Speakers

Aaron Korewa

Aaron Korewa is the director of the Atlantic Council’s Warsaw Office which is part of the Europe Center. Korewa previously worked at the McCain Institute for International Leadership where he spent the last five years serving as program manager, following many years of working in both Sweden and Poland. Born in Sweden but with both Polish and American family roots, Korewa holds a MA in international politics and BA in economics from Uppsala University. At the McCain Institute, he ran the Kissinger Fellowship, an initiative focused on developing the strategic skills of future foreign-policy and national-security leaders with the kind of principles that are the hallmark of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s career. Korewa also directed a project to counter disinformation from authoritarian states and participated in the McCain Institute’s Working Groups on Russia and Reaffirming America’s Alliances. Korewa frequently features as a commentator on Polish television on transatlantic-security issues and previously wrote for Svenska Dagbladet, a major Swedish newspaper.

Anett Mádi-Nátor

Ms. Anett Mádi-Nátor is the President of Women4Cyber Foundation, a non-profit European private foundation with the objective to promote, encourage and support the participation of women in the field of cybersecurity. As a member of Board of Directors of the European Cyber Security Organisation Ms. Mádi-Nátor takes part in ECCO, The European Cybersecurity Community Support project. She is Co-Lead to EHR4CYBER Task Force in ECSO, and Chair to ECSO SWG responsible for dual use issues (Defence and Space). Additionally, she is a Board Member of Ludovika Collegium of the University of Public Service of Hungary. As per daily job, Ms. Mádi-Nátor is VP of Cyber Services, a niche CEE CTI service provider where responsible for Strategic Business Development.

Anthony B. Kim

Anthony B. Kim is a Research Fellow in Economic Freedom, Editor of the Index of Economic Freedom, and Manager of Global Engagement for the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. Previously, Kim had served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, founder of the Heritage Foundation. As an editor, Kim also manages the production of The Heritage Foundation’s annual Index of Economic Freedom.
Kim’s commentary and opinion pieces have been published by The Wall Street Journal’s Asia edition, The New York Post, The Washington Times, National Review Online and the Korea Herald, among others. He has been quoted in major U.S. and international media, among them Financial Times, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Fox Business News, and Voice of America.

Ashley L. Rhoades

Ashley Rhoades is a defense policy researcher at RAND, where she has led and worked onseveral studies for various Department of Defense sponsors, including the Army, Air Force, andOffice of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Her main areas of expertise are strategiccompetition, security cooperation, deterrence, force posture, and terrorism andcounterterrorism. Geographically, she primarily focuses on security issues within theEuropean (Eastern Flank countries, Baltics, Balkans) and Middle Eastern (Iraq, Syria) theaters.

Attila Steiner

In 2010, he worked as a political advisor in Brussels at the European Parliament. From 2014 to 2018 he serving as Deputy Head of Department and Political Advisor at the Prime Minister's Office. Between 2015 to 2018, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of Paks II Nuclear Power Plant Ltd.
In 2018, he was appointed Deputy State Secretary for European Union Relations at the Prime Minister's Office, and from July 2019, he served as State Secretary for European Union Affairs at the Ministry of Justice.
From 2021, he was the State Secretary responsible for the development of the circular economy, energy, and climate policy at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology. From 2022, he served as the State Secretary for energy and climate policy at the Ministry of Technology and Industry, and later at the Ministry of Energy.

Balázs Nagy

Balázs has worked with billion-dollar corporations as well as start-ups, building a strong professional background in cybersecurity. After co-founding NewPush in 1999, Balázs went on to design and supervise the deployment of complex cybersecurity solutions, fast credit card payment systems, fare collection systems, and analytics systems. More recently, he has designed compliance systems for SOX, PCI, HIPAA, and leveraging the HITRUST CSF. Balázs now focuses on the Connective Platform™.

Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka

Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka is a Presidential Ambassador - Special Envoy for the Three Seas Initiative. She has more than 30 years of experience in banking sector. In her career, between 2016-2024 she has been a President of the Polish State Development Bank (BGK), which initiates and implements programs aimed at sustainable economic development. She has prepared and executed a new bank strategy mostly focused on increasing the competitiveness of the Polish economy. During her term BGK has become a leading development bank in the CEE region and the 4th in EU. Profit increased 10-fold from approx. PLN 350 million to approx. PLN 3,750 million for 2023. She is the creator of the financial project - 3 Seas Investment Fund, which financing transport, energy, and digital projects.

