Josep Borrell, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Spain

Josep Borrell holds a Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Technical University of Madrid, a Bachelor's Degree and Doctorate in Economics from Complutense University of Madrid, a Postgraduate Degree in Energy Economics from the French Institute of Petroleum in Paris, and a Master's Degree in Applied Mathematics (Operations Research) from Stanford University, California.
From 1972 to 1982 he lectured in Mathematics at the Higher Technical School of Aeronautical Engineering of Complutense University of Madrid. Between November 1982 and May 1996 he served, successively, as Budget General Secretary (1982-1984), State Secretary for Finance (1984-1991) and Minister of Public Works, Telecommunications, Transport and the Environment (1991-1996). In April 1998 he won the Socialist Party's primary elections as candidate for the Presidency of the Government.

As Parliamentary Deputy for Barcelona from 1986 to 2003 he presided over the Mixed Committee for European Affairs and was a member of the European Convention (1999-2002) which prepared the European Constitution project. Elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he served in the first half of the 2004-2009 legislature as President of the European Parliament and in the second half as chair of the Committee on Development. He was chair of the Delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly and co-chair of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly.
From 2010 to 2012 he served as President of the European University Institute in Florence. From 2013 to 2017 he resumed his professorship at the Faculty of Economics at Complutense University of Madrid and was awarded the Jean Monnet Chair for European Integration. He currently holds the Jean Monnet Chair at the Complutense Institute of International Studies.

Giuliano Amato, Former Prime Minister, Chair, FEPS Global Migration Group, Italy

Giuliano Amato is an Italian politician who twice served as the country’s prime minister; first from 1992 to 1993 and then 2000 to 2001. He holds a degree in law from the University of Pisa and a Master’s Degree in comparative law from Columbia Law School. He worked as a professor of Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Rome La Sapienza from 1975 to 1994. A prominent member of the Socialist Party since 1958, he was a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 1993. He also served as Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister's office from 1983 to 1987, Deputy Prime Minister from 1987 to 1988, and Minister for the Treasury from 1987 to 1989.

Later, Amato served as Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the European Constitution and headed the Amato Group. Between 2006 and 2008, he served as the Minister of the Interior during Romano Prodi’s time as Prime Minister of Italy.

Amato also serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project, which works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

Juan José Gómez-Camacho, Ambassador of Mexico to the United Nations; Co-facilitator, Intergovernmental Consultations and Negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration

Ambassador Juan José Gómez-Camacho is a Mexican diplomat. He studied law at Universidad Iberoamericana and holds a Master's Degree in International Law from Georgetown University. He is fluent in Spanish, English and French.

A career diplomat, Gómez-Camacho joined the Mexican Foreign Service in 1988. Since then, he has held different positions both within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseas. He bears broad experience as a Mexican negotiator both in the bilateral and multilateral fields, in topics as varied as political affairs, human rights, telecommunications, nuclear and conventional disarmament, and more. Moreover, he has carried out work promoting business and investment in different sectors and industries in Mexico.

In December 2013, Gómez-Camacho was appointed Ambassador of Mexico to the European Union and the Ambassador of Mexico to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with the main goal of overcoming longstanding obstacles to the launch of wide-ranging negotiations to modernize and expand the Free Trade Agreement between Mexico and the EU. Gómez-Camacho currently serves as Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations, where he was appointed in 2016. In 2018, he was designated by the President of the United Nations General Assembly as co-facilitator of the negotiation of a Global Deal to make migration safe, orderly and regular.

Jürg Lauber, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Nations; Co-facilitator of the Intergovernmental Consultations and Negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration

Ambassador Jürg Lauber has a Law Degree from the University of Zurich. He worked in peacekeeping missions in Namibia (UNTAG) and Korea (Panmunjom), and he joined the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in 1993. As a diplomat he was posted in Bangkok, Bern and Beijing before being appointed Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York.

Between 2007 and 2009 he served as Chef de Cabinet to the President of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Between 2009 and 2011 he was Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Conference on Disarmament. Between 2011 and 2015 he served as Head of the United Nations and International Organisations Division in Bern.

