Elizabeth K. Horst is a former career U.S. diplomat with more than 25 years of experience leading policy, people, and partnerships across Europe and South Asia. As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, she served as the bureau’s chief operating officer—overseeing policy development, budgets, staffing, strategic communications and U.S. engagement with 13 countries and 20 posts. As the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pakistan, she refocused the bilateral relationship on economic and security issues, and launched the U.S. – Pakistan Green Alliance to advance climate resilience, clean energy, and water security. She was also responsible for Public Diplomacy to the regional audience of almost 2 billion people from Astana to Colombo. She was nominated as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka in 2024.
Her diplomatic career included leadership roles in Mission German as Minister Counselor for Public Diplomacy and in Tallinn, Estonia as Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission, where she strengthened transatlantic security and economic cooperation. Her Washington postings focused on regional security, economic development and foreign assistance, and spearheading mentoring and leadership initiatives. Earlier assignments took her to Ukraine, Germany, Russia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Niger, where she began her public service as a Peace Corps volunteer, working on food security and community health.
She holds degrees from the University of Kansas and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and speaks German, Russian, French, and Hausa.
Elizabeth K. Horst is a former career U.S. diplomat with more than 25 years of experience leading policy, people, and partnerships across Europe and South Asia. As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, she served as the bureau’s chief operating officer—overseeing policy development, budgets, staffing, strategic communications and U.S. engagement with 13 countries and 20 posts. As the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pakistan, she refocused the bilateral relationship on economic and security issues, and launched the U.S. – Pakistan Green Alliance to advance climate resilience, clean energy, and water security. She was also responsible for Public Diplomacy to the regional audience of almost 2 billion people from Astana to Colombo. She was nominated as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka in 2024.
Her diplomatic career included leadership roles in Mission German as Minister Counselor for Public Diplomacy and in Tallinn, Estonia as Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission, where she strengthened transatlantic security and economic cooperation. Her Washington postings focused on regional security, economic development and foreign assistance, and spearheading mentoring and leadership initiatives. Earlier assignments took her to Ukraine, Germany, Russia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Niger, where she began her public service as a Peace Corps volunteer, working on food security and community health.
She holds degrees from the University of Kansas and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and speaks German, Russian, French, and Hausa.
Tracy Pakulniewicz is a senior national security and public affairs executive with more than two decades of experience advancing U.S. defense, homeland security, and international policy priorities across the Executive Branch, private sector, and nonprofit arenas. Her career has centered on strengthening alliances, supporting Service members and their families, and aligning communications, policy, and operational strategy to advance national and global security objectives.
Tracy recently served as the Senior Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, where she advised on policies impacting military readiness, recruiting, retention, the National Guard and Reserves, and family support — a portfolio valued at more than $8 billion. Her work included engagement with NATO Allies to advance shared approaches to recruitment and retention, including efforts to integrate and advance women across allied military forces. She has represented the United States in high-level discussions with NATO’s International Staff and Personnel Directors, contributing to alliance-wide strategies that strengthen the resilience and inclusivity of the modern force.
Mary DeRosa is a Professor from Practice at Georgetown University Law Center, where she focuses on national security law. She is Director of Georgetown’s Global Law Scholars program and Co-Director of its Center on National Security and the Law.
Previously, Ms. DeRosa served as Deputy Assistant and Deputy Counsel to the President and National Security Council Legal Adviser in the Obama Administration. She has also served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations as Alternate Representative of the United States to the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly, an ambassador-level position. Before the Obama Administration, Ms. DeRosa was Chief Counsel for National Security for the Senate Judiciary Committee, working for the Chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy; Senior Fellow for Technology and Public Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council Legal Advisor, and earlier Deputy Legal Adviser, during the Clinton Administration; and Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense. Earlier in her career, Ms. DeRosa was a lawyer at the Arnold & Porter law firm and a law clerk to the Honorable Richard Cardamone, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Colonel (retired) Patricia Mulcahy is an accomplished human resources leader and senior executive with a career that spans over 40 years as an Army officer and a civil servant. In her culminating assignment with the Department of the Air Force, Pat was the first Chief Human Capital Officer of the newest military service – the U.S. Space Force. She was responsible for creating the Space Force’s first comprehensive human capital strategy, including establishing core values, talent management goals, uniform design, motto, and logo, and conducting the most extensive transfer plan for military members since the Air Force was established in 1947.
Pat was commissioned into the Army from the Siena College Reserve Officer Training Corps program. She served at every level in the field of military personnel management and personnel service support including command of a company at Fort Devens and in Germany; a battalion at Fort Stewart; and a brigade in 18th Airborne Corps that deployed to Iraq, as well as key staff assignments as the G-1, 3rd Infantry Division; XO, Army G-1; and J-1, European Command. Following her retirement from the Army in 2009, Pat served as a federal civilian employee as well as a member of the Senior Executive Service in several military personnel policy positions in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness including the Director of Officer and Enlisted Personnel Management. Pat also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Force Management Integration.
A native of Cuba, former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) served for almost three decades as a Member of Congress representing diverse areas in South Florida. She was the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In these roles, she led on pressing foreign policy issues, including championing the advancement of freedom and democracy for all, fighting Islamist extremism; supporting free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea; and imposing sanctions on human rights violators in Venezuela. Her record over nearly four decades of public service includes fighting against tyranny and oppression, particularly in her native homeland of Cuba, as well as working diligently to support and strengthen the US – Israel strategic partnership.
Rep. Ros-Lehtinen served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and was a member of the CIA Subcommittee and the National Security Agency and Cybersecurity Subcommittee. A strong proponent of education, Rep.