Botond Feledy

Botond Feledy is a Brussels-based geopolitical expert, the director of Red Snow Consulting and the European Leadership Programme. He focuses his research on Euro-Atlantic security issues. He was named one of the #NewEurope100 in 2017. He is a co-founder of the EU Negotiation Moot simulation game, alumnus of the IVLP of the US State Department, and a former Marshall Memorial Fellow of the GMF. Studied at Sciences Po Bordeaux, Université Paris II, Freie Universität Berlin, and ELTE Budapest.

Dr. Christina Catherine Krause

Dr Christina Catherine Krause is Head of the Department for International and Security Affairs at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in Berlin. Having joined KAS in 2005, she served in multiple positions at KAS headquarters and abroad as representative in the KAS Sarajevo Office from 2005-2009. Prior to joining KAS, she worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Berlin. Christina Krause holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Kiel.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth

Diana Furchtgott-Roth is Director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
Diana worked in senior roles in the White House under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. She has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation; Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Department of Treasury; Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor; Chief of Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers; and Deputy Executive Secretary of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

Dominik P. Jankowski

Dominik P. Jankowski is a Polish security policy expert, diplomat, and think tanker. He currently serves as Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Delegation of Poland to NATO. From 2023 to 2024 he worked as Policy Adviser in the Office of the NATO Secretary General. From 2018 to 2022 he was Political Adviser and Head of the Political Section at the Permanent Delegation of Poland to NATO. Prior to this, he has held numerous international security related roles within public administration (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Security Bureau) and military (General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces). In 2019, he was James S. Denton Transatlantic Fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). In 2021-2022 he was Arms Control Negotiation Academy (ACONA) Fellow with the Harvard University. He is a prolific writer with over 250 publications which appeared in 20 countries.

Dora Meredith

Dora is Director of ODI Europe the new global affairs think tank in Brussels, bringing research, ideas and dialogue with the wider world into the European policy debate. Drawing on the strong worldwide networks of ODI Global, and expertise in Brussels, London and Washington DC, we will convene debates, strengthen analysis and inform policy. Dora’s work focuses on the European foreign policy agenda and global governance. She has previously worked in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Frank Umbach

Head of Research of the European Cluster for Climate, Energy and Resource Security at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS), University of Bonn/Germany; Senior Lecturer at the University of Bonn; Adjunct Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyan Technological University (NTU) in Singapore; & international consultant on international energy and climate security, raw material supply security, geopolitical risks (management), cyber security and critical (energy) infrastructure protection (CEIP), and (maritime) security policies in Europe/Eurasia and Asia-Pacific.
Moreover: NATO-consultant on energy and climate security since 2012 and regular presenter at official high-ranking NATO-conferences and author of more than 600 publications in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Dr. George Tilesch

DR. GEORGE TILESCH is a senior global innovation and AI expert, executive, consultant, and author, primarily in the transatlantic space. His global senior executive and strategy consulting leadership track record span decades with government leaders on all continents (USA, EU, Dubai); Microsoft, Ipsos, Fortune 50 Tech corporations and large enterprises across all industries; international organizations and global think tanks; startups/scaleups; and global social innovation leaders. He is specialized in the strategy, ethical, policy, and governance aspects and impact of AI. Dr. Tilesch is also the co-author of the 2020 book BetweenBrains: Taking Back our AI Future.

Georg Zachmann

Georg Zachmann is a senior fellow at Bruegel - an independent economic think tank based in Brussels. At Bruegel he has worked since 2009 on energy and climate policy. His work currently focuses on electricity and carbon markets, energy security and green industrial policy. Georg also acts as the Scientific Lead of the GreenDealUkraїna project to establish an energy and climate think tank in Kyiv. Prior to Bruegel Georg worked at the German Ministry of Finance, the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin and the energy think tank LARSEN in Paris and as a consultant. Georg holds a doctoral degree in economics.

