Thursday, 16th January
 Alice Billon-Galland | Alice Billon-Galland is a research associate in the Europe programme, covering security and defence issues. Prior to joining Chatham House in October 2019, she led the European defence programme at the European Leadership Network (ELN) in London. Her research focuses on European security and defence issues, transatlantic burden-sharing, and the implementation of the new EU defence package. She also follows developments at NATO and in French foreign and defence policy, and regularly comments on defence issues for international media from Deutsche Welle to the Wall Street Journal. Alice is part of the Leadership Team of Women in International Security UK (WIIS UK) and a member of the Younger Generation Leaders Network on Euro-Atlantic Security (YGLN). She is also a 2018 GLOBSEC Young Leader. A graduate of France’s Ecole Normale Supérieure and holder of an agrégation of English language, Alice completed a Master’s degree in Public Policy at University College London and was a visiting scholar at Northwestern University in Chicago. |
 Steven Blockmans | Steven Blockmans is Head of EU Foreign Policy at the Brussels-based think tank CEPS and Professor of EU External Relations Law at the University of Amsterdam. He has published widely on the Union’s relations with its various neighbourhoods and the integrated approach to EU foreign policy. He served as the leading author of Task Forces on ‘More Union in European Defence’ chaired by Javier Solana (2015) and ‘Regroup and Reform: Towards a More Responsive and Effective European Union’ (2017). He participates in track 1,5 processes between the EU and Russia, India and Mexico. He is a frequent media commentator and regularly advises governments of countries in wider Europe and in Asia on their relations with the European Union. |
 Baschi Dürr | State councillor Baschi Dürr (*1977) has a degree in economics and business administration from the University of Basel (1999: lic.rer.pol.). He has held positions in the media and communications industry, including as a member of the business editors team at Neue Zürcher Zeitung, roles at the Investor Relations and Public Affairs agencies Wirz and Farner and as deputy head of the Roche Group Media Office. He launched his political career at the cantonal parliament of Basel-Stadt before being elected to the government of the Canton of Basel-Stadt as a member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in 2012. He has since headed the Department of Justice and Security (JSD) which is responsible for cantonal and municipal rescue services (fire brigade, ambulance services, military and civil defence) as well as the police. The JSD is also in charge of residents’ services, the migration office and all aspects of the penal system. |
 Spyros Economides | Dr Spyros Economides is Associate Professor in International Relations and European Politics at the London School of Economics and Deputy Director of the Hellenic Observatory (LSE). He has been a Research Associate of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London as well as the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College. Economides has acted as Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords EU Committee. He has held visiting positions at Dartmouth College, USA, the EU Centre in Singapore, as well as the Universities of Belgrade and Zagreb. He is the co-editor of EU Security Strategies: Extending the EU System of Security Governance (Routledge, 2018).His current research concentrates the external relations and security policies of the EU and the international politics of South East Europe and the Western Balkans. |
 Yvonni-Stefania Efstathiou | Yvonni-Stefania Efstathiou is a Political Attaché at the EU’s Delegation in Madagascar. She is currently covering maritime security in the Indian Ocean, EU CSDP missions with a focus on Operation Atalanta and Madagascar’s security sector reforms. Before joining the European External Action Service (EEAS), Yvonni was a Research Analyst and Programme Coordinator at the Defence and Military Analysis Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). While at IISS, her portfolio included monitoring and verifying naval forces’ military data for the institute’s annual publication the Military Balance. She also specialized in the implementation of the current European defence initiatives and military capability gaps facing Europe. Yvonni has written extensively on PESCO, the EDF and the Coordinated Annual Review (CARD). She has published widely and is frequently quoted in Defence News. |
 Heinz Gärtner | Univ. Prof. Dr. Heinz Gärtner is lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna and at Danube University. He was academic director of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs. He has held various Fulbright Fellowships and the Austrian Chair at Stanford University. He was Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. Among other things, he chairs the Strategy and Security advisory board of the Austrian Armed Forces, he is a political analyst at the International Institute for Peace in Vienna, and an expert for EU and Euratom programmes at the European Commission. He published widely on international security issues and neutrality. |
 Peter Grünenfelder | Dr. Peter Grünenfelder is the Director of Avenir Suisse. Previous positions were, inter alia, state chancellor of the Canton of Aargau and president of the Swiss State Chancellors’ Association. Furthermore, he is a lecturer for public governance at the University of St. Gallen as well as frequent visiting lecturer at universities in Switzerland and abroad. |