Victoria J. Taylor is director of the Iraq Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Middle East program. A national security leader with over two decades of experience in the Middle East and Europe, she led large interagency teams and advanced U.S. economic and national security interests as a Deputy Assistant Secretary, Deputy Chief of Mission, and at the White House National Security Council.
Prior to joining the Council, Taylor served as a career Senior Foreign Service Officer with the rank of Minister Counselor. She served most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, where she advised senior State Department leaders on Iraq and Iran in the aftermath of the Gaza conflict. She was the Director for North African Affairs from 2021 to 2023 and the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Croatia from 2018 to 2021. She has served as the Deputy Director for Western Europe in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and as the Director for Balkans, Caucasus, and Black Sea Affairs at the National Security Council, where advanced Montenegro’s NATO accession and strengthened U.S. defense cooperation with Georgia. Other Washington assignments include positions in the Office of Iranian Affairs, on the Turkey Desk in the Office of Southern European Affairs, and as an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Taylor has served overseas at U.S. Embassies in Georgia, Tunisia, and Pakistan, as well as at the U.S. Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan.
Taylor hails from Springfield, Missouri. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and diplomatic history from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She speaks French, Mandarin, Russian, and Urdu. She served as Chair of the American International School of Zagreb’s Board of Trustees from 2019-2021. She is member of the Council of Foreign Relations. She has been featured on BBC, CNN, Al Sharqiya, Iran International and other international media outlets.
Alexis Prieur L’Heureux is Vice President at WestExec Advisors.
Prior to joining WestExec, Alexis most recently served as Chief of Staff for Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-06). Alexis ran his congressional office, including his work on the House Armed Services, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Budget Committees, and was also a Senior Advisor for his political action committee, Serve America. Alexis also served on President Joe Biden’s Presidential Transition Team as the lead for Department of Defense appointments. Before working on the Hill, Alexis served in President Obama’s Administration as a national security policy advisor at the Department of Defense (2009-2012, 2014-2017) and as a Deputy Executive Secretary at the U.S. Department of Treasury (2013-2014).
In addition to her government experience, Alexis has also worked to protect the vote for numerous campaigns at both the state and national levels, starting with then-Senator Obama’s 2008 primary campaign in New Hampshire. In 2017, Alexis co-founded All Voting Is Local, which is a non-profit that works to increase access to voting by improving how elections are run at the local level.
Lisa Franchetti is an experienced military leader, global strategist, and national security expert. She most recently served as the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations, retiring in March 2025 after nearly 40 years of dedicated service to the Nation. As the Navy’s senior military officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Franchetti advised the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on national security matters.
Known for her visionary leadership, as CNO she developed long-term strategies to maintain the Navy as a formidable force in the future by strengthening its maritime dominance, building a culture of warfighting excellence, enhancing strategic partnerships and global alliances, and ensuring the Navy’s over 600,000 Sailors and Civilians were ready to execute the maritime service’s mission in peace, crisis, and war. She directed strategic initiatives to enhance future capabilities by investing in the expansion of the Navy’s Fleet, integrating advanced technologies such as robotic and autonomous systems, improving shipyard maintenance performance, resolving manpower and infrastructure challenges, and modernizing command and control centers.
A 1985 graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Franchetti was commissioned through the NROTC program at a time when roles for women in the military were constrained by the Combat Exclusion Act and limited to non-combatant ships and aircraft in the Navy. When Congress repealed that law in 1993, she was among the first women to serve on combatants and went on to lead at every level. With nearly 20 years of at-sea experience, Franchetti commanded USS Ross, Destroyer Squadron 21, US Naval Forces in Korea, two Aircraft Carrier Strike Groups, US SIXTH Fleet, and Striking and Support Forces NATO. Ashore, as a Flag Officer she served as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Force Development (N-7), the Director, Strategy, Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff (J-5), and the 42nd Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Franchetti holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. She is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, was awarded the Northwestern Alumni Medal in 2019, received the Naval War College Distinguished Graduate Award in 2024, was inducted into the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement in 2024, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Northwestern University in 2025.
Mariah Sixkiller is a Director at Hakluyt & Co, a strategic consulting firm based in London. She works in the San Francisco office and specializes in tech policy and regulatory matters for corporate and investor clients. Before joining Hakluyt in 2023, Mariah was the General Manager for Strategy in Microsoft’s US Department of Defense business. She also served as Director of Government Relations for Microsoft’s National Security Government Affairs team, focusing on public policy related to cloud, AI, quantum, and national security matters.
Sherri Goodman serves as Vice-Chair of the US Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board (ISAB). She is also the Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security (IMCCS), representing over 40 military and national security organizations addressing the security risks of a changing climate. She is credited with educating a generation of U.S. military and government officials about the nexus between climate change and national security, using her famous coinage, “threat multiplier,” to fundamentally reshape the national discourse on the topic.
She is a Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center’s Polar Institute and Environmental Change & Security Program, as well as a Senior Strategist at the Center for Climate & Security.
Sherri chairs the Board of the Council on Strategic Risks and chairs the External Advisory Board on Energy and Homeland Security for Sandia National Laboratories. She is the Vice-Chair of the Board of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
Christine Abizaid led the United States Government’s counterterrorism enterprise while serving as the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) from June 2021 to July 2024. She was the eighth Senate confirmed Director and the first woman to lead NCTC, the primary U.S. intelligence organization that integrates, analyzes, and shares terrorism information.
Before joining NCTC, Abizaid was as an executive at Dell Technologies in its Global Operations organization, where she led and advised on geopolitical and strategic risk analysis; supply chain security; sustainability and transparency initiatives; compliance; and global inventory management. While in the private sector, Abizaid was aboard member for the Responsible Business Alliance; a board member at the Middle East Policy Council; and an inaugural Steering Committee Member for the Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS).
Former Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta and Former President of the Middle East Policy Council.