Giedrius Surplys

He worked as adviser to Prime Minister of Lithuania and as the Head of Governmental COVID-19 Communication Group. He served as Minister of Agriculture and the Deputy-minister of the Interior of Lithuania.
Currently, Giedrius Surplys is a Member of Parliament of Lithuania, acting as Deputy-chair of Foreign Affairs Committee. He is a vice-chair of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (ECR political group).
Giedrius is also a publicist and lecturer, author of the book on Christian leadership „Win is no Sin“.

James Jay Carafano

Dr. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges, an accomplished historian and teacher, as well as a prolific writer and researcher. He currently serves as Senior Counselor to the President for International Engagement and E.W. Richardson Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Dr. Carafano is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and served 25 years in the US Army, retiring as a Lt. Colonel. He holds a master's degree and a doctorate from Georgetown University as well as a master's degree in strategy from the U.S. Army War College. His recent research has focused on developing the national security required to secure the long-term interests of the United States — protecting the public, providing for economic growth, and preserving civil liberties.

Jörn Fleck

Jörn Fleck serves as senior director with the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council with primary responsibility for the center’s European Union (EU) efforts, programming related to Western Europe, Brexit, and US-EU trade relations. Jörn also leads outreach to US and European legislators as well as the Council’s Transatlantic Digital Project which seeks to promote closer US-EU cooperation on digital policy matters.
Jörn previously was director at the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) and helped to launch TPN’s annual signature event Transatlantic Week which has become a major event in the transatlantic calendar. He continues to support TPN programming and promotes cooperation between both organizations.
Prior to joining TPN, Jörn was chief of staff for a British member of the European Parliament (MEP). In this role, he worked extensively on US-EU relations, trade policy, and EU foreign and security policy. Jörn further served as the staff lead for the MEP’s rapporteurship for the 2007 EU general budget.
Jörn holds an MA in international commerce and policy from the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and a BA in politics and international relations with first class honors from the University of Kent at Canterbury in the United Kingdom. Jörn is a German national.

Jozsef Pandur

Since August 2014, Jozsef Pandur is working as an advisor, prior to that he was an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary to Bosnia-Herzegovina for three years. From 2009 to 2011 Mr. Pandur was working as a Director of Political Capital South-East Europe. He was Senior Policy Advisor/ Ambassador at the Office of the High Representative and European Union Special Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 2007 to 2009. He also worked as a strategic advisor for MOL, Hungarian Oil Company. He was also a member of the Delegation of the European Union in the preparation of the Referendum in Montenegro, and before that, for a year he was a deputy director at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Directorate for South-East and Eastern Europe. Mr Pandur was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary to Serbia and Montenegro from 2001 to 2005. For two years before that, he was Deputy Head of Department, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Department of South-East Europe.

Jukka Leskelä

Jukka Leskelä is the Managing Director at Finnish Energy, a branch association of power, district heating and gas companies in Finland.
Jukka Leskelä has represented the branch over 20 years at Finnish Energy in various positions and of which he has been the CEO for 8 years. His specialities are energy, climate change and environmental policy issues in EU and in Finland. Before that he worked 9 years at energy company Fortum with emissions control and environmental technology.
Jukka Leskelä has held various positions in national and European organisations. Presently he is a board member of Eurelectric (the association of electricity industry in Europe) and a board member of Nordenergi (joint collaboration of Nordic energy associations).

Konrad Popławski

Konrad Popławski is a coordinator of Connectivity and Regional Integration programme at the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw. He deals with the topics of international economic relations, supply chains and transport policy. He’s an author of numerous analyses and several longer studies on the development of the economies of Central Europe and Germany and Eurasian transport corridors. In 2020-2022, head of the Central European Team at the OSW, and previously for a decade an analyst on the German economy. He’s been a coordinator and member of international research teams. Author of expert opinions, among others for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Development of the Republic of Poland.

