Hutchins Center, including the Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee.
Cami McCormick, Correspondent, CBS News
Cami McCormick joined CBS News in September 1998. She was at Ground Zero in New York on September 11, 2001 and in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck. McCormick served nine tours in Iraq during the war, embedded with U.S. troops, as well as covering the trial of Saddam Hussein. She was embedded with U.S. forces throughout Afghanistan before being injured in an IED explosion in August 2009. She suffered extensive injuries and spent a year in the hospital. McCormick spent much of 2014 in Ukraine, and was there when Crimea was annexed by Russia. In the early 1990s, she lived and worked as a reporter in Moscow and was one of the first English-language hosts on a commercial radio station in Russia. Prior to CBS, McCormick worked for CNN, CNN International, Headline News and CNNRadio.
Marc Otte, Director General, Royal Institute for International Relations (Egmont)
Marc Otte is director general of The Royal Institute for International Relations (Egmont). He has also been the director for policy planning in the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2011. Previously, he was the EU special representative for the Middle East Peace Process from 2003 to 2011, and adviser on defense and security policy to the high representative for common foreign and security. Otte joined the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1976, and held various assignments including consul general in Los Angeles, ambassador to Israel, and director for security policy and disarmament. He has written several articles and publications on transatlantic issues, European security and defense policy, and the Middle East Peace Process. Otte holds a master’s in political and social sciences, and a post-graduate degree from the Institute for Developing Countries, University of Louvain, Belgium.
Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, Financial Times
Gideon Rachman is chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times. His book Zero-Sum World was published by Atlantic in 2011 and has been translated into eight languages. He writes an award-winning weekly column on foreign affairs for the Financial Times. Before joining the paper in 2006, he worked for The Economist for 15 years in a range of jobs, including as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Bangkok, and Washington. Rachman studied history at Cambridge University and has been a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
Marietje Schaake, Member, European Parliament
Marietje Schaake is a Liberal member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands. She serves on the international trade committee, the committee on foreign affairs, and the subcommittee on human rights. She is the founder of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda for Europe. She is vice-president of the Delegation for Relations with the United States and serves on the Iran Delegation and the Delegation for the Arab peninsula. She is a member of the Global Commission on Internet Governance and a Young Global Leader with the World Economic Forum.
Kori Schake, Research Fellow, The Hoover Institution
Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. During the 2008 presidential election, she was senior policy adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign, responsible for policy development and outreach in the areas of foreign and defense policy. In 2007, she was the deputy director for policy planning at the U.S. State Department. During President George W. Bush’s first term, she was the director for Defense Strategy and Requirements on the National Security Council. She has held the Distinguished Chair of International Security Studies at West Point, and served in the faculties of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the University of Maryland’s School of Public Affairs, and the National Defense University. She is on the boards of the journal Orbis, and the Centre for European Reform and blogs for Foreign Policy’s Shadow Government. Her book Warriors and Civilians will be published this summer.
Simon Schäfer, Entrepreneur
Simon Schaefer started his career as a designer in 1997, working for German startups from inside interactive agencies. Since then, he has created several successful brands, including Kameha Hotels, Motorvision TV Station (on Sky), and Wirecard (listed on TecDax). He ran his own sneaker boutique in Berlin, as well as the 95 Gallery, showcasing street artists such as Futura 2000, Stash, and KR. Schaefer has invested in angel- and seed-stage companies as a partner of JMES Investments in Berlin, and launched his own startup, totalCommerce, in 2010. In 2011, he co-founded Factory, a 16,000 square meter campus for startups and mature technology driven companies in the heart of Berlin.
Adam Shub, Deputy Chief, U.S. Mission to the European Union
Adam Shub has been the deputy chief of the U.S. mission to the EU since 2015. Previously, he served as director of regional and multilateral affairs (RMA) in the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, focusing on region-wide political and global issues. Shub has extensive diplomatic experience, serving as counselor for economic affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and minister counselor for economic and ESTH (environment, science, technology, and health) affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. In 2006, he was a counselor for economic affairs in Lima, Peru, helping secure passage of the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement. His overseas assignments have included postings in Brazil, Russia, Venezuela, France, and Cuba. Shub has also worked in Washington DC as special assistant director for Middle Eastern affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where he helped coordinate the U.S. Jordan Free Trade Agreement.
Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New America Foundation
Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter is the president and CEO of the New America Foundation and the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. From 2009-11, she served as the first female director of policy planning for the U.S. Department of State. Prior to her government service, Slaughter was the dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School. She has written or edited six books and is a frequent contributor to a number of publications, including The Atlantic and Project Syndicate.
Julianne Smith, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for a New American Security
Julianne Smith is senior fellow and director of the Strategy and Statecraft Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). She joined CNAS while serving as a senior vice president at Beacon Global Strategies LLC. Previously, she served as deputy national security advisor to the vice president of the United States in 2012. Prior to working at the White House, Smith served as principal director for European, and NATO policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon. She also served as the director of the CSIS Europe Program, where she authored and contributed to a number of CSIS books and reports, including Alliance Reborn: An Atlantic Compact for the 21st Century (2009). Smith also co-directed the Transatlantic Dialogue on Terrorism, which examined U.S.-European disagreements over the root causes of terrorism.
