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Roundtable XII: Speaker Bios

Volodymyr Ariev

Volodymyr Ariev is a member of the Nationalya Samo-Oborona Fratzyia” of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada and a key figure on the Rada”s Committee to Combat Organized Crime and Corruption. Before serving in Ukraine”s parliament, he was a well known journalist and TV commentator on the investigative program “Zakryta Zona” (Restricted Area) as well as the author and producer of numerous documentaries.

Krzysztof Bobinski

Krzysztof Bobinski is the president of Unia & Polska, a pro-European think-tank in Warsaw. He was the Warsaw correspondent of the Financial Times (1976-2000) and later published Unia & Polska magazine.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Zbigniew Brzezinski is a Counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Professor of American Foreign Policy, Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. From 1977 to 1981, Dr. Brzezinski served as National Security Advisor to the President of the United States.

Jan Bugajski

Jan Bugajski is Director of the Eastern European Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The project is engaged in an ongoing analysis of broader political trends encompassing twenty states and aspiring states in Eastern Europe, including the political and security impact of NATO and European Union enlargement.

Yevgen Burkat

Yevgen Burkat presently serves as Deputy Head of the Department for European Integration in the Administration of the President of Ukraine. During the later years of the previous decade, Mr. Burkat was Chief of the Trade and Economic Mission of the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States.

Ariel Cohen

Ariel Cohen is a well-known international expert on Ukrainian, Russian, Eurasian, European and Middle Eastern foreign, security and economic affairs; U.S. and global energy security; terrorism; organized crime and corruption, and other political risk factors. Dr. Cohen is Senior Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Security at the Davis International Studies Institute at the Heritage Foundation, working closely with Congressmen and Congressional staff members and cabinet-level foreign decision makers. He has over 20 years experience and responsibility in research project management, government relations/political public relations, journalistic writing, and broadcasting.

William H. Courtney

William H. Courtney is Senior Vice President of CSC/DynMeridian Corp. From 1998 to 2000, he served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In 1997-98, Ambassador Courtney was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of the NSC staff for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. Previously, he served as Ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan.

Nadia Diuk

Nadia Diuk currently serves as Vice President, Programs for Europe and Eurasia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean at the National Endowment for Democracy, a private nonprofit organization funded by the US Congress to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts. Dr. Diuk has supervised NED programs since 1987.

Baxter Hunt

Baxter Hunt, career Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State, presently serves as Director of the Office of Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus Affairs. His previous assignments in Washington include Director of the Office of Caucasus Affairs (Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia), Deputy Director of the Office of Southern European Affairs (Turkey, Greece and Cyprus), and Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. His earlier assignments abroad were in Warsaw, Poland; Durban, South Africa; and Ottawa, Canada.

Tamara Gallo

Tamara Gallo currently serves as President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. Previous to her current position, Ms. Gallo spent several years heading the National Office of the UCCA in New York as well as directing the UNIS Bureau in Washington DC.

Diba Nigar Göksel

Diba Nigar Göksel is Senior Analyst at European Stability Initiative (ESI), working on Turkey and the Caucasus. Since 2003 she is also Editor-in-Chief of the Istanbul-based policy journal Turkish Policy Quarterly (TPQ) – covering Turkey and its neighborhood. Ms. Göksel is a regular contributor of policy briefs to the German Marshal Fund On Turkey” series.

Lubomyr Hajda

Lubomyr Hajda is Associate Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and has held that post since 1992. Dr. Hajda”s research interests focus on early modern Ukrainian history and Ukrainian-Turkish relations.

Hakan Kirimli

Hakan Kirimli is Director of the Center for RU Studies at Ankara”s Bilkent University and teaches courses with particular emphasis with particular emphasis on the Tatars and other ethnic groups of the Black Sea region. He is the author of many score scholarly articles and books, including most prominently National Movements and National Identity Among the Crimean Tatars (1905-1916).

Sergiy Korsunsky

Sergiy Korsunsky has held the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Turkey since July 2008. Immediately prior to his present tenure, HE Dr. Korsunsky served as Director-General of the Department for Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2006-2008); from 2000 until 2006, he served as Counselor & Minister Counselor of the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States of America.

F. Stephen Larrabee

F. Stephen Larrabee is a Senior Staff member at RAND in Washington, D.C. and holds the RAND Corporate Chair in European Security. From 1978-1981, Dr. Larrabee served on the U.S. National Security Council staff in the White House as a specialist on Soviet-East European affairs and East-West political-military relations.

Nico Lange

Nico Lange is the Director of the Ukraine Program and Kyiv Office of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Mr. Lange has proven to be a critical force behind many of the recent forums dedicated to studying Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic Future.

Olexander Motsyk

Olexander Motsyk is the current Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United States of America, a position he has held since June 2010. A career diplomat, Ambassador Motsyk served as the Ukrainian envoy to Poland from May 2005 until June 2010 as well as Ukraine’s chief emissary to the Republic of Turkey from November 1997 to November 2001.

Valentyn Nalyvaichenko

Valentyn Nalyvaichenko serves as the Head of the Political Council of the Electoral Bloc “Our Ukraine” and concurrently as the Head of the well regarded NGO: “Onovlennya Krainy”. Previous to his current engagements, Mr. Nalyvaichenko served as the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU); his tenure lasted from Dec 2006 to March 2010.