 Calle Håkansson | Calle Håkansson is an associate fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs’s Europe Programme, and a PhD Candidate at the Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University. His research focuses on EU foreign and security policy, particularly in relation to the European Commission. Calle has previously worked on several projects on European, Nordic and Swedish foreign and security policy, including work for the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Swedish Armed Forces and the European Leadership Network. |
 Ben Hodges | Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges is a BGA Partner and a former Infantry Lieutenant in Germany. He commanded infantry units at the company, battalion and brigade levels as the 101st Airborne Division and in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. He also served in an operational assignment as Director of Operations, Regional Command South, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Lieutenant General (Retired) Hodges has also served in a variety of Joint and Army Staff positions. His last military assignment was as Commander, United States Army Europe, from 2014 to 2017. Lieutenant General (Retired) Hodges currently holds the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis. |
 Pascal Lago | Pascal Lago has been working as a researcher at Avenir Suisse since August 2018. He has a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Zurich and a master’s in international relations from the University of St. Gallen. Prior to joining Avenir Suisse he worked, among other things, for the Swiss National Bank and Economiesuisse, and as a tutor at the University of Zurich’s Department of Economics. |
 Benjamin Martill | Benjamin Martill is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh where he conducts research and teaching on the politics of European security and on Brexit. He is an Associate of LSE IDEAS, the foreign policy think-tank of the London School of Economics, and a Visiting Research Fellow at Canterbury Christ Church University. Benjamin is the co-editor of the volume Brexit and Beyond: Rethinking the Futures of Europe (UCL Press, 2018) and has published in a number of scholarly journals, including Security Studies, International Politics, Global Affairs, and the British Journal of Politics and International Relations. He holds a PhD from the University of Oxford and an MSc and BSc from the London School of Economics. |
 Karolina Muti | Karolina Muti is junior researcher in Security and Defense at Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome. Her research relates to NATO, non-conventional threats (CBRN) and European defense. Previously she managed investor relations for a company and worked for an NGO. She holds a Master degree in International Security and Diplomatic Affairs from University of Bologna. She is Women in International Security (WIIS) fellow and spent study periods in Chile and Russia. |
 Pälvi Pulli | Ambassador Pälvi Pulli is Head of Security Policy in the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport since April 2018. Born in Finland on 16 December 1970, she studied in Switzerland and graduated in Swiss history, English and Political Sciences. Her Master’s thesis was dedicated to the use of the Armed Forces in maintaining public order. From 1999 to 2006 she held different positions in the Department of Defence, including analyst on European security architecture and Policy Adviser for international relations in the Directorate for Security Policy. Until 2008 she was in charge of special projects in the Security Committee of the Federal Government, reviewing political overview mechanisms and interagency coordination of intelligence services and making contingency planning for crisis management. From 2008 until 2016 she was Advisor to the Head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police on international relations, foreign and security policy, and acted as liaison to the Federal Office of Police. In September 2016 she was appointed representative for Special Projects in the Directorate for International Police Cooperation, Federal Office of Police. In July 2017 she assumed the office of Deputy Head of the Directorate and Head of the Division for International Relations and Staff. Besides her native Finnish, she speaks German, French, English and Italian as well as some Swedish and Russian. |
 Olaf Wientzek | Since May 2019, Olaf Wientzek has been director of the Multilateral Dialogue Geneva at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). He previously worked as a Research Associate in the European Office of KAS in Brussels and as the Coordinator for European Affairs at KAS headquarters in Berlin. From June 2016 to June 2019, he was a board member of the Netzwerk Europäische Bewegung Deutschland (European Movement Germany). His career began at the Brussels HQ of International Crisis Group. Wientzek graduated from the College of Europe and studied Political Science at the University of Münster and the IEP Lille. In December 2018 he defended his PhD at the University of Hildesheim. |
Friday, 17th January