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley is the Non Resident Scholar of the Middle East Policy Council, a think tank that contributes to American understanding of the political, economic and and cultural issues that affect U.S. interests in the Middle East, Senior Advisor at the strategic advisory firm, West Exec Advisors, a BBC Contributor and a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Before her current appointments, she held a series of senior positions that included Ambassador to the Republic of Malta, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commander of U.S. cyber forces, Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism for the Department of State where she negotiated the establishment of the International Institute for Justice and Rule of Law, and Country Director for Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley was the first woman to lead a diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia as the Principal Officer in Jeddah after taking on the position of Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for the Middle East and Africa.
Deirdre M. Walsh is the Executive Vice President for Strategy and Government Affairs for ARKA Group. ARKA combines the strength of visionary aerospace and defense companies, bringing unparalleled innovation, expertise, and capability to the needs of the Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense. Walsh brings her recognized leadership in the IC and the broader aerospace and defense industry to this position, along with her reputation for steadfast commitment to serving the nation and warfighter throughout her career. Prior to ARKA, Ms. Walsh served as Vice President of Strategic Operations for Ball Aerospace & Technologies. In this position, she led the creation and execution of government relations strategies to enhance Ball Aerospace’s reputation and strategic positioning in the industry as a trusted mission partner.
In her government career, she served as the first chief operating officer (COO) for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Walsh led the ODNI in its transformation to better integrate and unify the nation’s intelligence priorities and strategies. From 2014 to 2018, Walsh was director of legislative affairs for the ODNI. In this position, she managed ODNI’s interaction with Congress, supported Congressional oversight requirements, and advised ODNI senior leaders on Congressional priority interests. Walsh was appointed to the Senior National Intelligence Service in 2013. She served as deputy director of Congressional and public affairs at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Preceding her assignment to NRO, she supported the Intelligence Community Chief Financial Officer in strategic budgeting and communications. Additionally, Walsh provided strategic counsel and support to the revision of Executive Order 12333, entitled “United States Intelligence Activities,” and served as director of Policy Management, driving foundational IC policy in response to the Executive Order. Before joining the IC, Walsh served as House liaison to the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission. She began her career on Capitol Hill, on the legislative staffs of Reps. Sherwood Boehlert and Felix J. Grucci Jr.
Walsh holds a Master of Arts in legislative affairs from the George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Science in international studies from the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Essye Miller’s public service career spanned morethan three decades. She served most recently as Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer and Acting Defense Chief Information Officer at the Department of Defense, selected by former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. As a career member of the Senior Executive Service, Miller has deep expertise in information management and technology, cybersecurity, and critical satellite communications. She advises corporations on expansion into the public sector, the federal market, product portfolios, and executive strategy. Miller also serves as an advisor to the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, the Department of Commerce, and NGOs.
Lori J. Robinson is a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and the Belfer Center. She retired in 2018, after serving 37 years in the United States Air Force. She commanded at several levels of the Air Force from squadron command at the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, wing command for E-3 Airborne Warning and Control Aircraft (AWACS), major command at Pacific Air Forces. She culminated her career as a Combatant Commander at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)and United States Northern Command (NorthCom). As the Commander, NORAD, she was responsible to both Canada’s and the United States’ most senior leadership for defending both countries against airborne and maritime threats. As the Commander, United States NorthCom, she was responsible for defending the United States against a North Korean ballistic missile attack and supporting several agencies for Defense Support for Civil Authorities. Lori Robinson also served in joint jobs, to include on the Joint Staff, the Deputy Combined Forces Air Component Commander for United States Central Command. Additionally, she worked on the Hill, to include running the Air Force Office for the House of Representatives, and was in charge of Air Force Legislative Liaison.
Tressa Steffen Guenov is Director for Programs and Operations & Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Center for Security Studies at the Atlantic Council. She previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (ISA), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (OUSDP). In that role she supported the Assistant Secretary of Defense/ISA in a range of policy, leadership, management, and advisory capacities for the offices of African Affairs; European and NATO Policy; the Middle East; and Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia.
Previously, Tressa was Senior Adviser to Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen Hicks, where she supported the Deputy on a variety of strategy development and stakeholder engagement efforts. Tressa also served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs (Acting) and PDASD for Legislative Affairs from 2015-2017. In her government career she also served in the State Department as a Presidential Management Fellow, as a special assistant to USDP and the Principal Deputy USDP, and as a country director for Central Asia issues.
Michèle Flournoy is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and a Co-Founder, former Chief Executive Officer, and now Chair of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
Michèle served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. She led the development of the Department of Defense’s 2012 Strategic Guidance and represented the Department in dozens of foreign engagements, in the media and before Congress. Prior to confirmation, Michèle co-led President Obama’s transition team at the Defense Department.
Suzanne Spaulding is senior adviser for homeland security and director of the Defending Democratic Institutions project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She also serves as a member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Previously, she served as Undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she led the National Protection and Programs Directorate, now called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), managing a $3 billion budget and a workforce of 18,000, charged with strengthening cybersecurity and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure. She led the transformation of budget, acquisition, analytic, and operational processes to bring greater agility and unity of effort to an organization that had experienced dramatic growth through acquisition of new entities and missions over several years. Throughout her career, Ms. Spaulding has advised CEOs, boards, and government policymakers on how to manage complex security risks across all industry sectors. At DHS, she led the development and implementation of national policies for strengthening the security and resilience of critical infrastructure against cyber and physical risks, including the National Infrastructure Protection Plan and key presidential directives and executive orders.
