NATO 2030 Young Leaders

Alice Billon-Galland is a Research Associate at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in London. As part of the Institute’s Europe programme, her research focuses on issues linked to European security inclusive of transatlantic relations, EU, NATO, and with a particular focus on French and British foreign and defence policies as well as post-Brexit security cooperation. Prior to joining Chatham House, she led the European defence programme at the European Leadership Network (ELN). Alice is part of the Leadership Team of Women in International Security UK (WIIS UK) and serves as a member of the Younger Generation Leaders Network on Euro-Atlantic Security (YGLN). She is also a 2018 GLOBSEC Young Leader.

Don Ceder is a lawyer and city councillor in the city of Amsterdam. He was selected by Forbes magazine for the '30 under 30 Europe' list due to his efforts around debt prevention. His contribution to strengthening the legal position of consumers led to a nomination for Amsterdammer of the year in 2014. As a lawyer, he has continued representing clients who deal with the legal effects of debts. In 2019, he received a nomination for a Golden Hourglass lawyer award, in the category 'young talent'.

Martin Dimitrov is a Bulgarian journalist and media freedom activist based in Sofia. He edits the English-language Kapital Quarterly and has worked as a correspondent for the regional outlet Balkan Insight and the Bulgarian Capital Weekly newspaper in the past. Additionally, he is a member of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) – Bulgaria, a media freedom watchdog that deals with issues regarding media pluralism, rights of journalists and media education. Under the cap of AEJ – Bulgaria, Martin has co-founded and currently edits a bilingual website for school students-made journalism, sCOOL Media, carries out media literacy presentations around Bulgaria and facilitates the work of young reporters.

Cori Fleser is a National Security Policy Analyst with Booz Allen Hamilton. She currently supports the Joint Chiefs of Staff by providing technical subject matter expertise on implementing the U.S. Women, Peace, and Security Act (Public Law 115-68) within military strategy, plans, and policy. From 2016 to 2019, she served as the Gender Advisor at U.S. Africa Command, where she was responsible for implementing the U.S. Women, Peace, and Security legislation within the command’s operations, engagements, and security cooperation. Cori’s previous experience includes supporting the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a Joint Operations Planner, conducting analysis for Special Operations Command Europe and Special Operations Command Africa, and designing wargames for military and commercial organizations. Before joining Booz Allen Hamilton in 2012, Cori worked for several non-governmental organizations focused on gender-based issues including girls’ leadership development, gender-based violence prevention, and foreign aid reform. Cori completed her M.A. in Sustainable Development with a focus on Gender and Security at the School for International Training Graduate Institute and her B.A. in International Affairs and German with a minor in Women’s Studies at James Madison University. Cori was a 2018 Manfred Wörner Fellow with the German Marshall Fund, a 2018 Young Leader with Atlantik-Brücke, and is currently a 2020-2021 Penn Kemble Democracy Forum Fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy.

Anne-Marie Imafidon is a British computing, mathematics and language child prodigy. At 13, in 2003, she received a British scholarship to study mathematics at Johns Hopkins University. At 15, she was admitted a degree programme by the University of Oxford. At 17, she started a master's degree there and, at 19 in June 2010, she became the youngest ever master's graduate. In addition, Imafidon founded and became CEO of Stemettes in 2013, a social enterprise promoting women in STEM careers. She speaks six languages.

Born and raised on the coast of northern Germany, Gyde Jensen was elected to the German Bundestag as the youngest female member in 2017. She is the chairwoman of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid and serves as the FDP parliamentary group's spokesperson on human rights and humanitarian aid. Gyde Jensen holds a master's degree in international politics and international law from Kiel University, including experiences in Geneva and Washington, D.C. Before being elected to the German Bundestag, she worked at Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Germany. Gyde Jensen is an ACG Young Leader (2018) and a Munich Young Leader (2020).

Katarina Kertysova is a Policy Fellow at the European Leadership Network (ELN) and a Global Fellow at Wilson Center. Her work at the ELN focuses on conventional arms control, Russia-West relations, Arctic security, and the climate-security nexus. Besides, she coordinates and supports the ELN’s Contact Group on Russia-West Relations. Katarina recently completed the George F. Kennan Fellowship at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center. There, her research focused on the growing security dilemma in the European Arctic and the role regional organisations – namely the EU, NATO and the OSCE – can play in addressing Arctic security concerns. Katarina’s previous research experience includes work conducted for the UNDP, the Carnegie Moscow Centre, the GLOBSEC Policy Institute, the Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIEP), and The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS). After having obtained a degree in International Relations and French from the University of St Andrews, Katharina pursued Security Studies at Sciences Po Paris, and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). In addition to NATO 2030 Young Leaders, she is a member of the Younger Generation Leaders Network on Euro-Atlantic Security (YGLN), FES-initiated FLEET network, the Core Group of Experts of the OSCE Perspectives 20-30 initiative, the GLOBSEC Young Leaders, and the Warsaw Security Forum New Security Leaders networks. Katarina speaks Slovak, English, French and Russian.