 Jeffrey Bohn | Dr. Bohn is the Chief Research & Innovation Officer and Head of Research & Engagement at the Swiss Re Institute. Most recently, he served as Chief Science Officer and Head of GX Labs at State Street Global Exchange in San Francisco. Before moving back to California, he established the Portfolio Analytics and Valuation Department within State Street Global Markets Japan in Tokyo. (He is fluent in Japanese.) He previously ran the Risk and Regulatory Financial Services consulting practice at PWC Japan. Past appointments for Dr. Bohn include Head, Portfolio Analytics and Economic Capital at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore and General Manager, Financial Strategies group at Shinsei Bank in Tokyo where he supervised implementation of best-practice risk and capital analytics. Before moving to Asia, he led Moody’s KMV’s (MKMV’s) Global Research group and MKMV’s Credit Strategies group. Dr. Bohn often conducts seminars on topics ranging from credit instrument valuation & portfolio management to machine learning. He has published widely in the area of credit risk. He co-authored with Roger Stein Active Credit Portfolio Management in Practice (Wiley, 2009). His recent research focuses on reinforcement learning, causal inference, factor modeling, and large-scale risk simulations. Dr. Bohn is an affiliated researcher at U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Risk Management Research and serves as a board member for the Consortium for Data Analytics in Risk (CDAR) spanning U.C. Berkeley, Stanford and several industry partners. On occasion, he teaches financial engineering at U.C. Berkeley, National University of Singapore’s Risk Management Institute, and Tokyo University. |
 Stefan Brem | Since 2007, Dr. Stefan Brem leads the section Risk Analysis and Research Coordination at the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP). His section is responsible for the implementation of the national strategy on Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) and the realization of risk and vulnerability assessments in critical sub-sectors based on the national strategy on the protection of Switzerland against cyber risks. In his responsibility, the section conducts a national disaster risk assessment covering an all-hazard approach including a comprehensive hazard catalogue, hazard files, impact and risk diagrams. It supports the Cantons (constituent states) with their civil protection related risk assessments and preparedness planning. |
 Jon Albert Fanzun | Dr. Jon Albert Fanzun is the Special Envoy for Cyber Foreign and Security Policy at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). The office of the Special Envoy is responsible for the strategic and operational management and design of Switzerland’s cyber foreign and security policy. It deals with the challenges that developments in the digital world pose for Switzerland’s foreign and security policy. From 2012 to 2018 he was chief of staff of the FDFA (for two Federal Councillors). He also served two years as senior advisor to Federal Councillor Burkhalter at the Federal Department of Home Affairs (2010-2012). Prior to that he worked for the FDP. The Liberals (as group secretary). From 1997 to 2003 he worked at the Center for Security Studies at the ETH Zurich. He studied international relations and holds a PhD in political science from the University of St. Gallen (HSG). |
 Thomas Greminger | Ambassador Thomas Greminger was appointed Secretary General of the OSCE on 18 July 2017 for a three-year term. Ambassador Greminger joined the diplomatic service of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in 1990 and has held numerous senior management positions during his career. Prior to his appointment as OSCE Secretary General, he was Deputy Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, overseeing an annual budget of USD 730 million and 900 staff in Bern and abroad. From 2010 to 2015, Greminger was the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE, serving as Chair of the Permanent Council during Switzerland’s 2014 OSCE Chairmanship. Prior to his assignment at the Permanent Delegation of Switzerland to the OSCE, Greminger was Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affair’s Human Security Division, Switzerland’s competence centre for peace, human rights, and humanitarian and migration policy. |
 Hippolyte Fouque | Hippolyte holds degrees in Law and Political Science, and in Development Management from the London School of Economics. Within Darktrace, Hippolyte is working with global companies in Europe and Africa, on cybersecurity projects involving Artificial Intelligence. He advises CIOs, CISOs, and their teams, on how to transition from a traditional to a new approach of cyberdefense. |
 Stefanie Frey | Dr. Stefanie Frey: Managing Director at Deutor Cyber Security Solutions Switzerland GmbH is specialized in developing strategies and solutions against criminal acts in the digital space for states, international organizations and companies in close cooperation with law enforcement and other relevant bodies. She worked several years for the Swiss government as coordinator for the implementation of the National Cyber Strategy of Switzerland. Dr. Frey actively shapes the regional and global cybersecurity agenda with international and regional organizations. She is a member of ENISA’s Adivsory Group (former Permanent Stakeholder Group), is a member of Switzerland’s Armaments Commission, makes contributions to ENISA`s Cyber Security Working Group and the OECD Working Party on Security and Privacy in the Digital Economy (SPDE) and has influenced the outcome of the Digital Security Risk Recommendation. Dr. Frey holds a PhD from the Department of War Studies from King`s College London and a MBA from the International School of Management (ISM) in Dortmund and has several publication on cyber security, the Cold War and World War II. |