Prior to returning to Stanford University, Dr. Van Schaack served as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice in the U.S. State Department office where she once served as Deputy. GCJ advised the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights on issues related to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide and the deployment of the whole range of transitional justice mechanisms in states emerging from violence or repression. Prior to returning to public service, Dr. Van Schaack was the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights at Stanford Law School, where she taught international criminal law, human rights, human trafficking, and a policy lab on Legal & Policy Tools for Preventing Atrocities. In addition, she directed Stanford’s International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic. Ambassador Van Schaack has published numerous articles and papers on international human rights and justice issues, including her 2020 thesis, Imagining Justice for Syria (Oxford University Press). From 2014 to 2022, she served as Executive Editor for Just Security, an online forum for the analysis of national security, foreign policy, and rights.
Bonny Lin is a senior fellow for Asian security and director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Previously, she was the acting associate director of the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE and a political scientist at the RAND Corporation, where she analyzed different aspects of U.S. competition with China, including U.S.-China competition for influence in the Indo-Pacific and China’s use of gray zone tactics against U.S. allies and partners.
Her research advised senior leaders in the Department of Defense, including military leaders at U.S. Pacific Air Forces and U.S. Army Pacific. Dr. Lin also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2015 to 2018, where she was director for Taiwan, country director for China, and senior adviser for China. Dr. Lin holds a PhD in political science from Yale University, a master’s degree in Asian studies with a focus on China from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College.
Laura Rosenberger is currently the Chair of the American Institute in Taiwan. Previously, she served as the Senior Director for China at the National Security Council.
Laura Rosenberger was the director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy and a senior fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). Before she joined GMF, she was foreign policy advisor for Hillary for America, where she coordinated development of the campaign’s national security policies, messaging, and strategy. Prior to that, she served in a range of positions at the State Department and the White House’s National Security Council (NSC). As chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken and earlier as then-Deputy National Security Advisor Blinken’s senior advisor, she counseled on the full range of national security policy. In her role at the NSC, she also managed the interagency Deputies Committee, the U.S. government’s senior-level interagency decision-making forum on our country’s most pressing national security issues.
Kimberly Lehn is the Senior Director at the Pacific Forum, in charge of the Honolulu Defense Forum (HDF). HDF seeks to facilitate dialogue and solutions between a wide range of actors from the private and public sectors to bolster deterrence in the Indo-Pacific in the face of an increasingly contested regional security environment.
She is a national security professional with over 20 years of experience in the U.S. federal government and in the private sector. She is the Founder of Diamond Pacific Strategies LLC in Honolulu, and a Senior Advisor at Beacon Global Strategies, a strategic advisory firm in Washington, D.C. advising leading companies on national security issues. She previously served in management and analytic roles at the Central Intelligence Agency as well as on assignments to the National Security Council’s Directorate of East Asia, the Department of State’s Intelligence and Research Bureau, and on the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee as a professional staff member with a focus on the Indo-Pacific, strategic competition with China and Russia, and the important role alliances and partnerships play to build collective security.
Deborah Lee James has 35 years of senior leadership experience in the aerospace, defense and technology fields in both the public and private sectors. Most notably, she served as the 23rd Secretary of the Air Force and Principal Defense Space Advisor (2013-2017) and as the President of SAIC’s Technical and Engineering Sector, a $2 billion, 8,700-person enterprise (2012-2013). Earlier in her career, she was Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs) and a Professional Staff Member for the House Armed Services Committee.
Since 2017, Ms. James has served as an independent director of three public company boards: Textron, Unisys and Aerojet Rocketdyne, as well as a director on several private and not for profit boards. She is a strategic advisor on topics including mergers and acquisitions, government contracting, technology transformation, and space. She is the author of the book “Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success”, a speaker on leadership and national security topics and a mentor to C-suite level executives in Fortune 500 firms.
Jeannette Gaudry Haynie, PhD, is a security and conflict scholar, retired Marine Corps officer and combat veteran, and former government senior executive leader. A New Orleans native and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, she is a Cobra attack helicopter pilot by trade who has served both within and outside the government in a wide range of leadership roles. Within the government, she has served on active duty, as a reservist, and in a civilian executive leadership role at the Department of Defense; outside of government, she has served as a principal research scientist, nonprofit executive, and adjunct professor.
Dr. Haynie served on active duty as a Cobra pilot and instructor before transitioning into the reserves and beginning graduate school. While serving on the Joint Staff and in the Marine Corps Commandant’s think tank, she earned her MA in Political Science from the University of New Orleans and her PhD in International Relations from The George Washington University. She retired after 22 years of combined active and reserve service in the Marine corps.
Susan Hennessey is a Counsel in WilmerHale’s Defense, National Security, and Government Contracts practice group. In private practice, she focuses on national security, technology and defense-related matters. Previously, Ms. Hennessey served as Chief Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security and Chief of Staff of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
In 2022, Ms. Hennessey served as the Director of National Intelligence’s representative on the Senior Steering Group examining the relationship between the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command. She began her legal career as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel at the NSA.
Before joining the Justice Department, Ms. Hennessey was a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, where she published influential legal and policy analysis on topics including surveillance law, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies and served as Executive Editor of Lawfare. As a Brookings scholar, she provided nonpartisan expert advice, briefings, and testimony to Congress, senior government officials, non-governmental organizations, business leaders, and other stakeholders.
Rosa Brooks holds the Scott K. Ginsburg Chair in Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center, where she has served as a tenured professor since 2006. She also serves as Georgetown Law’s Associate Dean for Centers and Institutes and as co-director of Georgetown’s Center on Innovations in Public Safety. Brooks is also an Adjunct Senior Scholar at West Point’s Modern War Institute, an ASU Future of War Senior Fellow at New America, and HFX Fellow with the Halifax International Security Forum and a founder of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS).