Louise Arbour, UN Special Representative for International Migration

Louise Arbour is a Canadian lawyer, prosecutor and jurist. She currently serves as the UN Special Representative for International Migration. From 1972 to 1973, she was research officer for the Law Reform Commission of Canada. She served as Vice President of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association until her appointment to the Supreme Court of Ontario in 1987 and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1990. In 1995, Arbour was named President of a Commission of Inquiry, under the Inquiries Act, in order to investigate and report on events at the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario. In 1999, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. In 2017, Madame Arbour was appointed by the U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to be his Special Representative for International Migration.

Astrid Silva, Mexican-American Political Activist

Astrid Silva is a Mexican-American immigrant and part of the DREAMer program. She came to the U.S. illegally with her mother when she was four years old and grew up wanting to make the most of her opportunities. She attended a magnet high school, graduating at the top of her class, and went on to earn three higher level degrees.

Silva’s personal experiences – including being unable to attend her grandmother’s funeral in Mexico and watching her father narrowly escape detainment – is what drove her to become a political activist on immigration policy. She co-founded the Dream Big Vegas organization in her community for immigration reform. She also formed a friendship and partnership with former Nevada Senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to push for legislation.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, Former Prime Minister, France

Jean-Marc Ayrault is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2012 to 2014. He joined the Socialist Party in 1971 and served as a German language teacher until his election to the National Assembly in 1986 as a representative of the Loire Atlantique Department. In 1989, he became the Mayor of Nantes, France, and was subsequently reelected in 1995, 2001 and 2008.

Following François Hollande's victory in France’s 2012 presidential election, Ayrault was appointed Prime Minister of France. During his time in office, he was an advocate for the Greek government debt crisis, asking the European Commission to put unused structural funds towards helping the Greek economy return to growth. In 2016, Hollande appointed Ayrault as a foreign minister.

Maria João Rodrigues, President, Foundation for European Progressive Studies

Maria João Rodrigues is a Member of the European Parliament, the Vice-President of the S&D Group and the President of FEPS (Foundation for European Progressive Studies).

Rodrigues was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2014, becoming a member of the S&D Group, the second most important EP Group, with 190 members coming from the 28 Member States. As S&D Vice-President, she is in charge of general coordination and interface with the other EU institutions and members of the Committees of EMPL and ECON. In 2017 she was also elected to become the President of FEPS, which has about forty foundations across Europe and the world.

After being a Minister of Employment in Portugal, she was a policy maker working in several posts in the European Institutions since 2000, notably in the leading teams of EU Presidencies. During her work she helped deliver important outcomes such as: the Lisbon Strategy and the EU2020 Strategy; the EU agenda for globalization and the strategic partnerships with the USA, China, Russia, India and Brazil for a new growth model; policy; the new Erasmus for mobility, New Skills for New Jobs, The European Pillar of Social Rights, responses to The Eurozone crisis; and more recently, The Road Map and Annual Programming for the European Union.

In academic terms, she was a Professor of European Economic Policies in the European Studies Institute – Université Libre de Bruxelles and in the Lisbon University Institute. She was also the chair of the European Commission Advisory Board for Socio-Economic Sciences. She is author of more than one hundred publications, including several notable books.

Neera Tanden, President and CEO, Center for American Progress, USA 

Neera Tanden received her Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and her Law Degree from Yale Law School. She has expertise in economy, elections, health care, domestic policy, politics, and women's issues. She currently serves as the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress and the CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, where she focuses on how both organizations can fulfill their missions to expand opportunity for all Americans. Tanden has also served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, as well as on presidential campaigns.

Before leading American Progress, Tanden was the organization’s chief operating officer. She previously served as senior adviser for health reform at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In that role, she developed policies around reform and worked with Congress and stakeholders on particular provisions of President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement — the Affordable Care Act.

Prior to that, Tanden was the Director of Domestic Policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign, where she managed all domestic policy proposals. Tanden also served as policy director for Hillary Clinton’s first presidential campaign, where she directed all policy work and oversaw the debate preparation process for then-Sen. Clinton (D-NY).

Before the 2008 presidential campaign, Tanden served as a Legislative Director in Sen. Clinton’s office and deputy campaign manager and issues director for Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign. She began her career as an Associate Director for Domestic Policy in Former President Bill Clinton’s White House and Senior Policy Adviser to the First Lady.