Konstantin Eggert

Konstantin Eggert MBE is a Russian affairs analyst for DW (Deutsche Welle), Germany’s international broadcaster. Mr Eggert’s previous positions include programme host and commentator for TV Rain, Russia’s groundbreaking independent TV channel (2016-2018) as well as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Kommersant FM radio (2011-2015). In 1998-2009 Konstantin was with the BBC World Service, including 7 years as the BBC Russian Service Moscow Bureau Chief in 2002-2009. Mr Eggert also spent some time in the private sector as Vice-President for Public and Government Affairs for ExxonMobil Russia Inc. in 2009-2010. Konstantin started his career in print media in the 1990s, first with Moscow ‘Kuranty daily, later as diplomatic correspondent and deputy foreign editor with Izvestia daily. In 2008 HM the Queen created MR Eggert Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Krisztián Mészáros

Krisztián Mészáros is the Director of Partnerships and Global Affairs at NATO Headquarters. In his capacity, he leads five outstanding teams within the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division of the International Staff responsible for overseeing NATO’s political relationship with partner and non-partner countries across the globe. He has worked six years in the NATO Secretary General’s Private Office, overseeing cooperation with partners, preparing NATO Summits and Ministerial meetings and other issues. Prior to joining the International Staff, Krisztián worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, dealing with NATO and security policy, including four years at the Permanent Delegation of Hungary to NATO between 2005-2009. In 2009-2010, he has also served as the European Correspondent of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.

Matthew G. Boyse

Matthew Boyse is a Senior Fellow with Hudson Institute in Washington, DC and an Adjunct at Johns Hopkins SAIS and George Washington University. A former Senior Foreign Service Officer, in his last role as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the European Bureau, he oversaw U.S. policy toward Central Europe and the Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues and was Sherpa for the Three Seas Initiative. He also served as Chargé d’Affaires in Switzerland, Finland, Romania, and the U.S. Mission to NATO, in Wiesbaden (Political Advisor to the Commanding General, U.S. Army Europe), Duesseldorf (Consul General), Berlin, Kabul, New Delhi, Warsaw, Moscow, Dhaka, and London.

Michał Kurtyka

Michał Kurtyka served as the first minister of Poland’s Ministry of Climate, responsible with energy and climate. In 2018 Kurtyka was appointed as Government Plenipotentiary for the Presidency of COP24—the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Poland. From July 2018, he also held the position of Secretary of State in the Ministry of Environment. In December 2018, he became the COP24 President, which ended with the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement. In 2019 he assumed the role of Ministerial Chair of the International Energy Agency and in 2021 he was designed as Ministerial Chairman of the United Nations of Food and Agriculture. Starting in January 2016, Kurtyka served as the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Energy.

Michelle Watson

Michelle Combs Watson is an experienced business executive who started her career in Silicon Valley in the Telecom industry and co-founded two Cyber Intelligence start-ups in Washington D.C. She earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science and a master’s degree in National Security and Statecraft. She regularly writes and speaks on Corporate Statecraft topics at the intersection of Technology and Geopolitical Risks. She currently lives in Budapest, Hungary and works for the Danube Institute as a Visiting Senior Fellow.

Miroslav Lajčák

Miroslav Lajčák is the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues. Mr. Lajčák served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic for four mandates. He was twice Slovak Ambassador, first to Japan, and then to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, FYROM and to Albania. Mr. Lajčák served as Executive Assistant to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Balkans from 1999 to 2001. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Lajčák served as High Representative of the International Community and European Union Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Lajčák helped shape the newly formed diplomatic service of the European Union, the European External Action Service, as its Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia. Representing the international community, he served as President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly in 2017-2018. He also served as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office during Slovakia’s 2019 OSCE Chairmanship.

Odeta Barbullushi

Odeta Barbullushi is a foreign policy expert, academic and former diplomat, who served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief of Cabinet to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2019.
Before joining the College of Europe, Dr. Barbullushi held the position of Advisor on EU integration and Regional Cooperation as well as Sherpa to the Albanian Prime Minister. In that capacity, she was responsible for the regional cooperation agenda, for Albania’s bilateral relations with neighboring countries as well as for the preparation of regional and EU-Western Balkans Summits. She also oversaw Albania’ EU accession process portfolio and the implementation of Common Regional Market Action Plan.
Prior to her decade-long work in government, Dr. Barbullushi was a full time Lecturer and Vice Rector for Research at the European University of Tirana.She earned her PhD in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Olga Khakova