From April 2016 to November 2020, she served as a reserve police officer with the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department. In 2019, she received the Chief of Police Special Award. Brooks has combined law teaching and scholarship with stints in government service and a career in journalism. From 2009-2011, Brooks served as Counselor to Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy. In July 2011, she received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. She previously served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
During her career at senior levels on Capitol Hill and in private industry, Ann Elise Sauer acquired extensive experience in national security and government issues, including public and private policy matters, acquisition and contracting, federal budget issues, and the corporate world.
From 2013-2023, Ann was a founding Senior Partner in Inglee Sauer Market Strategies, LLC, a strategic consulting firm that specialized in providing timely, critical advice to corporations, think tanks and other non-profit organizations, and government entities. Ann and her partners worked primarily with defense and aerospace companies, providing input to their government affairs, business development and long-range planning organizations.
Prior to co-founding ISM Strategies, in 2012 Ann served as Staff Director for the Minority of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services. She reported to Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Ranking Republican Member of the Committee, and managed the Republican staff of the committee, who were responsible for oversight of all issues in the national security arena, particularly annual defense authorization legislation.
Mary O’Brien is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general officer and a leader in cybersecurity, intelligence, emerging technology, and national security. With 34 years of distinguished military service, she commanded at every level of the Air Force and served in pivotal staff leadership roles, including the Joint Staff Director of Command, Control, Communications and Computer/Cyber, and Chief Information Officer, the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Cyber Effects Operations, and the Director of Intelligence, U.S. Cyber Command. An innovator, Mary pioneered advancements in the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles, networked weapons, and advanced intelligence sensors, significantly enhancing military operational capabilities. Mary is also a proud recipient of the National Defense University College of Information and Cyberspace Rear Admiral Grace Hopper Award, recognizing her innovative contributions to the fields of information and cyberspace.
She is the CEO of Mary O’Brien Strategies, LLC, a consulting business which provides clients with expert guidance to navigate complex digital challenges, focusing on risk mitigation, technology integration, and resilience-building strategies.
Shamila Chaudhary currently serves as the Democratic Co-Chair of the Afghanistan War Commission
Shamila N. Chaudhary is an international affairs analyst specializing in U.S. foreign policy with a focus on South Asia. She was the President of the American Pakistan Foundation; a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center; and a Senior Fellow at New America. In her personal capacity, she is a member of the Foreign Policy for America Leadership Circle and serves on the Advisory Council of South Asians for America.
Chaudhary worked for over a decade in the U.S. government, including at the White House as Director for Pakistan and Afghanistan on the National Security Council from 2010-2011. She also served in the U.S. Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff as South Asia Advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.
Dr. Jung H. Pak was Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. During her tenure at State, she was responsible for overseeing relations with Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands (2023-2024); deepening and expanding U.S. relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and related fora (2021-2023); and leading on Global China issues (2021-2022), developing new initiatives and strengthening collaboration with key foreign interlocutors. She concurrently served as U.S. Deputy Special Representative for North Korea from 2021-2023 and as the top U.S. official on North Korea policy from 2023-2024.
Prior to arriving at State, Dr. Pak was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on Korean Peninsula issues, East Asia regional dynamics, and transnational threats related to proliferation, cybersecurity, and climate change. While at Brookings, she authored Becoming Kim Jong Un, which has been translated into multiple languages and draws from her deep knowledge and experience as an intelligence officer.
Alice Albright is a global executive with more than two decades of leadership across international development, global health, education, and innovative finance. Her career has focused on building institutions, pioneering new approaches to development finance, and advancing equitable growth and opportunity around the world. As Founder and Principal of Acadia Advisory, she advises philanthropic and development organizations as they navigate a shifting global landscape. Her work centers on supporting institutions as they consider how development models and financing approaches may need to evolve in the years ahead.
Albright served most recently as Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). At MCC, she led a strategic refresh and helped secure the passage of bipartisan legislation expanding the agency’s country eligibility, adding 33 countries to its potential footprint. At GPE, she guided the organization’s evolution into a major multilateral funder and expanded its financing toolkit, including the launch of the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX), the GPE Multiplier, and a $500 million COVID-19 emergency window to sustain learning during school closures.
Previously, Albright helped establish the field of innovative development finance beginning at GAVI, where she co-designed and launched the International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm) and the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) — mechanisms that transformed global vaccine access and mobilized more than $10 billion. She continued advancing new financing approaches at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, where she helped launch its first direct lending program for small businesses. Her work has taken her to more than 60 countries, engaging leaders at all levels to align diplomacy, finance, and policy in support of inclusive and sustainable growth.
Albright serves on the Board of the National Democratic Institute, is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and sits on the Food Security Leadership Council. She is a graduate of Williams College and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Dr. Evelyn N. Farkas has three decades of experience working on national security and foreign policy in the U.S. executive, legislative branch, private sector and for international organizations overseas. She is currently the executive director of the McCain Institute at Arizona State University. Prior to that, she was president of Farkas Global Strategies and a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Atlantic Council and national security contributor for NBC/MSNBC.
She served from 2012 to 2015 as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia, also covering the Balkans, Caucasus and conventional arms control. From 2010 to 2012, she was the senior advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and special advisor to the Secretary of Defense for the NATO Summit. Prior to that, she was the executive director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism and senior fellow at the American Security Project. From 2001 to 2008, she served as a professional staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee responsible for Asia Pacific, Western Hemisphere, Special Operations Command, and policy issues including combatting terrorism and export control.
From 1997-2001, Dr. Farkas was a professor of international relations at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. She served 1996-97 in Bosnia with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). She has published numerous journal articles and opinion pieces, including “Fractured States and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, Ethiopia, and Bosnia in the 1990s” (Palgrave/St Martin’s Press). She speaks Hungarian and German and has studied French, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, and Hindi.