| Peter Grünenfelder | Dr. Peter Grünenfelder is the Director of Avenir Suisse. Previous positions were, inter alia, state chancellor of the Canton of Aargau and president of the Swiss State Chancellors’ Association. Furthermore, he is a lecturer for public governance at the University of St. Gallen as well as frequent visiting lecturer at universities in Switzerland and abroad. |
| Pascal Lago | Pascal Lago has been working as a researcher at Avenir Suisse since August 2018. He has a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Zurich and a master’s in international relations from the University of St. Gallen. Prior to joining Avenir Suisse he worked, among other things, for the Swiss National Bank and Economiesuisse, and as a tutor at the University of Zurich’s Department of Economics. |
 Rainer Mühlberger | Rainer Mühlberger has a degree in mechanical engineering as well as an Executive MBA from the University of Fribourg. He began his professional career in the telecommunications sector. From 1996 until 2000, he worked as Project Manager Corporate Strategy at Swisscom AG. He then moved to Swisscom Fixnet AG where he served as Head of Strategy and Business Development, and from 2002 until 2007 as member of the Executive Board – first as the Head of Business Development, then as Head of IT. In 2008, he was appointed as CEO of Swisscom Directories AG. He joined Swissgrid in December 2011 as Head of Strategy. In his function he significantly contributed to the successful transfer of ownership of the Swiss transmission grid as at 3 January 2013. Rainer Mühlberger has been a member of the Executive Board at Swissgrid since October 2013. After being Head of Strategy & Development, he became Head of Technology as at 1st February 2016. |
 Julia Schuetze | Julia Schuetze is Project Manager for International Cyber Security Policy at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung e.V. Her research focus is on joint responses to malicious cyber activities of the European Union with the United States and Japan as part of the EU Cyber Direct cyber diplomacy project. She is a Cybersecurity Policy Fellow at New America Foundation. She has organized several workshops and events with cybersecurity experts from the U.S., EU, Japan and Germany in Washington D.C., Berlin and Tokyo to enhance international cooperation on cybersecurity. Prior to SNV, she worked at Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. and has researched at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. She holds the Euromaster Transatlantic Track degree from University of Bath with stops at UW Seattle and HU Berlin. Her bachelor thesis at University of Stirling ‘Germany’s cyber security awareness programme: Lessons from the US’, was tutored by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). |
 Manuel Suter | Manuel Suter is coordinator for the implementation of the national strategy for the protection of Switzerland against cyber risks (NCS) at the National Center for Cybersecurity. Before assuming his current position in January 2015, he wrote a PhD on Public-Private Partnership in the field of Cyber Security at ETH Zurich, co-authored the International Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Handbook and worked as a consultant. |
 Ria Thomas | In addition to co-leading Brunswick’s global cyber offer, Ria leads the practice for the United Kingdom and Europe. She has deep expertise in private and public sector cybersecurity strategies and policies, including advising senior government leaders, Board members and Executive Committees on cyber-focused corporate governance, crisis preparedness and corporate resilience strategies in the face of significant cyber-attacks. She has directly advised over 20 global companies on a range of live cyber crises. Ria spent the first decade of her career with the U.S. Federal government, where she specialized in international security issues. Over the last decade, she has led cyber practices for multiple companies advising senior government and corporate leaders in the United States, Europe, Middle East, and Asia on a range of cyber-focused business risks and resiliency strategies. Ria is an attorney licensed by the State Bar of New York, with a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She writes and speaks extensively on cyber risks, corporate-wide cyber crisis preparedness and crisis response. |
 Marcin Zaborowski | Marcin Zaborowski is a Lecturer in International Relations as Lazarski University in Warsaw, Poland, and a Senior Associate at Visegrad Insight in Warsaw. He previously served as Vice-President at the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and as Executive Director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) between 2010-2015. From 2005 to 2010, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISSS) in Paris. He is the author of Germany, Poland and Europe (Manchester University Press 2004), Bush Legacy and American Foreign Policy (EUISS 2008) and co-author (with Kerry Longhurst) of New Atlanticist: Poland’s Foreign and Security Policy Priorities (Blackwells 2007). He completed his PhD at the University of Birmingham. |