Olga Khakova is the deputy director for European energy security at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center (GEC). She leads GEC’s portfolio on synchronizing climate and energy security efforts through transatlantic cooperation. Khakova frequently appears on BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Deutsche Welle, NPR, and Times Radio as a guest commentator, and her work has been published in Barron’s, The Economist, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, National Journal, Politico, and The Washington Post.
Before joining the Atlantic Council, Khakova was a senior program coordinator for the US Energy Association’s Energy Technology and Governance Program. She helped start and manage the Western Balkans’ Electricity Market Initiative working group.
Khakova’s experience also includes serving as program director for The Climate + Energy Project (CEP), a clean energy nonprofit in the Midwest.
Khakova is on the Board of Directors Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment.

Paul Domjan

Paul brings more than two decades of experience in energy, energy security and climate policy and research to his role as Chief Policy and Global Affairs Officer at ENODA. Prior to founding ENODA, he was Chief Strategy Officer at Tellimer, CEO of 4Cast-RGE, and Managing Director and Co-founder of Country Insights.
Paul began working on energy system stability issues when he served as the First Energy Security Adviser to the U.S. European Command of the U.S. Department of Defence. He was the most senior Defence Department energy security official based in Europe and represented the US both at NATO, and with senior government and corporate stakeholders in the Europe and the US.

Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy is Europe Regional Director at the International Republican Institute (IRI). He leads IRI's efforts in Europe to build the campaign and communication capacities of democratic political parties, strengthen the ability of citizens to actively engage in the political process, and help national and local governments fight corruption and increase transparency.
Before joining IRI’s Europe division, McCarthy worked in the Middle East where he developed innovative governance strengthening programs that have become models for the Institute. Previous to IRI, he oversaw the National Endowment for Democracy’s Central and East European programming which helped independent media, civic organizations, think tanks, business associations, and political parties in countries transitioning from Soviet domination.

Pekka Haavisto

Pekka Haavisto is a Member of Parliament and the former Foreign Minister of Finland. He is a peace negotiator and a defender of both democracy and human rights. Haavisto is especially experienced in foreign policy and international operations. He has led research into the environmental impact of wars and represented the EU and the UN in various crises all over the world. Haavisto has also authored numerous books. His beloved hobbies are literature, Beetle cars, and wooden boats.

Péter Krekó

Péter Krekó is a social psychologist and a disinformation expert with a focus on the psychological drivers of belief in disinformation and the impact of political-institutional contexts. He holds a PhD from the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences, where his dissertation topic was the social psychology of conspiracy theories. He is a Research Affiliate at the CEU Democracy Institute, a senior fellow at the Washington-based CEPA think tank, and a PopBack Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has also worked as a guest researcher at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and as a non-resident Associate Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Institute of Policy Research. In addition, he has served as a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Indiana University and is the owner and director of the Political Capital Institute. Krekó is also the head of the EC-funded hub against disinformation (HDMO-Lakmusz).

Petr Luňák

Petr Luňák is a Deputy Head of the Engagement Section at NATO Public Diplomacy Division.
He is responsible for overseeing public diplomacy endeavours of the Alliance. He is a member of the Czech Foreign Service and he was a Deputy Head of the Planning Staff of the Foreign Ministry before joining the NATO International Secretariat in 2000. Mr. Luňák holds a Ph.D. from Charles University in Prague where he taught international relations and modern history.

Rachel Rizzo

Rachel Rizzo is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center. Her research focuses on European security, NATO, and the transatlantic relationship.
Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Rizzo served as the director of programs at the Truman Center for National Policy and the Truman National Security Project. From 2019-2020, she spent a year as a Robert Bosch fellow in Berlin, Germany, where she worked at the Berlin office of Human Rights Watch leading a research project on the EU’s dual-use surveillance-technology export policy and serving as an advisor to a member of the German Bundestag. Rizzo also spent over five years at the Center for a New American Security and has co-authored several of the center’s reports. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Politico, Foreign Policy, Defense One, the National Interest, World Politics Review, and War on the Rocks. She is a frequent commentator on European security, and has provided analysis for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, National Public Radio, LA Times, Atlantic, Politico, and Foreign Policy, among others.