Ambassador Nina Hachigian (ret) was the first U.S. Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State from 2022 to 2025 in the Biden Administration. Before that, Amb, Hachigian served as the first Deputy Mayor for International Affairs for the City of Los Angeles for five years. From 2014 to 2017, Ambassador Hachigian served as the second U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Obama Administration. Earlier, she was a Senior Fellow and a Senior Vice President at the Center for American Progress focused on Asia policy and U.S.-China relations. Before that, Ambassador Hachigian was the director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy for four years.
Ambassador Hachigian served on the staff of the National Security Council in the Clinton White House from 1998-1999. She is the editor of Debating China: The U.S. – China Relationship in Ten Conversations (Oxford University Press, 2014) and co-author of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise (Simon & Schuster, 2008). She went to Yale University and got her JD from Stanford University.
Senate Confirmed in August 2017, the Honorable Ellen M. Lord formerly served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S). In this capacity, she was responsible to the Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to acquisition; developmental testing; contract administration; logistics and materiel readiness; installations and environment; operational energy; chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; the acquisition workforce; and the defense industrial base.
Prior to this appointment, from October 2012 – June 2017, Ms. Lord served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Textron Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Textron Inc. In this role, she led a multi-billion dollar business with a broad range of products and services supporting defense, homeland security, aerospace, infrastructure protection, and customers around the world.
Ms. Lord has more than 30 years of experience in the defense industry, serving in a variety of capacities, to include Senior Vice President and General Manager of Textron Defense Systems, now Weapon & Sensor Systems; and Senior Vice President and General Manager of AAI Corporation, now known as Textron Systems’ Electronic Systems, Support Solutions, and Unmanned Systems businesses. Earlier in her career, Ms. Lord served as Vice President of Integration Management for Textron Systems and Vice President of Intelligent Battlefield Systems for Textron Defense Systems, in addition to other business and operations positions.
Caitlin Hayden is the London-based Group Communications Director for BAE Systems, one of the largest aerospace, defense, and security firms in the world, employing around 110,000 people with customers in more than 40 countries. In this role, Hayden leads global communications and serves as a member of the company’s executive committee.
Prior to this, she served as the Senior Vice President of Communications at BAE Systems, Inc., leading all external and internal communications for the U.S. business.
Before joining BAE Systems, Hayden had accumulated nearly two decades of communications and leadership experience. This includes serving as vice president of Communications for the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), leading the organization’s work to tell the aerospace and defense industry’s story in the U.S. and around the world. Previously, Hayden was executive vice president and Media Group director in Edelman’s Washington, D.C. office, where she worked with a range of clients to develop communications strategies to meet their business objectives, including protecting and promoting their brands and navigating regulatory, policy, and crisis issues.
Dani Schulkin is Director of the Democracy Initiative at Just Security at NYU School of Law. Schulkin formerly served as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General and Senior Advisor to the Homeland Security Advisor at the White House. Her work spans national security, democratic governance, and administrative law.
Schulkin served as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she coordinated national security policy and led on issues ranging from election security and foreign malign influence to international synthetic opioid trafficking. She was also Senior Advisor to the Homeland Security Advisor at the National Security Council (NSC), managing domestic crisis response, terrorism prevention, and other domestic security issues from the White House. She began her service in the Biden Administration with the Office of the Staff Secretary, working on the team charged with reviewing all presidential briefing memos and executive actions.
Schulkin has held roles at the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), the New York Attorney General’s Bureau of Internet and Technology, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She began her legal career as a Legal Fellow at Just Security. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Yale Journal on Regulation, the University of Pennsylvania Regulatory Review, and Just Security, covering domestic terrorism, democratic governance, and national security. She holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law, where she received the Vanderbilt Medal and was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, and a B.A. from Harvard University, where she was Captain of the Harvard Women’s Swim and Dive Team.
Ambassador Laura S. H. Holgate served most recently as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations International Organizations in Vienna and the Representative of the United States of America to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
As an experienced national security leader, Holgate’s public service includes the reduction of threats and management of risks from nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. She previously served as Vice President at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Special Assistant to the President at the National Security Council, and as a senior official at the Departments of Energy and Defense. She is frequently quoted and published in print and tv and she speaks publicly on nuclear energy, nuclear security, chemical weapons, bioterrorism, and related international organizations.
Holgate received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in politics from Princeton University and a Master of Science Degree in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Beverly Kirk is the Director of Washington Programs at Syracuse University. She was most recently the Executive Director of JOURNEY, a diverse, intergenerational community that connects preeminent emerging talent with women at the top. Prior to JOURNEY she was a fellow and director for outreach in the CSIS International Security Program and director of the CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative. She previously was director of the iDeas Lab, the multimedia production and design studio at CSIS. Before joining CSIS, Kirk was a journalist and worked for local and national news organizations, including NBC, NPR, and PBS. She spent much of her career focused on domestic and international politics and government. She also founded a media consulting company and has expertise in media curriculum design. She is a member of the adjunct faculty at the American University School of Communication. Kirk holds an M.A. in diplomacy and international commerce with a concentration in international politics and national security from the University of Kentucky and is a summa cum laude graduate of Western Kentucky University with degrees in history and broadcast journalism.
Asha Castleberry is a distinguished national security & foreign policy expert, a public speaker, television media commentator, a United States Army Veteran, and a former U.S. Congressional Candidate. She is an author of a memoir titled, “ Why National Security Matters.” Castleberry has over a decade of experience working as a Middle East Policy Expert in the public and private sectors. For the Biden-Harris Administration, she served as a Senior Official (Senior Executive Service) in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (Middle East Policy) in the U.S.State Department. From 2012-2015, Castleberry served in Kuwait, Iraq, and Jordan. She previously served as the Kuwait Desk Officer in the U.S. Army Central. She also served as a Senior Key Leader Engagement Officer for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. Before her deployment, Asha worked in the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, where she worked on the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Africa.