Tanden has appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” ABC’s “This Week,” CBS’s “Face the Nation,” PBS’s “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” MSNBC, CNN, and Fox. Most recently, she was named to Elle magazine’s “Women in Washington Power List” and Politico Magazine’s “Politico 50,” an annual list of the top thinkers, doers, and visionaries in American politics. She has also been included in National Journal’s “Washington’s Most Influential Women,” Washingtonian magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Washington,” and Fortune magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Politics.”

Khalid Mahmood, Member of Parliament, Shadow Minister For Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Europe), United Kingdom

Khalid Mahmood is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament of Birmingham Perry Barr since 2001. After graduating from UCE Birmingham and working as an engineer, he became a Birmingham City Councilor in 1990. In 2001, he was selected for the Perry Barr seat by local Labour Party members. From 2005 to 2006, he served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Home Office Minister Tony McNulty. He is also a Shadow Foreign Minister for Europe.

Ted Terry, Mayor of Clarkston, Georgia, USA

Ted Terry is many things: the “Hipster Mayor” of Clarkston, Georgia since 2013; the star of the Season 2 finale of popular TV Show “Queer Eye”; and a progressive political figure working hard to support refugees.

Terry has turned Clarkston into the "Ellis Island of the South," a destination for international refugees that packs 40 nationalities speaking 60 languages into the town’s 1.4 square miles. Terry hopes his town can serve as a shining example of how a diverse group of people can live together and make it work.

Terry is originally from Florida, and after graduating from the University of Florida, he moved to DeKalb County where he has lived for more than a decade. Terry was involved in political work on behalf of the Democratic Party before deciding to run for mayor. As mayor, Terry is committed to “walking the walk” and has personally assisted refugees in his town in securing food, shelter and clothing. It’s important to Terry to be genuine in his efforts and to uphold American values promoting justice, liberty and equality.

Sana Mustafa, Founder and Manager, Sana Mustafa Consulting LLC, Syria

Sana Mustafa is the Founder and Manager of Sana Mustafa Consulting LLC where she consults with different institutions on designing engagement projects related to refugees, refugees inclusion, Syrian politics and humanitarian situations. Mustafa has been a Syrian refugee since 2013 and is currently living in the United States. Separated from her remaining family, Sana has learned first-hand the difficulties that emerge from having piece-meal national policies in lieu of a comprehensive global migration policy. Sana is a powerful advocate for refugee resettlement and social/political engagement of refugees. She is an active public speaker and has spoken at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the White House and at numerous university campuses. Mustafa is an active public speaker and has spoken at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the White House, Harvard, Princeton and the EU Trust Fund on Syria at numerous platforms. She speaks about her personal story of fleeing war and detention, and on community and political advocacy efforts and solutions to address the refugee crisis. Mustafa is a founding member of The Network For Refugee Voices, a refugee-led coalition working to increase refugees’ engagement with the international community to pursue inclusive, sustainable, and effective refugee and immigration policy.

Aissata Tall Sall, Mayor of Podor, Senegal

Aissata Tall Sall has been the Mayor of Podor, Senegal since 2009, re-elected in June 2014. She is also a member of the National Assembly, Secretary General of the Union of Socialist Coordination of Podor, Secretary General on the Union Régional Socialiste of Saint Louis and member of the Political Office of the Socialist Party.  She was the Communication Ministerand Spokesperson of the Government during two years from 1998 to 2000. Aissata studied law at the University of Dakar and she has working experience as a lawyer.

Ernst Stetter, Secretary General, Foundation for European Progressive Studies

Ernst Stetter has served as the Secretary General of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) since 2008. He is also a regular commentator on EU affairs in the media and a visiting fellow at the University of Greenwich, London.

He is an Economist and Political Scientist. He studied in Tübingen and Heidelberg (Germany) focusing on international trade, finance, economic and social policy as well as development issues. In 1980 he obtained his PhD in political science entitled “The Association of ACP-Countries (Lomé I and II) to the European Community and the STABEX-System.”

