Emily Perkins

Dr. Kimberly A. McClain is a global strategist, retired U.S. Air Force Reserve officer, and CEO of TMG Strategic Advisors, LLC, a boutique firm advising governments, corporations, and investors on geopolitical risk, public-private partnerships, and enterprise resilience. With more than three decades of service across the U.S. military, federal government, and private sector, she is recognized for bringing clarity and precision to high-stakes decisions.

A Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Dr. McClain led enterprise-wide strategy for a $79B federal budget, supported $1T in grants and $6T in securities, and secured $400M in reinvestments for underserved programs. At the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, she coauthored breakthrough legislation that delivered long-term health benefits to over 5M veterans. Earlier, as an Air Force executive, she directed policy and engagement for a $179B enterprise, improving operational performance and strengthening congressional relationships.

Her distinguished military career spanned 30 years, including senior advisory roles for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where she negotiated $2B in international defense partnerships and built enduring coalitions across 45+ countries. She also pioneered the first regional cybersecurity cooperation strategy for Latin America under U.S. Cyber Command.

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.

Margaret Boatner serves as Vice President of National Security Policy at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), where she leads the development and execution of strategic initiatives related to defense acquisition, procurement, and the defense industrial base. With nearly 15 years of experience at the Pentagon, Boatner has played a pivotal role in shaping Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition policy and developing and implementing acquisition reform efforts.

Most recently, Boatner served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Strategy and Acquisition Reform (DASA(SAR)). In this role, she was the lead executive for the design and implementation of Army-wide acquisition policy affecting the development and production of warfighting capabilities. Boatner was also responsible for leading consistent implementation of new statutory authorities affecting Army programs of record, engaging with Congressional committee staff on legislation affecting the acquisition process, and guiding the development of related acquisition legislative proposals. During her tenure, Boatner orchestrated Army-wide initiatives that overhauled policy on intellectual property, software development and acquisition, and industrial base resilience. Boatner also led a broad effort to streamline and simplify the DOD acquisition processes in collaboration with OSD stakeholders.

Jen Daskal is a Partner at Venable LLP. She is a national security legal and policy expert, with years of experience managing crisis, mitigating risk, and working at the intersection of technology, policy and law. From October 2023 to January 2025, Daskal served as the Deputy Homeland Security Advisor at the White House. Before that, she was the Principal Deputy Legal Advisor at the National Security Council and served as Acting General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, where she oversaw over 3,000 attorneys, including the Department’s cybersecurity, intelligence, litigation, and law enforcement legal teams.

Before joining the federal government, Daskal was a tenured law professor at American University Washington College of Law (WCL) until February 2021. In 2020, she founded and served as the first Faculty Director of WCL’s Tech, Law & Security Program. As a law professor, she wrote extensively on issues of data security and data privacy, testified multiple times before Congress, and won several awards for her work.

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).

Amanda Simpson is an advisor and consultant on aerospace, energy, and DEI as the CEO of Third Segment LLC. She is a nationally renowned speaker and has presented at corporations, government agencies, civic organizations, conferences, and colleges around the country on technology and aerospace innovation as well as gender and diversity.

Formerly she was Vice President for Research and Technology and Head of Sustainability at Airbus Americas, responsible for  coordinating technology development, research activities, and innovation for Airbus in the western hemisphere. She was also the Head of Sustainability efforts for Airbus in the Americas and has been an outspoken advocate for future flight concepts and clean aviation.

Ms. Simpson joined Airbus following government assignments in the United States Department of Defense. She was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy, responsible for developing the strategy for the utilization of energy for military operational forces worldwide and was the senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to energy in our military.

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.

Alexis Lasselle Ross is the President of Apex Defense Strategies, LLC, a strategic advisory firm that guides companies as they navigate the defense market. Ross founded Apex after more than two decades as an executive in the public and private sectors. Her consultancy draws upon this experience to offer companies a unique blend of strategic planning and executive advising on the  epartment of Defense’s acquisition system, the U.S. defense industrial base, and the planning and execution of large-scale change.

Most recently, Ross performed strategic planning at General Dynamics, advising corporate leadership on managing critical issues and navigating government business. Prior to entering the private sector, Ross served in a variety of senior positions in both the  executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. She served as the deputy chief of staff to the Secretary of Defense,  advising the secretary and ensuring execution of Department of Defense policy, programs, and organizational restructuring.  During her tenure, she performed the duties of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, leading the  department’s healthcare and human resources systems during the early response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, Ross served as the deputy assistant secretary of the army for strategy and acquisition reform, where she designed and implemented improvements to the Army acquisition system, including new policies on intellectual property and advanced manufacturing.