Castleberry is a sought-after expert globally and has worked with many U.S. Ambassadors. This year, Asha served on a panel with high-level Iraqi officials (with Senior officials from members of Parliament and military officers) to discuss combating ISIS and the role of China at the Erbil Security Forum in Iraq.
Michelle J. Howard served 35 years in the United States Navy. She led Sailors and Marines multiple times in her career as the Commander of: a ship, an Expeditionary Strike Group, Task Force, and a Naval theater. Her last command was from 2016 to 2017 as U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa. She simultaneously led NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples with oversight of missions from the Western Balkans to Iraq. Operations in her career include: NATO peacekeeping, West African Training Cruise, Indonesia Tsunami Relief operations, and the rescue of Maersk Alabama from Somali Pirates. Michelle J. Howard is a Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran.
In 1999 Michelle J. Howard became the first African American woman to command a ship in the Navy. In 2014, she was the first woman to become a four-star Admiral in the U.S. Navy and the first woman to be appointed to the position of Vice Chief of Naval Operations (number two in a Military Service). She is the first African American woman to reach the rank of three-star and four-stars in the Armed Forces.
Caroline Zier has over 15 years of experience in defense and national security, and is currently the Deputy Lead for National Security Policy at OpenAI. She previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense, where she was responsible for helping manage the Secretary of Defense’s executive staff and providing counsel and advice to the Secretary on all matters concerning the Department.
From 2021 to 2023, Caroline was the Senior Advisor and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense with responsibility for policy and national security matters. From 2018 to 2021, Caroline was the Director for Global Posture within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, leading a team responsible for providing oversight and management of the forces, footprint, and agreements that support the Department’s global operations and activities.
From 2016 to 2018, Caroline served as the Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. She joined the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy in 2009, and held several other positions in the organization. Prior to her government service, Caroline worked at Morgan Stanley in New York as an analyst. She graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts and received a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award. She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
Brandi Vann, PhD, is a globally experienced national security executive, currently serving as Director for Strategy at Draper and a member of the Board of Directors of 908 Devices. In these roles, she helps organizations strengthen their business and technical strategies and engage effectively with national security communities worldwide.
In July 2025, Dr. Vann concluded a distinguished career in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), where she most recently served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs (ASD(NCB)) and as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs. In this capacity, she advised the senior Defense Department leadership on management and execution of programs related to nuclear weapons, biological and chemical defense programs, chemical demilitarization, countering weapons of mass destruction, and treaty management. She also served as Staff Director of the Nuclear Weapons Council, leading efforts to assess and maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, ensure sustainment and operations of deployed systems, and plan for modernization. Across her DoD tenure, Dr. Vann contributed to every phase of capability development, including policy, strategy, research and development, acquisition, and operations. Before serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs she was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense. She oversaw a multibillion-dollar portfolio spanning chemical and biological defense, counterproliferation, countering weapons of mass destruction, nuclear forensics, international cooperation, and business operations. Notably, she co-led the first-ever Biodefense Posture Review (BPR), which fundamentally reformed DoD policy, strategy, and execution of global biodefense operations. In 2023, President Biden awarded Dr. Vann the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award for her transformative contributions to biodefense and her support of critical DoD initiatives.
Before joining the Department of Defense, Dr. Vann served as Director of Laboratories at Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation and was a visiting scientist at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Dr. Vann holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of South Carolina, where she specialized in analytical chemistry and applied statistics.
Eileen O’Connor is the senior vice president for Communications, Policy, and Advocacy, a member of the Foundation’s executive team, overseeing all government relations and strategic communications for all program priorities. Before joining the foundation, O’Connor spent her career as an attorney and award-winning journalist, serving as vice president of Yale University, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Obama administration, for South and Central Asia, and White House and foreign correspondent for CNN and ABC news. As an attorney, O’Connor specialized in complex litigation, political investigations, multi-party dispute negotiations, and crisis management in the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine. In government, O’Connor was awarded several Superior Honor awards for her work in Afghanistan, where she was posted for 14 months, Pakistan and South and Central Asia, countering violent extremism and building democratic institutions, including a focus on women’s peace and security programs. As a journalist she earned the Peabody Award, the DuPont Award, multiple Overseas Press Club awards, an Emmy, Cable Ace, and National Headliner awards for her documentary, investigative, and war-zone coverage in the former Soviet Union, Africa, and the Middle East. Her documentary on Russian organized crime garnered a NY Film Festival Golden Eagle award.
Melissa G. Dalton has over 20 years of experience in U.S. defense, aerospace, and national security affairs. She served as the 28th under secretary of the Air Force. She was responsible for organizing, training, and equipping the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, overseeing an annual budget exceeding $200 billion, and accountable for the welfare of nearly 700,000 active-duty, guard, reserve, and civilian Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Ms. Dalton performed the duties of deputy under secretary of defense for policy from December 2023 to May 2024, when she served as the principal advisor to the secretary of defense on the formation of national security and defense policy. Additionally, she served as the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs from March 2022 to May 2024. She joined the Biden administration in January 2021 as the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities. From 2014 to 2021, Ms. Dalton led research and analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, including directing the Cooperative Defense Project and serving as deputy director and senior fellow in the International Security Program. Ms. Dalton served for more than a decade as a career civil servant in the Bush and Obama administrations within the Department of Defense. Ms. Dalton is a recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal. She was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs fellow and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a Principal at WestExec Advisors, a Non-Resident Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Board Member of the Saber Six Foundation, and is the Principal of Potomac River Strategies, LLC.
Molly Montgomery is a Director of Public Policy at Meta, where she leads engagement with the diplomatic community and U.S. foreign affairs and national security agencies and advises on geopolitics and national security issues. She is also a member of the board of directors of Tenaris S.A. and an adjunct professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, where she teaches transatlantic relations.