In 1976 Ernst Stetter began his professional career as a lecturer in economics at the DGB Trade Union Centre for Vocational Training in Heidelberg. From 1980 to 2008 he worked for the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in various positions. Stetter spent the first four years at the FES as a Consultant in Dakar, Senegal and in 1988, he was appointed as Head of the Africa Department. In 1994 he started working as Head of the Central Europe Unit, and in 1997 he moved to Paris and became Director of the FES Office in France. Then in 2003 he was appointed as Director of the EU-Office of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Brussels. In 2003 he received the French decoration of Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite.

Joel Odigie, Coordinator, ITUC-Africa 

Joel Odigie is an activist and trade unionist with over 2 decades of organising experience. He is a Nigerian and the Coordinator for Human and Trade Union Rights at the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa – an organisation currently representing over 18 million workers in 51 of the 55 African countries: www.ituc-africa.org).

Odigie has a Master’s Degree in Labour and Globalisation from the Berlin School of Economics and Law. In his words, “I see myself as a Pan-Africanist and a Humanist seeking to contribute my quota to answers on issues of Africa and the world’s development deficits – general injustices, as well as working with others to achieve a world where social justice is real, attained and shared”. He opined that “problems and challenges will always be around us, but the task is to “refuse to agonise, rather we must continue to collaborate with other progressive forces to organise, mobilize for change”.

Gesine Schwan, President, Humboldt-Viadrina Governance Platform, Germany

Gesine Schwan’s career in academia began in 1971, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Free University Berlin. She held the position of Professor of Political Science – particularly of Political Theory and Philosophy – from 1977 to 1999, and was President of the German Association of Political Science (DVPW) from 1985 to 1987. From 1993 to 1995, Schwan served as the Dean of the Department of Political Science at the Free University Berlin, and from October 1999 to September 2008 she was President of the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). From 1977 to 1984 and again since 1996, Schwan was a Member of the “Commission for Fundamental Values”. From 2002 to 2009 she held the position of Co-Chairwomen of the German-Polish Forum, and since 2002 has been a Member of the Board of Trustees of the German Institute of Poland (Deutsches Polen-Institut). Schwan has been a Member of the Commission of SPD since 2004, and also was a Candidate for the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2004 (nominated by SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen). From January 2005 to September 2009 she served as Coordinator of the Federal Government for German-Polish Relations and cross-border Civil Society Cooperation with the Republic of Poland, and from 2008 to 2009 she was again a Candidate for the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Germany (nominated by SPD). Schwan served as Joint Founder and President of the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA School of Governance until 2014 and since then has become President and Co-founder of the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA Governance Platform in Berlin. She has also been chairing the Commission for Fundamental Values of the SPD since 2014.

Alex Sceberras Trigona, Special Envoy to the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Malta

Alex Sceberras Trigona is a Maltese politician and diplomat. He is both Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of Malta, and the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Malta to the World Trade Organization. He served as Malta's Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1981 to 1987.

Sceberras Trigona was educated at the Lyceum, Malta, and the University of Malta, where he obtained his Notarial Diploma in 1972, and graduated Doctor of Laws in 1973. His Doctoral thesis was on Constitutional Change and the Maltese Constitution. Sceberras Trigona also serves as a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta where he lectures on Private International Law at the Faculty of Laws, and on Further Studies in Diplomacy and Legal Dimensions of Humanitarian Action at the Faculty of Arts.

Javier Moreno Sanchez, Secretary General, Socialists and Democrats Group, Spain 

Javier Moreno Sanchez has been Secretary General of the Global Progressive Forum since 2004. He is a former Member of the European Parliament (2004-2009) and Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist delegation in the European Parliament. As an MEP, he served on the Committees for International Trade and the Committee for Civil Liberties where he concentrated his work on the fight against illegal immigration. Before becoming an MEP in 2004, Javier gained extensive experience within the European Institutions, including working as a political advisor to the Party of European Socialists (1998-2002), later becoming Deputy Secretary General (2002-2004) and coordinating the socialists working on the European Convention (2002-2003). Javier has been a member of the PSOE since 1992 and is the former President of the European Federation of the PSOE (PSOE Europa).

Marije Laffeber, Deputy Secretary General, Party of European Socialists, The Netherlands 

Marije Laffeber is an expert on European and international policies, gender equality and democracy building. She was appointed a Deputy Secretary General of the PES in September 2012. Before that, she was a member of the PES presidency and was actively involved with PES Women.

Marije has been a progressive activist since 1993, when she joined the youth organisation of the PvdA, the Dutch Labour Party. She studied Journalism and Communication. In 1999 she started working for the PvdA delegation in the European Parliament and in the Dutch Parliament in the Hague. Then she moved to London for one year to work for the Secretary General of Socialist International Women (SIW).

From 2003-2012 Marije was part of the leadership of the PvdA, where she served on the National Executive Board. Her focus was European and international politics. She was elected as International Secretary for four consecutive terms and was the first woman to hold that position. Marjie was in charge of international partnerships with the Middle-East, South Africa, the United States and the United Nations.

Laffeber has worked on policy papers for both PvdA and the PES. She has been a major contributor to the international debate in the Netherlands, organising over 150 conferences on topic such as the ´Arab Spring´, HIV/ Aids, development, women and leadership, the financial crisis, migration or political parties in Europe.

Genevieve Gencianos, Migration Programme Coordinator, PSI (Public Services International)

Genevieve Gencianos is the Migration Programme Coordinator of Public Services International (PSI), the global trade union federation representing 20 million working women and men who deliver vital public services in more than 160 countries. She is based at PSI’s Headquarters in Ferney-Voltaire, France (on the border of Geneva).  She has an extensive background on international migration, development and human rights issues, based on her more than 20 years of policy and project experience in various countries. Genevieve joined PSI in 2005 and helped the organization develop its policy and programme on migration. As PSI’s Migration Programme Coordinator, her work involves building the capacity of PSI-affiliated unions in national, regional and global policy advocacy on migration issues and developing and managing PSI’s country-level migration projects in the different global regions. Genevieve is originally from the Philippines and holds Master’s Degrees in Public Administration (University of the Philippines) and International Social Development (University of New South Wales, Australia). 

Yaye Helene Ndiaye, Program Officer, Africa Governance and Advocacy Project (AfriMap Open Society Foundations), OSIWA, Senegal

Yaye Hélène Ndiaye is a program officer for the Africa Regional Office of Open Society Foundations. Yaye holds two Master’s Degrees from the University of Paris XII Val de Marne and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Before coming to the Open Society Foundations, Ndiaye served as the bilingual coordinator and invitations focal point for the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development in Monrovia, Liberia, and as the program coordinator for the International Programs Office at the Columbia University School of Law.

Ndiaye’s experience at Columbia University sparked her interest in contributing to Africa’s development, particularly the empowerment of the continent’s youth and women. She is the co-founder of the West African youth association and is a member of Inner wheel Dakar’s section.

Elizabeth Ferris, ISIM Research Professor, Georgetown University, USA 

Elizabeth Ferris joined ISIM in Fall 2015 after serving for 9 years as a Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the Brookings Project on Internal Displacement and as an adjunct professor in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. She served as the interim director of ISIM for the 2017-2018 academic year while Dr. Katharine Donato was on sabbatical.

Ferris is also a non-resident senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. Prior to joining Brookings in November 2006, she spent 20 years working in the field of international humanitarian response, most recently in Geneva, Switzerland at the World Council of Churches. She has also served as Chair of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), as Research Director for the Life & Peace Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, as Director of the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program in New York. She has been a professor at several U.S. universities and served as a Fulbright professor to the Universidad Autónoma de México in Mexico City. She has written or edited six books and many articles on humanitarian and human rights issues which have been published in both academic and policy journals. Her current research interests focus on the politics of humanitarian action and on the role of civil society in protecting displaced populations.

Raúl Delgado-Wise, Director, Doctoral Programme in Development Studies, Autonomous University of Zacatecas; President, International Network on Migration and Development; Chair, Migration, UNESCO, Mexico

Raúl Delgado-Wise is the Director and a Professor of the Doctoral Program in Development Studies at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico, the President of the International Network on Migration and Development, the Co-Director of the Critical Development Studies Network, and the Director of the Journal Migración y Desarrollo (Migration and Development). He is also currently the General Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Migration, Development and Human Rights and is a Member of the Advisory Board of the UNESCO-MOST Mexico Committee. In 1993 he received the annual prize for economic research Maestro Jesús Silva Herzog. Delgado-Wise is member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, the Mexican Academy of Political Economy and the National System of Researchers of Mexico (level III), as well as several academic associations with offices in Canada, the United States, Latin America and Europe. He has been a guest lecturer in more than 40 countries on 5 continents, was the keynote speaker at the inaugural session of the civil society days of the First Global Forum on Migration and Development held in Brussels in July 2007, and has authored / edited 28 books and written more than 200 essays, including refereed articles and books chapters in several of the most prestigious journals and editorial houses worldwide.

Gerald Knaus, President, European Stability Initiative, Austria

Gerald Knaus (Austria) is the founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), a think tank with offices in Berlin, Brussels, and Vienna working on South East Europe and the Caucasus, European enlargement, and the future of EU foreign policy. He studied in Oxford, Brussels and Bologna, taught economics at the State University of Chernivtsi in Ukraine, and spent five years working for NGOs and international organisations in Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 2001 to 2004, he was the director of the Lessons Learned Unit of the EU Pillar of the UN Mission in Kosovo. In 2011, he co-authored, alongside the British MP Rory Stewart, the book “Can Intervention Work?”. He wrote scripts for award-winning TV documentaries on South East Europe (www.returntoeurope.eu, 2008-2012) and co-authored many ESI reports on EU enlargement, the Balkans, Turkey and the Caucasus, including "Islamic Calvinists – Change and Conservatism in Central Anatolia" (2005), "Caviar Diplomacy – How Azerbaijan Silenced the Council of Europe" (2012), and most recently "The Merkel Plan" (2015) and "The Rome Plan" (2017) on the refugee crisis and "The European Swamp" (2016) on corruption in the Council of Europe. He is a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and was an Associate Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School for five years, where he was also a Visiting Fellow in 2010 and 2011 lecturing on state building and intervention. In 2016 and 2017 he was a Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow in Istanbul. He is based in Berlin and Istanbul and writes the Rumeli Observer blog.

Karl Flecker, Immigrant Employment Specialist, KEYS Job Centre, Canada

Karl Flecker is the 2015 recipient of the CWY/JCM iLEad award recognizing his career-long commitment to building global citizenship within local communities. The Canadian Human Rights Commission recognizes Karl as a Human Rights Leader and recognized his outstanding contribution to the development of Human Rights Maturity Model in 2013. 
Karl is currently serving as an immigrant employment specialist with the KEYS Job Centre. Previously he was the National Director for Human Rights/Anti-Racism with the Canadian Labour Congress. Karl is also an accomplished researcher and writer. 

Nathalie Tocci, Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Italy

Nathalie Tocci is the Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen, and Special Adviser to EU HRVP Federica Mogherini, on behalf of whom she wrote the European Global Strategy and is now working on its implementation, notably in the field of security and defense. Previously she held research positions at the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels, the Transatlantic Academy, Washington and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Florence.
Her research interests include European foreign policy, conflict resolution, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Her major publications include: Framing the EU's Global Strategy, Springer-Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 (author); The EU, Promoting Regional Integration, and Conflict Resolution, Springer-Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 (co-editor);  Turkey and the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (co-author); Multilateralism in the 21st Century, Routledge, 2013 (co-editor), Turkey’s European Future: Behind the Scenes of America’s Influence on EU-Turkey Relations, New York University Press, 2011 (author); and The EU and Conflict Resolution, Routledge, 2007 (author). Nathalie is the 2008 winner of the Anna Lindh award for the study of European Foreign Policy.

Tom Jawetz, Vice President, Immigration Policy, CAP, USA

Tom Jawetz holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from the Yale Law School. Prior to joining Center for American Progress (CAP), Tom served as chief counsel on the Immigration Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. In that capacity, Tom devised and executed strategies for immigration-related hearings and markups before the Committee on the Judiciary and legislation on the House floor. He has advised members of Congress and congressional staff on all areas of immigration law and policy.