Shelby Pierson advises a broad range of defense-tech, AI, and national-security companies across venture-backed, early-stage, and growth ecosystems, with a tireless focus on integration and operational outcomes. She partners with CEOs, founders, and investors to scale technology for government adoption, accelerate product-market fit inside the national security enterprise, and shape mission-aligned strategies for data, AI/ML, advanced sensing, and geospatial innovation.

Shelby also serves on corporate boards, bringing expertise in enterprise risk, oversight, modernization, and international partnership management. Her portfolio work focuses on building tech-forward operating rhythms, aligning investments to measurable mission value, and strengthening governance to deliver durable performance. Shelby has more than 25 years of national security leadership experience in the U.S. intelligence community, known for translating strategy into execution across large, matrixed organizations.

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.

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.

Caroline Tess is Executive Director of National Security Action and former Executive Director of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security.

Caroline served as Special Assistant to the President at the National Security Council during the Obama Administration. She also served at the State Department focusing on North America and U.S. relations with the United Nations. Caroline worked on Capitol Hill for several years, serving on the Senate Intelligence Committee and in the offices of Senators Harry Reid and Bill Nelson.

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.

Leah Nodvin is the Director of Government and External Affairs at the BMW Group, where she supports U.S. – European relations and covers the federal sustainability portfolio. Previously, Leah served as the Chief of Staff for the Bureau of Europe and Eurasia at USAID. Prior to joining USAID, she worked on Capitol Hill and most recently served as the Staff Director for the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Europe, working on behalf of Congressman Bill Keating of Massachusetts. During her time on Capitol Hill, Leah also served as a Professional Staff Member on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Europe as well as a Foreign Affairs Legislative Assistant for a Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Prior to her time in Washington, Leah completed a research Fellowship with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna, Austria. Leah holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University as well as master’s degrees from the University College’s London School of Slavonic and East European Studies and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Leah is currently completing a master’s degree in Defense and Strategic Studies at the Naval War College. Leah grew up in New Hampshire and speaks basic French, intermediate Russian, fluent German and is a native English speaker.

Heidi is a General Partner and Executive Vice President at America’s Frontier Fund, a venture capital fund that invests in frontier technologies vital to the long-term competitiveness and national security of the United States and close allies. She is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations where she specializes in Economic Statecraft and leads the high-level Roundtable Series on Geoeconomics. She is the former CEO, and remains a Partner, at International Capital Strategies – a boutique advisory firm that provides clients with market-relevant insights on the intersection of macroeconomics, geopolitics, policy and global financial markets.

She served on the Biden Treasury Department Transition team as lead on International Affairs through January 2021. From August 2019 through the 2020 election, she led and built Biden’s international economic policy team for his Presidential campaign, crafting and contributing to incoming Administration policy on national economic security, China policy, supply chain resilience, trade, energy and energy security, the IMF and Multilateral Development Banks, sanctions and export controls, as well as to the domestic competitiveness and investment agenda.

John B. Bellinger III is a partner and co-chair of the Global Law & Public Policy Practice at Arnold & Porter. He is also Adjunct Senior Fellow in International and National Security Law at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Bellinger served as The Legal Adviser for the U.S. Department of State under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from 2005 to 2009. He previously managed Secretary Rice’s Senate confirmation and co-directed her State Department transition team. He received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award in January 2009.

Mr. Bellinger served from 2001 to 2005 as Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council at the White House. He previously served as Counsel for National Security Matters in the Criminal Division of the Justice Department during the Clinton Administration (1997-2001), Special Counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1996), and Special Assistant to Director of Central Intelligence William Webster (1988-1991).

Nicholas Rasmussen was the Executive Director at Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). Previously, he was the Senior Director for National Security and Counterterrorism Programs at the McCain Institute for International Leadership. Rasmussen is a national security professional with over twenty-seven years in U.S. government service, including in senior counterterrorism posts at the White House and in the U.S. Intelligence Community from 2001 to 2017. He concluded his government career as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), leading more than 1,000 professionals from across the Intelligence Community, federal government, and federal contractor workforce.

Rasmussen served in senior posts across three administrations, including as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council staff under Presidents Bush and Obama before being appointed Director of NCTC by President Obama and continuing his tenure at the request of President Trump’s administration. From 1991-2001, he served in policy positions at the Department of State, focused on the Middle East.

Mary Beth Bruggeman spent eight years as an active-duty Marine combat engineer. Upon leaving active duty, Mary Beth worked for iRobot Corporation for four years, advancing their work on counter-IED robotics, spent time as a stay-at-home mom and Marine wife, and then started a fitness and nutrition coaching business.