Hryhoriy Nemyria

Hryhoriy Nemyria is the chief foreign policy advisor to the BYuT electoral bloc’s leader, Julia Tymoshenko. Earlier, Dr. Nemyria served as the Director of the Center for European and International Studies (CEIS), Institute of International Relations of the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University and Chair, Department for European Integration, Ukrainian Academy of Public Administration; under the Tymoshenko government, he held the post of Vice Prime Minister for Euro-Integration.

John O’Keefe

John O’Keefe is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister Counselor. Before assuming his duties as Executive Director of the LOC’s Open World Leadership Development Program, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of the Director General, Bureau of Human Resources [2004-2006]. Prior to that, Ambassador O’Keefe headed the Office of Career Development and Assignments from July 2003 to April 2004. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan from August 2000 to July 2003.

Janusz Onyszkiewicz

Janusz Onyszkiewicz currently serves as co-head of the Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Forum. After the fall of communism in 1989, Mr. Onyszkiewicz became a Member of the Polish Sejm and served all subsequent terms from May 1989 until 2001; the legendary Solidarity activist served as Minister of Defence of Poland twice: in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992-1993) and Jerzy Buzek (1997-2000) and from January 2007 until mid-2009 was vice-chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee [PL-Group of Liberals and Democrats of Europe].

Jan Pieklo

Jan Pieklo is Director of Polish Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation [PAUCI]. An experienced NGO professional and journalist, Jan has spent many years dedicated to international cooperation and development. With deep interest in Ukrainian and regional issues, he has successfully worked to broaden Polish-Ukrainian and regional cooperation, particularly as a former Director of the Bridges to the East Institute for the Krakow-based ZNAK Foundation.

Maciej Pisarski

Maciej Pisarski currently serves as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Poland to the United States. Mr. Pisarski has held several key posts at the Embassy during the last decade.

Herman Pirchner

Herman Pirchner is President of the American Foreign Policy Council. In recent years, in addition to the steady flow of books and articles, the Council has worked with over 100 members of Congress and numerous Executive Branch officials on foreign travel, exchanges and foreign policy briefings. Mr. Pirchner previously served as Director of Legislation for Senator Roger Jepsen (R-Iowa).

Serhii Plokhii

Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University, third holder of the endowed chair previously held by the late Omeljan Pritsak and Roman Szporluk. Dr. Plokhy”s research and teaching interests cover the spectrum of Ukrainian history and culture, from the Christianization of Rus´ to contemporary Ukraine, from history, politics, and historiography to art history, literature, and religion.

Vadym Prystaiko

Vadym Prystaiko is presently Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States. Earlier, he served a term as Deputy Director of the Directorate General for NATO with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Stefan Romaniw

Stefan Romaniw serves as General Secretary of the World Congress of Ukrainian, the entity formally tasked with representing the global Ukrainian Hromada. Mr. Romaniw concurrently holds the position of Executive Director of Community Languages Australia. He served successful terms as Chairperson of the Victorian Provincial Multicultural Commission.

Mehmet Samsur

Mehmet Samsur currently serves as Consul General of the Turkish Republic in New York. Consul General Samsur is slated to be the next Ambassador of Turkey to Ukraine.

Oleh Rybachuk

Oleh Rybachuk, before taking the present position of Head of the NGO “Novyj Hromadyanyn”, served in several senior government posts including: Vice Premier for European Integration and Head of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine.

James Sherr

James Sherr is Head of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London. Between 1995 and May 2008, he was a Fellow of the Advanced Research and Assessment Group (formerly Conflict Studies Research Centre) of the Defence Academy. He is also a member of the Faculty of Social Studies of Oxford University. Over the past ten years, he has been a consultant to NATO on Ukraine and regularly advises the British government and parliament as well as others inside NATO about Russia as well as security problems in the Black Sea region.

Keith Smith

Keith Smith is Senior Advisor in the Europe Division at the Center for Strategic and International Affairs (CSIS); his most recent publication: “Russian Energy Politics in the Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine” has prompted very serious attention. In 2000, Ambassador Smith retired from the State Department’s Foreign Service after serving from 1997 to 2000 as the American Ambassador in Lithuania. In Europe, he was also posted to Hungary (twice), Norway and Estonia.

Oleksandr Sushko

Oleksandr Sushko is the Director of the Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine; he also serves in an advisory capacity at the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine. Dr. Sushko’s CPCFPU’s Internet Newsletter, provides timely analysis of key political economic, security and diplomatic issues facing the Ukrainian political and social leadership.

Namık Tan

Namık Tan was appointed Ambassador of Turkey to the United States in February 2010. Prior to this appointment, Ambassador Tan was Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for bilateral political affairs and public diplomacy. He was previously Ambassador of Turkey to Israel from 2007 to 2009.

Borys Tarasyuk

Borys Tarasyuk is currently the Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Euro-Integration; in the last decade, he has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in governments headed by Prime Ministers Valeriy Pustovoitenko, Viktor Yushchenko, Yuliya Tymoshenko, Yuri Yekhanurov and Viktor Yanukovych. Ambassador Tarasyuk concurrently serves as the Head of the NRU People’s Rukh of Ukraine and Director of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation.