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Marc left the Australian Public Service in 2024 after a 31-year career that culminated as a Deputy Secretary within the Australian Department of Home Affairs, where he held responsibility for strategic guidance and capability planning; national security policy; international relationship management; immigration policy; law enforcement policy and electronic surveillance reform; data and biometrics policy; regional processing and resettlement; intelligence; critical and emerging technology policy; cyber security policy; national resilience and strengthening democracy. Prior to joining the Department of Home Affairs, Marc was a senior executive within the Australian Department of Defence, where he held positions in capital equipment & acquisition policy, international policy, military strategy, maritime capability development, Air Force long-range planning, futures and scenario-planning; national support and mobilisation planning, information strategy and futures, strategic reform; Defence strategic policy; Defence industry policy; corporate governance; media and ministerial coordination; contestability and naval shipbuilding policy. Marc was Chief of Staff of the 2009 Defence White Paper Team and led the development of the 2016 Defence White Paper, Integrated Investment Program and Defence Industry Policy Statement. He left Defence after a period as acting Deputy Secretary Strategic Policy and Intelligence. Prior to joining Government service, Marc had an earlier career in the Australian banking and finance industry. Marc was awarded the Public Service Medal in the 2018 Australia Day Honours.

Ann-Nina is a geopolitical advisor with 30 years of experience across multinational corporations, government, and the NGO sector. She specialises in a 360-degree approach to geopolitics, strategic communications, and stakeholder management, with expertise spanning retail, energy, foreign affairs, government, and media. She has advised the Office of the President of Ukraine and held key leadership roles in global organisations, including as Global Senior Vice President for Public Affairs at Burson, where she advised multinational clients on complex geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges. At Ingka (IKEA Group), Ann-Nina led public affairs efforts across 30+ markets, developing cohesive strategies and guiding cross-market teams. Before that, she directed corporate communications and political affairs for E.ON in the Nordic countries and Poland, driving impactful engagement across diverse regions. Ann-Nina also brings extensive experience from regional politics and nearly 15 years in journalism, including roles as a war correspondent and national anchor. She holds a Master’s degree in history and political science from Åbo Akademi University, Finland.

Tobias Gehrke is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He covers geoeconomics, economic security, and great power competition in the global economy. Gehrke previously was a research fellow at the Egmont Royal Institute in Brussels, a visiting fellow at the National University of Singapore, the University of Nottingham, and the American German Institute in Washington DC. He holds a PhD in international political economy from Ghent University.

Dr. Francesca Ghiretti is Director of the Economic Security and Resilience Initiative and Research Leader of the RAND Europe China Initiative, where she leads research on economic security within RAND Europe’s Defence and Security team. A recognised expert on China’s foreign policy and Europe-China relations, she also serves as an adjunct fellow at CSIS’s Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced Technologies. Her career spans roles at MERICS, IAI, ECFR, and the private sector, including work as a geopolitical analyst and assistant to former NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Author of Chinese Investments and the Economic Security Turn in Europe (Bristol University Press, 2025), Francesca’s insights appear in top outlets such as the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Politico. She holds a PhD from King’s College London, where her award-winning thesis explored the securitisation of Chinese FDI in the EU. Francesca also hosts the podcast Geoeconomic Competition.

Vadim Kononenko leads strategic foresight at the European Environment Agency. In his work, he explores emerging trends, risks, and opportunities shaping Europe’s climate and environmental policies. His work spans a range of topics, supporting policymakers in dealing with uncertainty through futures thinking, horizon scanning, and scenario development to deliver on environmental, social and economic sustainability and long-term resilience. Vadim worked previously at the European Parliament’s Research Service and the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. He was a senior visiting fellow at the Egmont Royal Institute in Brussels, and a visiting fellow at the International Institute for Security Studies.

Carl Olehäll is a Swedish business consultant specialising in politics, strategy, and communication. His areas of expertise include international relations, sustainable development, and leadership. He has recently worked in advisory roles at governmental, parliamentary, and EU levels. From 2022 to 2024, he served as Political Advisor to the Minister for Energy, Business and Industry and Deputy Prime Minister, Ebba Busch, at Sweden’s newly established Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. As the Minister’s general policy advisor and designated speechwriter, he held a broad portfolio that included advising on national security matters as well as coordinating her speeches and television debate performances. Between 2021 and 2022, he worked as a Political Advisor to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees of the Swedish Parliament. This period coincided with the initial and pivotal stages of Sweden’s NATO accession process following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He has also worked as an Accredited Assistant at the European Parliament, managing files related to budgetary and structural policies, including the Multiannual Financial Framework, agricultural subsidies, and major COVID-19 recovery instruments such as NextGenerationEU. Mr. Olehäll holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Lund University. He is currently based in Helsinki, where he runs a private consultancy.

Amitendu Palit is Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (trade and economics) in the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) in the National University of Singapore (NUS). An economist by training, he specialises in international trade policies, FTAs and supply chains; geoeconomic perspectives on trade; the Indo-Pacific region; Global South; and the Indian economy. He is a Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Asia Centre of the ISPI (Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale) Milan, Italy and was a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Future Council on Trade and Investment. Earlier, Amitendu worked for several years in the Economic Division of India’s Ministry of Finance and handled macroeconomic policies, including trade, investment and industrial development. He has written and edited several books, including ‘India and the Future of G20’ (2023, Bloomsbury), ‘Globalisation Impacts: Countries, Institutions and COVID-19’ (2022, Springer), ‘Seven Decades of Independent India’ (2018, Penguin); ‘The Trans Pacific Partnership, China and India: Economic and Political Implications’ (2014; Routledge) and ‘China India Economics: Challenges, Competition and Collaboration’ (2011; Routledge). He has published widely in several peer-reviewed academic journals. A regular contributor for various newspapers, he features as an expert for Channel News Asia, CNBC, BBC, Bloomberg News, and ABC.

Dr. Christian Pfeiffer is a political economist specialising in geoeconomics, economic security, and the strategic governance of technology. He holds a PhD in International Affairs and Political Economy from the University of St. Gallen and is the author of Geoeconomics in International Relations (Routledge), analysing how states deploy economic instruments as tools of power in systemic rivalry. Bridging academic research and policy practice, his work in the medical technology sector focuses on EU digital regulation, including the Data Act and AI Act, and the strategic implications of data governance for industrial competitiveness and healthcare resilience. He holds leadership roles within the European medical technology industry’s principal trade association, helping shape sector-wide positions and engaging with European institutions on regulatory design and implementation. His expertise lies at the intersection of economic statecraft, regulatory power, and critical sector policy.

Dr. Elina Pylkkänen is a Senior Strategic Advisor at the Economic Security Forum and a leading Finnish economist with deep expertise in economic policy, labour markets, and the structural competitiveness of Nordic economies. Most recently, Dr. Pylkkänen served as Permanent State Under-Secretary at Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (2021–2026), where she led major national initiatives on labour market reform and digital transformation. Prior to this, she was Director of Labore (the Labour Institute for Economic Research) and spent a decade as Financial Counsellor at the Ministry of Finance, where she led work on quantitative policy analysis and fiscal modelling and represented Finland at Nordic and EU policy forums. She held an equivalent role also at Sweden’s Ministry of Finance. Her international career includes experience as Senior Economist at the Social Policy Division at the OECD in Paris and a visiting fellowship at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Gothenburg. Elina’s current focus is on the Finnish and Nordic economic outlook, including competitiveness dynamics relative to peer economies and the EU policy dimension. She is a regular commentator in Finnish media, a frequent expert witness to parliamentary committees, and a sought-after speaker across business and policy audiences.

Dr. Maria Shagina is Diamond-Brown Senior Research Fellow for Economic Sanctions, Standards and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), where she directs research on economic statecraft and economic security. Drawing on her expertise in sanctions and export controls spanning more than ten years, Maria has provided extensive briefings to various governments and the private sector. She gave oral evidence on Western sanctions against Russia to the UK Parliament on two occasions. Maria’s research has been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Foreign Policy and The Guardian. Prior to joining the IISS, Maria was a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Center on US Politics and Power at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Between 2017 and 2021, she worked as research fellow at the Center for Eastern European Studies at the University of Zurich, as senior political analyst at Global Risk Insights, and as executive assistant at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. Maria has held numerous prestigious fellowships, including from the Swiss Government, Swiss National Science Foundation, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Open Society Institute and DAAD. In 2020, she was selected as a GLOBSEC Young Leader and as a member of the European Leadership Network.

Etienne Soula is a Research Fellow at the German Marshall Fund specialising in the intersection of economic security and hybrid threats. He tracks how authoritarian actors use technology and infrastructure exports, supply chains, and investment to create dependencies and reshape global information spaces. Etienne turns open-source research into practical options for risk mitigation, from interference indicators to policy briefings. He works across policy communities on both sides of the Atlantic and regularly briefs officials, lawmakers, and media on approaches to coercion and influence in Europe and the United States.

Oliver Stuenkel is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is also a Fellow at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and an associate professor at the School of International Relations at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) in São Paulo, Brazil. His research focuses on geopolitics and the global order, emerging powers, Brazilian foreign policy and Latin American politics and democracy. He is the author of several books on geopolitics, including The BRICS and the Future of Global Order and The Post-Western World, which have been translated into multiple languages. He is also a columnist for Foreign Policy and O Estado de S. Paulo, a commentator on Brazilian television and radio, and one of Latin America’s leading foreign policy analysts.

With 26 years of professional and academic expertise spanning security, defence, and strategic foresight, Velina Tchakarova is a geopolitical strategist and founder of FACE (For A Conscious Experience). Her work centres on translating geopolitical complexity into actionable intelligence for corporations, institutions, and policymakers facing Cold War 2.0, the rise of Middle Powers, and the structural shifts reshaping the global order. Her approach combines rigorous analytical methodology with deep regional expertise, enabling decision-makers to anticipate risks, identify opportunities, and act with strategic clarity in an environment of accelerating uncertainty. Velina also currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forum Alpbach and the Advisory Board of Eastern Circles, a Paris-based geoeconomics think tank focused on Eastern Europe and Ukraine. She holds a visiting fellowship at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India’s premier independent global think tank. She is a board member of the Strategic and Security Policy Advisory Board of the Science Commission at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence, participates as a board member in the Vienna Economic Forum, and serves on the peer review board of the Defence Horizon Journal. Velina previously served as Director of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) in Vienna, one of Austria’s leading independent research institutes on European integration, security, and defence policy. She also served as lecturer at the Real-World Risk Institute, the practitioner-led risk education programme founded by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Valtteri Vuorisalo has extensive experience in global defence and security business and policy, especially around the theme of interoperability. Currently, he works as a strategic advisor for various defence and security actors in Finland, including the Digital Defence Ecosystem. In academia, Dr. Vuorisalo is a part-time Professor of Practice in National Security and Security Policy at Tampere University and a Visiting Professor at King’s College London in the Department of War Studies. His research focus revolves around the geopolitics of technology, the security impact of data and information flows, and how the rapid evolution of technology creates new dependencies in the international security architecture.