Mary Beth joined the Mission Continues team in 2015 as the Executive Director for the Southeast Region. In 2019, Mary Beth assumed the role of President of The Mission Continues. Mary Beth has degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy (BS) and Georgetown University (MPP), and is an alum of the George W. Bush Institute’s Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program. She lives in Fairfax Station, VA, with her husband Brian, a retired Marine, and their three kids.

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Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale is the Senior Fellow for Geoeconomics and Defense at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) where she conducts research on economic security and defense industrial policy and investments. She is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Blue Center for Global Strategic Assessment at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs.

From 2023-2025, Dr. Taylor-Kale served as the first Presidentially-Appointed, Senate-Confirmed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy.  In her role, she led all defense industrial strategy, investments, and planning, including the Defense Production Act and industrial base investments, supply chain resilience, small business programs, international defense industrial cooperation, and economic security and review of domestic mergers and acquisitions and foreign investments (CFIUS).  She led the Department of Defense in developing and publishing the first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy and Implementation Plan.  During her tenure, she led the expansion of strategic investments in rare earth elements, critical and strategic materials, solid rocket motors, and other upstream supply chain materials.  To further accelerate investment in the Defense Industrial Base, Dr. Taylor-Kale launched the DoD’s largest other transaction contracting vehicle, the Defense Industrial Base Consortium.  During her tenure, she led a record of $3.3 billion of grants to manufacturing and defense industrial supply chain businesses through the Defense Production Act and the Industrial Base Fund.  Additionally, she established the first Board of Directors for the strategic and critical materials for the National Defense Stockpile.

Dr. Taylor-Kale is a policy executive, strategist, and organizational behavior scholar with extensive experience in finance, business, economic policy and managing in complex organizations.  From 2021-2023, she served as the Fellow for Innovation and Economic Competitiveness at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and contributed to CFR’s Renewing America Initiative. Her CFR research focused on strategic innovation, industrial policy, and the changing nature of work. From 2017-2018, she was an International Affairs Fellow at CFR and the deputy director of CFR’s independent task force on the future of the U.S. workforce, co-authoring of the task force’s published report “The Work Ahead: Machines, Skills, and U.S. Leadership in the Twenty-First Century.”

Previously, Dr. Taylor-Kale served in the Obama Administration from 2014-2017. As the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing in the International Trade Administration, Dr. Taylor-Kale led multiple teams of international trade specialists and oversaw policies and programs to promote exports of U.S. manufactured goods and economic competitiveness in health and information technology; energy and environmental technologies; and transportation and machinery sectors. Prior to the Department of Commerce, Dr. Taylor-Kale was the senior advisor for policy and operations at the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation where she coordinated policies for OPIC’s $5 billion portfolio of investments in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Taylor-Kale joined the Obama Administration from the World Bank where she was special assistant to the Vice President for sustainable development and climate change.

From 2003-2012, Dr. Taylor-Kale was a career Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State and served in diplomatic postings in India as a consular officer and special assistant to the ambassador, Côte d’Ivoire as a political affairs officer, Afghanistan as an economic affairs officer, and in Washington, DC in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs as a financial economist. She received multiple awards for her economic analysis and from 2010-2011, was the first Foreign Service Officer to serve as an advisor to the U.S. Executive Director on the boards of the World Bank Group.

Dr. Taylor-Kale holds a B.A. in economics and anthropology from Smith College, an M.P.A. in development economic and demographic studies from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, an M.B.A. in finance and management from the New York University’s Stern School of Business, and a Ph.D. in management science and engineering with a specialization in Organizations, Technology, and Entrepreneurship from Stanford University’s School of Engineering. Her scholarly research examines grand challenges, ecosystem design, and how organizations leverage technology to build cross-sector strategic partnerships. Dr. Taylor-Kale is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is the recipient of numerous educational and professional awards, including the Zhi-Xing Eisenhower Fellowship, International Career Advancement Program, Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship, and the David Boren Scholarship for Critical Language Study. She is a member of the Truman National Security Project and an alumna of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security.

Allison Peters previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the U.S. Department of State where she oversaw the Bureau’s Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs, including its work on technology and human rights, Office of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Office of Policy Planning and Public Diplomacy. Previously, Ms. Peters served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights and the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs where she worked to advance rights-respecting approaches to technology and cyber policy and counter threats.

Prior to her time in government, Peters served as the Deputy Director of the National Security Program at the think tank Third Way where she regularly advised policymakers on a broad spectrum of foreign policy and national security issues. In this capacity, she helped to lead the Program’s Cyber Enforcement Initiative where her writing, research, and policy development focused on strengthening global cooperation and capacity to identify and bring to justice malicious cyber actors.