Tania Latici works as a Policy Analyst on security and defence in the European Parliamentary Research Service - the in-house think tank of the European Parliament. In her role, she supports Members of the European Parliament in their parliamentary work with briefings and analyses while regularly authoring publications on issues ranging from EU defence initiatives, to EU-NATO cooperation, civ-mil relations, Brexit, and others. Tania is also doing a part-time PhD on transatlantic defence cooperation at the University of Ghent and within the Doctoral School on the Common Security and Defence Policy at the European Security and Defence College. Past work experiences include the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the transatlantic relations division at the European External Action Service. She is a Member of Women in International Security (WIIS) Brussels, a Transatlantic Denton Fellow at CEPA, and an Associate Expert at the New Strategy Center.

The 29-year-old space engineer from the Czech Republic has built his leadership skills in diverse fields. In 2014 he led the Czech branch of the Erasmus Student Network as the elected National Representative. Previously, he worked as the Chief Mechanical Designer for the PREDATOR Experiment supported by the European Space Agency. He also earned The British Interplanetary Society Award for the Best Technical Paper for his results as the first Central European. As a follow-up, he was selected by Google and the Financial Times as the New Europe 100 Challenger, a list of 100 individuals from Central and Eastern Europe with the largest impact on our future. In 2017, he served as a young Delegate for Space Generation Fusion Forum, a high profile event sponsored by NASA, Lockheed Martin, and Blue Origin amongst others. In 2018, he founded the Marsonaut Laboratory, a laboratory further researching the utilisation of aeroponics technology in space and hostile environments on Earth. Recently, he was a member of a team at the Czech Academy of Sciences developing an experiment for the European Space Agency’s ExoMars 2022 mission and now continues working for the Department of Space Physics, IAP while pursuing a PhD at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in Prague.

Claudia Maneggia currently serves as a Security Strategy and Governance Specialist at UniCredit, a primary international financial institution. She started her career in the United States with an internship at the U.S. House of Representatives, researching homeland and international security, counter-terrorism strategies and nuclear proliferation. After the Government experience, she joined the private sector serving as a Policy Associate of Nouveau Consulting Group. During her time in Washington D.C., she built a strong background in energy transportation and defence markets becoming a security and government affairs specialist and assisting the company in delivering consulting, risk mitigation, policy analysis, and general business advice. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Relations at LUISS Guido Carli University of Rome followed by a MA in Global Security Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Born in Rome Italy, Claudia currently lives in Milan, Italy, but she feels as a “Citizen of the World”.

Andrea G. Rodríguez is Research Fellow and Project Manager at CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs) as an expert in emerging technologies. She is part of the Programme Committee of the European Cybersecurity Forum (CYBERSEC) and Associate Member of the Security and Defence department of the Observatory of the Social and Ethical of Artificial Intelligence (OdiseIA). She specialises in the strategic consequences of quantum information science and artificial intelligence. In 2019 she was awarded CYBERSEC Young Leader and 3rd place at the Cyber 9/12 UK challenge organised by the Atlantic Council.

Māra has been working on various issues for the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the last decade – external relations, European affairs, foreign trade, security and defence policy, as just few of them. Now serving as a diplomat in Latvia’s Permanent Representation to the EU and dealing with wide spectrum of issues that occupy minds of decision-makers across Europe – climate transition, digitalization, European response to COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical agenda of EU, to name few of them. Committed European and transatlanticist.

Ulrik Trolle Smed is a Senior Tech Advisor at the Office of the Tech Ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (2020-) where he is helping develop and propel a new strategy for Danish technological diplomacy from Copenhagen. He was previously a Member of Cabinet for the European Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King (2019-20) where he led cabinet efforts on strategic digital affairs and security, including strategic autonomy, disinformation, and digital economy and society from Brussels. Prior to joining the Cabinet, Ulrik was a Policy Analyst at the European Political Strategy Centre (2017-19), the Commission’s in-house think tank, where he advised on hybrid threats, interference in democracies, EU-NATO cooperation, and European defence initiatives. Before coming to Brussels, he originally began as a career official with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Head of Section for the Sahel region with the Africa Department (2017) after a time as a Research Assistant with the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen (2013-14; 2015-16) and Defence Policy Trainee at the Danish Embassy to the United States (2014-15). During his early career and studies, Ulrik helped raise funds for NGOs, develop IT solutions, travelled the Middle East, and volunteered for anti-malaria campaigns. A Danish national, he graduated from the University of Copenhagen with an MSc and BSc in Political Science with a focus on international security and studied intelligence and diplomacy as a Visiting Student at Boston University.

Kevin Vuong is Vice President and COO at Delphic Research Group, a leading knowledge management firm elevating government affairs by bringing big data to political intelligence. He is also a contributor to the radio station NEWSTALK1010, lecturer at Western University, and Naval Reserve Officer. At the onset of the pandemic, Vuong co-founded TakeCare Supply which rapidly developed Canada’s first evidence-based reusable mask, and has manufactured nearly 1 million masks, created 200 jobs, and invested millions in Canadian manufacturing. Vuong is a board director of the NATO Association of Canada, the Together We Stand Military Families Foundation, and co-chairs the Healthcare Heroes Fund, which has donated 143,000 PPE isolation gowns, gloves, and masks to date. For his service and impact, he was named Her Majesty The Queen’s Young Leader for Canada in 2017, one of Canada’s Top 30 Under 30 in 2016, and a Fellow of The Aspen Institute, The Royal Commonwealth Society, and The Royal Society of Arts. Vuong holds a Global Professional Master of Laws from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, and a Bachelor’s degree specializing in Finance from Western University.