Robert Benjamin

Robert Benjamin serves as Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe at the National Democratic Institute (NDI). He oversees regional and country programs in Central Europe and the Balkans covering good governance, political pluralism, parliamentary strengthening, election integrity, and inclusive civic participation in public affairs. He has worked at NDI since 1993. He holds a B.A. in political science from Princeton University and a M.A. in international relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Susan Hutchison

At Seattle’s KIRO-TV (CBS) Susan spent more than two decades as primary news anchor, executive editor, and executive producer.
In 2009, Susan ran for King County Executive, placing first in the primary. Her political career continued when she was elected chair of the Washington State Republican Party in 2013. Her efforts earned her the honor of being named the first and only “Chairman Emeritus” of the state party.
Her extensive international experience, including work in China, Russia, the Middle East, Central Europe and Southeast Asia, has provided her with a broad perspective on global issues. In 2017, she was with President Trump’s first delegation to Taiwan. Her dedication to public service is further evidenced by her presidential appointment to the board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars by George W. Bush.

Sztáray Péter

He was born on 20 April 1967 in Budapest and graduated from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of ELTE in 1993. Between 1993 and 1994 he studied at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna.
From 1993 he worked as a NATO and Western Europe Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from 1996 to 2000 he served as a diplomat in Brussels as a seconded diplomat of the Permanent Mission of Hungary to NATO. From 2000, he was Deputy Head of the Western Europe Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for two years, and in 2002 he was appointed Head of the America Department. From 2002 to 2003, he served as Head of the NATO Department. From 2007 to 2009, he was appointed Deputy Director of Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Deputy Head of Department. From 2009, he served as Director of Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Head of Department for one year. Since 23 June 2018, he has been State Secretary for Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He is married and the father of three children.

Tamás Boros

Tamás Boros is the executive director and co-founder of the Equilibrium Institute. He was the co-founder and co-owner of Policy Solutions, a consultancy and research institute. He is a recurring guest on a variety of political talk shows and often comments about public affairs for leading international media. He previously worked for the European Commission and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an expert on communication and EU affairs. His research focuses on Hungarian and EU political communication and populism.

Tamás Matura

Dr. Tamás Matura, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, a Senior Fellow at CEPA Washington, and the Hungarian representative in the European Think Tank Network on China.

Tibor Stelbaczky

Since 2022 September Tibor Stelbaczky working at the European External Action Service (EEAS) as Principal Adviser on Energy Diplomacy. Before joining the EEAS, Ambassador Stelbaczky was the Permanent Representative of Hungary to the EU in Brussels between 2019 and 2022 and Deputy Permanent Representative of Hungary to the EU between 2015 and 2019. His career started at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a member of the accession negotiation team at the State Secretariat for EU integration. From 2004 to 2011 he served as a Mertens diplomat in Brussels. Between 2011 and 2014 he was Head of Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before moving again to Brussels, he was posted to Toronto, Canada as an economic and trade counsellor between 2014 and 2015.   

Tomi Huhtanen

Tomi Huhtanen started his career by working for the Finnish delegation of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament. From 1999 to 2007, he was a Political Adviser and subsequently a Senior Adviser for the EPP, mainly focusing on economic and social policy. During this period, he launched the European View policy journal, of which he became Editor-in-Chief. In 2007, Tomi was put in charge of launching the political foundation of the European People’s Party, the Centre for European Studies (renamed the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in 2014); in the same year, Tomi was nominated as the Centre’s Director, and is since October 2015 its Executive Director. Tomi has provided analysis on a host of political issues for European and international outlets such as Euronews, the Hindustan Times, Deutsche Welle, and the Financial Times.

Vladimir Socor

Vladimir Socor is a Senior Fellow of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation and its flagship publication, Eurasia Daily Monitor (1995 to date). An internationally recognized expert on the former Soviet-ruled countries in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia, he covers Russian and Western policies, focusing on energy, regional security issues, Russian foreign affairs, secessionist conflicts, and NATO policies and programs. Mr. Socor is a frequent speaker at U.S. and European policy conferences and think-tank institutions; as well as a regular guest lecturer at the NATO Defense College and at Harvard University’s National Security Program’s Black Sea Program. He is also a frequent contributor to edited volumes. Mr. Socor was previously an analyst with the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute (1983-1994).