Prior to his time at the Judiciary Committee, Tom worked as the immigration detention staff attorney at the National Prison Project, a part of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). There, he represented detainees in class action and individual challenges to unlawful conditions of confinement and twice testified before Congress. While at ACLU, he investigated abuses in Louisiana jails and prisons during and after Hurricane Katrina and co-authored the report “Abandoned and Abused: Orleans Parish Prisoners in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina.” He previously represented asylum seekers in judicial and administrative proceedings with the Washington Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and served as a law clerk to the Hon. Kimba M. Wood of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Eugenio Ambrosi, Regional Director, IOM Europe

Eugenio Ambrosi is the Regional Director of IOM’s Regional Office for the EU, Norway and Switzerland. Prior to this, he was the Senior Regional Adviser for Europe and Central Asia in the Office of the Director General at IOM’s Headquarters in Geneva. Ambrosi came to IOM in 1991 where he has since held several senior positions including Director for the Regional Office in Buenos Aires and Director of the Dakar Regional Office. He has extensive experience and knowledge of European issues and IOM policies, programmes and operations, in addition to several years of executive experience with IOM’s Regional Bureau for Africa and the Middle East. Ambrosi has a Master’s Degree in Law and holds a Post-Graduate Degree in International Law and Multilateral Diplomacy.

Bela Hovy, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations 

Bela Hovy oversees the estimation of global migration trends, the organization of expert and coordination meetings on migration and the organization of workshops to support migration data collection and analysis in developing countries. His team supports relevant intergovernmental processes by preparing reports for the UN General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and backstopping intergovernmental negotiations. From 1993 to 2005, Hovy was responsible for statistics at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland. Before that, he worked at the Population Division in New York (1989-1993) and at IFORD, a United Nations training institute based in Cameroon (1988-1989).

Sabina Dewan, Executive Director, Just Jobs Network, India

Sabina Dewan is President and Executive Director of the JustJobs Network, which she co- founded with John Podesta in 2013. Under Dewan’s leadership, the JustJobs Network has grown to become a prominent, innovative, and international think tank focused on finding strategies to create more and better employment worldwide. Formerly, Dewan was a Senior Fellow and Director for International Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress.

Dewan’s research focuses on the role of quality employment in building equitable economies around the globe. She has published on a range of economic issues, from the impact of globalization, trade, and value chains, on employment, to the nexus of renewable energy and job creation. Ms. Dewan’s efforts aim to make the economic case for productive employment and just working conditions.

Her career has spanned continents, taking her from the private sector and the World Bank in the United States, the International Labour Organization in Switzerland, and the European Commission in Belgium, to grassroots organizations in India. She is a frequent media contributor, having appeared in print and television outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, US News and World Report, as well as CNN, BBC, and Al-Jazeera. Sabina splits her time between Washington, D.C. and New Delhi.

Michel Foucher, Geographer; Former Ambassador and Chair of Applied Geopolitics, College of World Studies of the House of Human Sciences Foundation (FMHS); Expert Associated to the Fondation Jean Jaurès, France

Michel Foucher is a Geographer and a Diplomat; he presently holds the chair of Applied Geopolitics at the College of World Studies (Paris). Foucher served as the French Ambassador to Latvia (2002-2006), special advisor to the French Foreign Minister (1997-2002), head of the Policy Planning Staff (1999-2002), and special envoy to the Balkans and the Caucasus (1999). He was then Ambassador at Large for European Issues (2007). He served as the Director of Studies and Research and a Member of the Executive Committee of the Institute of Higher National Defense Studies (Paris, Prime Minister’s Office) from 2010 to 2013.

Foucher is currently a Member of the Scientific Board of the Centre for Higher European Studies (CHEE, at ENA, Paris), the International Diplomatic Academy (Paris), and the Robert Schuman Foundation. He is the Former President of the Association of Internationalists. He was an expert in the African Union’s borders program under the auspices of the Commission of the African Union’s Peace and Conflict Prevention Division (Addis Ababa, from 2007 to 2013).

Suzanne Kianpour, Capitol Hill/ Foreign Affairs Producer/ Reporter, BBC News

Suzanne Kianpour is a Persian-Italian journalist based in Washington, D.C.​ She attended Emory University​ from 2005-2009, receiving a Bachelor of Arts​ in International Relations​. She is fluent in Farsi and conversational in several other languages. Her areas of focus as a reporter include Iran, conflict and security in the Middle East, foreign policy and U.S. national security, Congress, and Latin America. Kianpour was nominated for a News Emmy as part of NBC News' Decision 2010 Election Night coverage.