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.

Beth Roberts is a foreign policy, international trade, and development finance leader with nearly two decades of experience navigating complex geopolitical, regulatory, and investment environments to foster economic growth. In her current role as Senior Manager, Global Strategic Initiatives within Global Public Policy at General Motors, Beth focuses on advancing policies that bolster GM’s supply chain resilience efforts. She specializes in translating big-picture global dynamics into actionable strategies, detailed project management, and diplomatic advocacy to advance policy objectives and drive growth.

During the Biden Administration, Beth served as Vice President of the Office of Foreign Policy at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where she launched and led a team of regional and sector policy experts focused on aligning DFC’s $50 billion global investment portfolio and business development strategy with U.S. foreign policy priorities. She served as the senior foreign policy advisor to DFC’s CEO, drove strategic diplomatic engagement, and helped integrate geopolitical risk and opportunity analysis across business lines.

Before joining DFC, Beth spent a decade at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), where she developed and managed infrastructure, energy, and agribusiness projects across Africa and South Asia. She also served as an advisor to MCC’s CEO, launched MCC’s Private Sector Advisory Council and led the Corporation’s first trade mission to Africa. Beth’s career began as a public affairs consultant at APCO, supporting domestic and global health care clients. Her service in the Peace Corps in Mali sparked her passion for working at the nexus global business, foreign policy, and sustainable development.

Beth is a graduate of Elon University and is a Truman National Security Project Security Fellow. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Washington, D.C.

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.

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.

Heather Samuelson is an attorney and strategic advisor with nearly two decades of experience in government, politics and the non-profit sector. She most recently served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Confirmations Counsel in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, guiding hundreds of Biden-Harris Administration nominees through the Senate confirmation process. Heather also served in the Obama-Biden Administration, first as White House Liaison at the U.S. Department of State, and then as Assistant Counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office. In these roles, she directed recruitment and vetting for national security positions and advised officials on federal ethics compliance.

Prior to rejoining government, Heather was the first General Counsel for the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) overseeing all legal matters for NDWA and its sister organization Care in Action. Heather also served as a longtime attorney and advisor to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, including representing the Secretary before the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi, and serving as Chief Counsel for the 2016 Clinton-Kaine Pre-Election Transition team.

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.

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.

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.

Phyllis Wilson is a trailblazing leader, trusted advisor, and nationally recognized voice in purpose-driven leadership. As the 5th Command Chief Warrant Officer of the Army Reserve – the first woman in any component of the U.S. Army to hold the highest warrant officer position – she shaped strategy, culture, and the future of the military. Today, she is the President of the Military Women’s Memorial located at Arlington National Cemetery, which is America’s only major national memorial honoring the more than 3 million women who have defended America, from the American Revolution to today. Phyllis also serves on multiple nonprofit boards and offers her expertise as a national speaker on leadership, security, and workforce transformation.

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.

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.

Ambassador James O’Brien most recently served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs after previously serving as Head of the Office of Sanctions Policy prior to this role.

Mr. O’Brien was Vice Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) and led the firm’s Europe practice. A founder of the firm, he has worked extensively on issues affecting consumer goods, health, entertainment, environment, media (including free speech), information technology, telecommunications, and finance sectors. Mr. O’Brien is also a member of the management and investment committees of Albright Capital Management LLC, an affiliated investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets.

Mr. O’Brien has served two U.S. administrations as special presidential envoy, securing the release of Americans held hostage abroad and overseeing U.S. policy planning towards the Balkans. He has been senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State and served as the principal deputy director of policy planning at the State Department. He worked to end armed conflicts in Europe, helped develop non-proliferation initiatives after the Cold War, negotiated environmental agreements, and supported initiatives to investigate and prosecute persons responsible for war crimes.

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.

Kristen Edwards Marquardt joined Hakluyt & Co. in 2022 to build the company’s digital and cyber practice in North America. Prior to Hakluyt, she was chief cyber strategist and senior vice president for strategic planning, metrics, and reporting at Bank of America. In that role, Kristen was also responsible for reporting to the board of directors on all cyber security matters.

Prior to joining Bank of America, Kristen was the senior intelligence advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) with responsibility for intelligence, threat prevention, and counterterrorism. She advised the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on all intelligence and national security issues and often represented the department at the White House and with foreign partners on a range of department priorities.

Before serving at DHS, Kristen was a senior professional staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee covering the Middle East and counterterrorism policy. She began her career as an operations officer at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and served with distinction in Afghanistan and other postings.