Zsolt Németh

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian National Assembly. Founding member of Fidesz in 1988, Member of Parliament since 1990. 1998-2002 State Secretary for Political Affairs, 2010-2014 State Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since 2014, he has been the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament and the deputy leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group.
Since 2014 he has been the head of the Hungarian delegation in the Council of Europe and between 2014-2022 the deputy leader of the group of the European People’s Party, and since 2022 the European Conservatives Group / Democratic Alliance.

Moderators

Ashley L. Rhoades

Ashley Rhoades is a defense policy researcher at RAND, where she has led and worked onseveral studies for various Department of Defense sponsors, including the Army, Air Force, andOffice of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Her main areas of expertise are strategiccompetition, security cooperation, deterrence, force posture, and terrorism andcounterterrorism. Geographically, she primarily focuses on security issues within theEuropean (Eastern Flank countries, Baltics, Balkans) and Middle Eastern (Iraq, Syria) theaters.

Denise Forsthuber

Denise Forsthuber is deputy director, strategic engagement and operations of the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, where she leads the Council’s programming on Central Europe and the Three Seas Initiative. In addition, Denise conducts development operations for the program and is responsible for organizing events and briefings. Denise also manages two visiting fellowships for the Council, the Transatlantic Media Network and Atlanticist Fellowship, as well as the Europe Center’s resident fellows.

Previously, Denise was a program manager and research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, as well as an assistant at the Clements Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin. While at The University of Texas, Denise was a Bill Archer Fellow, through which she interned for the former Foreign Policy Initiative in Washington DC, and a Next Generation Scholar where she conducted research on Ukraine. She received her BA in International Relations with honors from The University of Texas and her MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University. In 2018-2019 she was a Penn Kemble Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy. In addition to her professional responsibilities, Denise has served as a University of Texas student mentor since 2014 and as a volunteer for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for more than ten years.

Pavlína Janebová

Pavlína Janebová is the AMO Research Director. She focuses on Czech foreign and European policy and Central European cooperation.
Pavlína is a graduate of European Studies which she read at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, where she currently pursues a PhD degree in International Relations and European Politics. She has been working for AMO since the beginning of 2018.

Piotr Gulczyński

In the 1996, co-founded and led the Academic Section of the Euro-Atlantic Association. Since 1997, has been associated with the Lech Walesa Institute Foundation, initially as the Coordinator of International Cooperation and then as the President of the Management Board from 2000 to 2014. In 2015, served as a Member of the Management Board and Managing Director of the Ronald Reagan Foundation in Poland. From 2010 to 2012, was appointed by President of the Republic of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski to the advisory and consultative committee of the National Security Review. Since 2007 collaborator of the CASLA Institute based in Prague, Czech Republic. Since 2019 affiliated with the Kulski Foundation for Polish - American relations, first as President’s Advisor, since 2024 as Council Member. Since December 2021, has been the Chairman of the Management Board of the KREA Vitae Foundation based in Tallinn, Estonia.

Réka Szemerkényi

Réka Szemerkényi is the former Ambassador of Hungary to Washington and a leading geopolitical expert in trans-atlantic security with over 20 years of experience in a variety of government, academic and private sector capacity. She is the former Executive Vice President of the Washington think-tank CEPA, the Center for European Policy Analysis. Her government roles include her mission as Ambassador of Hungary to the United States and being National Security Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Hungary. Her business experience include being Senior Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of MOL Group, the Hungarian Oil and Gas Company and Consultant of the World Bank.

Susan Hutchison

At Seattle’s KIRO-TV (CBS) Susan spent more than two decades as primary news anchor, executive editor, and executive producer.
In 2009, Susan ran for King County Executive, placing first in the primary. Her political career continued when she was elected chair of the Washington State Republican Party in 2013. Her efforts earned her the honor of being named the first and only “Chairman Emeritus” of the state party.
Her extensive international experience, including work in China, Russia, the Middle East, Central Europe and Southeast Asia, has provided her with a broad perspective on global issues. In 2017, she was with President Trump’s first delegation to Taiwan. Her dedication to public service is further evidenced by her presidential appointment to the board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars by George W. Bush.