Molly spent more than 15 years in government, serving most recently as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for relations with Western Europe, the European Union, and European regional economic affairs. As a career Foreign Service Officer she completed overseas tours in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Latvia, and the United Arab Emirates. Her domestic assignments included serving in the Office of the Secretary of State and as Special Advisor to the Vice President for Europe and Eurasia. She was also a Senior Vice President in the Europe practice at Albright Stonebridge Group and a non-resident fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution.
Alex Kahan is a global strategy, operations, and policy leader with experience at the intersection of national security, government, and the private sector.
Most recently she served on the executive leadership team of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the government’s investment arm that provides financing to the private sector to advance foreign policy and development goals in key sectors and global markets. As the Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy, she led DFC’s enterprise strategic planning and consulting function, enabling DFC to grow to over 700 personnel with a $50B portfolio. Prior to DFC Ms. Kahan was the Chief of Staff for Global COVID-19 Response and Health Security at the U.S. Department of State, where she supported global pandemic response coordination and oversaw Department activities to distribute more than 700 million vaccines to 118 countries.
The Honorable Robert M. Scher is a recognized expert in strategic planning, geopolitical risk assessment and mitigation, and government advocacy across the energy and defense sectors and on issues of international, national security, and US domestic politics. He has served in the public sector, worked in the private sector, and was appointed to a congressionally mandated commission by the Senate Majority Leader.
Bob was most recently the Vice President and Head of International Affairs for BP America. In this position he tracked and analyzed US foreign and national security policy as it affected BP’s businesses around the world.
Veronica Daigle is the President of National Security Practice at Red Cell Partners. She was previously the Director of Acquisition & Innovation Policy, Federal Legislative Affairs, Government Operations at The Boeing Company. Prior to joining Boeing in 2020, Ms. Daigle was the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness in the Department of Defense (DoD), where she served as the principal staff advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on all matters related to military readiness. In that position, Ms. Daigle managed three deputy assistant secretaries of defense, with a combined staff of over 50 military and civilian personnel.
Ms. Daigle entered the Federal Government in 2008 as a Presidential Management Fellow at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and subsequently served as an operations research analyst in DoD’s office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE). From 2008 to 2013, Ms. Daigle assessed a wide-ranging portfolio of issues, including the operational requirements and costs for Army ground operations, the potential effect of continued Overseas Contingency Operations funding on readiness programs, and the sufficiency of resources to support mental health services for Service Members.
Deborah Curtis, former CIA Deputy General Counsel for Litigation and Investigations, is a partner in Arnold & Porter’s White Collar Defense and Investigations practice. Her experience spans a wide range of senior level positions in the federal government involving sensitive intelligence, law enforcement and policy issues.
At CIA, Deborah oversaw the Agency’s response to litigation, congressional investigations, critical incidents and criminal matters. In this role, Deborah advised the CIA’s Director and Deputy Director, the Office of Congressional Affairs, the Counterintelligence Mission Center and the Office of Security. She also handled several major national security policy initiatives including representing CIA interests during the U.S.-EU negotiations to reach a transatlantic data privacy agreement and the provision of U.S. information in support of Russian war crimes prosecutions before the International Criminal Court.
Prior to joining CIA, Deborah was the Chief Counsel for Industry and Security at the Commerce Department, the senior-most legal official on all licensing and enforcement decisions involving the Entity List, Military End-User List, Denied Persons List, Unverified List and other issues arising under the Export Administration Regulations. During her time at Commerce, Deborah also co-drafted the Huawei Foreign Direct Product Rule and advised on the CFIUS-adjacent process prohibiting certain foreign transactions that could impact the U.S. Information and Communications Technology and Services supply chain.
Deborah previously served for more than a decade at the Department of Justice, including at the National Security Division’s Counterespionage Section. At Main Justice, she oversaw Espionage Act cases and criminal export control and sanctions investigations and prosecutions nationwide. Deborah was also a Deputy Chief for National Security at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where she investigated, prosecuted and supervised cases involving espionage, illegal foreign agents, state-sponsored malicious cyber intrusions and matters involving the ITAR, FCPA and theft of trade secrets.
Finally, as an Associate General Counsel for National Security and Military Affairs at the Pentagon, Deborah provided legal guidance on Air Force Special Access Programs involving air and space system projects, the issuance of national interest determinations, commercial facilities physical security breaches and counterintelligence “insider threat” probes.
Virginia Blaser is a tech-driven CEO, founder, and AI inventor with over three decades of experience leading organizations and driving innovation across the public and private sectors. As the CEO and founder of Blaser Global, she advises corporations, NGOs, and governments on leadership, operational strategy, and the ethical integration of AI into diplomacy, development, and foreign affairs. A serial entrepreneur, Virginia has launched and scaled multiple startups, secured venture capital investments, and developed AI-powered tools, including a patent-pending platform that transforms images into customizable products — merging technology, design, and accessibility at scale. Before entering the private sector, Virginia served as a senior U.S. diplomat for over 30 years across three continents — including five years as acting U.S. ambassador to five countries. She managed billion-dollar budgets, navigated complex political and economic challenges, and advanced U.S. interests on the global stage. Virginia is the author of The Manager’s Workbook, described by the Foreign Service Journal as a “must-read” for aspiring and experienced leaders. She serves on several boards, including Cape BPO, the President’s Advisory Council at Pathfinder International, and the board of IRPIA, an Africa-based think tank focused on innovation, governance, and policy impact. She also sits on the advisory boards of Tilting Futures and Crisis Path, helping shape global strategies on leadership, innovation, and resilience. Her work reflects her passions: empowering women and youth, advancing innovation, and shaping the future of leadership in the age of AI.