Wawrzyniec Smoczyński, Managing Director, Polityka Insight
Wawrzyniec Smoczyński is the creator of Polityka Insight and is responsible for managing its analytical team. A journalist and foreign editor at the leading Polish weekly Polityka, Smoczyński is recipient of several awards, including the Kwiatkowski Award for economic writing (2010), the Polish Grand Press Award (2011), and the Woyciechowski Prize for outstanding journalism (2012). He was also a fellow at many institutions, including Open Society in 2008, a Marshall Memorial Fellow in 2009, a Munich Young Leader in 2010, and an IMF Journalism Fellow in 2011. He graduated with a degree in Egyptology from the University of Warsaw, and also studied general linguistics and Coptology at the Georg August University, Göttingen.
Corina Stratulat, Senior Policy Analyst, The European Policy Centre
Corina Stratulat is a senior policy analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC), working in the European Politics and Institutions Programme, coordinating the Balkans Forum, and contributing to the EU Politics and Governance Forum. She researches and writes about EU institutional developments, as well as various aspects linked to the EU's enlargement policy toward the Balkans. She is a frequent speaker at events in Brussels, EU member states, and beyond. Her main areas of expertise include comparative Central and East European politics, political parties and party systems, elections, democracy, EU institutions, integration, and enlargement. She holds a bachelor’s in integrated social sciences from Jacobs University (Bremen, Germany), a master of philosophy in contemporary European studies from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. in political and social sciences from the European University Institute (Florence, Italy).
Zsuzsanna Szelényi, Member of Parliament, Hungary
Zsuzsanna Szelényi is member of parliament in Hungary representing the Együtt (Together) party, and is also a member of the party’s Presidential Board. Szelenyi started her career in 1988, as founder of Fidesz, a youth party at the regime change. She became a MP of the first freely elected Parliament, being responsible for dealing with international and migration affairs. Szelényi left the political arena in 1994 and served with the Council of Europe advising governments and NGOs on conflict management, human rights, and human development issues for 14 years. In 2013, she returned to politics at the call of former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, who formed a new party to challenge Viktor Orban. Her areas of expertise are foreign policy, education, human resource policies, and gender issues.
Sara Tesorieri, Migration Policy Lead, Oxfam International
Sara Tesorieri is the migration policy lead for Oxfam International and deputy director of Oxfam’s EU office, leading Oxfam’s advocacy on the EU’s response to migration and its policies on conflicts, and humanitarian issues globally. Prior joining Oxfam, she served as EU policy advisor for the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Brussels director of Crisis Action. Tesorieri has also worked in conflict, and humanitarian response operations in Iraq, South Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing on protection of civilians. Previously, she has worked on transatlantic economic, and security issues as the policy director for the European-American Business Council, and assistant director for transatlantic relations at the Atlantic Council of the United States.
Michael R. Turner, Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Michael Turner is a republican representative in the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Ohio, first elected in 2002. In the 114th Congress, he serves on the committees of Oversight and Government Reform and Armed Services, where he is chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee. Before entering public office, Turner worked in private practice and corporate law for 13 years. He also served two terms as mayor of Dayton, Ohio, pursuing trade opportunities with Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Croatia as a result of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, and consequently developing Sister City partnerships with Holon, Israel; Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Zagreb, Croatia. In 2015, he was appointed to the House Intelligence Committee, and has been chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since 2011, being elected president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in 2014.
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Vice-Chair, IPCC
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele is vice-chair of the IPCC. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium,) where he is full professor of climatology and sustainable development sciences, and co-directs the master’s program in science and management of the environment. He did his doctoral research on the modelling of Southern Ocean and sea ice at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. He has been involved in IPCC since 1995. He has participated in UN conferences on climate issues since 1979, and was instrumental in creating the UN work program on climate communication and education in 2002. He is a member of the Belgian Royal Academy and holds numerous awards in science and science communication.
Xenia Wickett, Project Director of the U.S. Program and Dean of the Academy for Leadership in International Affairs, Chatham House
Xenia Wickett is the project director of the U.S. Program at Chatham House and the dean of the Academy for Leadership in International Affairs at Chatham House. Prior to this, she was the executive director of the PeaceNexus Foundation, based just outside Geneva, which she launched in 2009. From 2005-09, Dormandy was at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, where she was the director of the Project on India and the Subcontinent and the executive director for Research, as well as being a member of the Center’s board. She is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government with a master’s in public policy. She earned her bachelor’s of arts degree from Oxford University.
Guillaume Xavier-Bender, Transatlantic Fellow, The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Guillaume Xavier-Bender is a transatlantic fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States in Brussels, where he works on issues related to political economy, economic security, and the transatlantic economy. Xavier-Bender joined GMF in 2010 as a program associate for economic policy, before becoming a program officer coordinating GMF’s activities related to trade, development, and the transatlantic economy in Brussels. Prior to joining GMF, he worked for the French Prime Minister’s Services in Paris. He holds a master’s degree in international economic policy from Sciences Po in Paris, a master’s degree in diplomacy and strategic negotiations from the Université Paris-Sud XI, and a bachelor’s in international law from the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas. A native of France, Xavier-Bender has also lived in the United States, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
Carlton Yearwood, Senior Partner, True Blue Inclusion
Yearwood is currently a Senior Partner for True Blue Inclusion, a membership-based diversity and inclusion think tank and organization transformation consulting practice, designed to support senior diversity executives in the design, development and deployment of next practices for organizations committed to an engaged high performing global workforce. Prior, Yearwood served as the chief ethics and diversity officer for Waste Management, where he was responsible for leading the company's business ethics and diversity strategy, and managing director of diversity and worklife initiatives for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Yearwood also served as director of diversity, EEO compliance and worklife for the Allstate Insurance Company. Prior to pursuing a career in corporate America, Yearwood was a community activist in the city of New York. He is a former U.S. Marine and a Vietnam veteran. He has degrees in inner city studies and business from the University of New York.