Our People
The Team
Tiziana Stella
Executive Director
Ryan Metz
Research Fellow, 2025–2026
Pranav Kaginele
Research Fellow, 2026–2027
Matt Risser
Research Fellow, 2026–2027
Interns
Pai Ching Liu
Pai Ching Liu is a recent graduate with a Master’s in European Studies from New York University. He completed his BA in German Studies in 2021 and will begin his second master’s program in Political Science at Columbia University in September. His academic interests include German-Russian relations, Russian-Ukrainian conflicts, energy security, and cross-strait relations. Planning to pursue a PhD, his future research will focus primarily on Russia and China and explore how small nations like Ukraine and Taiwan can survive in the context of great power competition.
Mike Dupre
Mike Dupre is an Undergraduate student at Boston University from New Hampshire studying Sociology, Business, and International Relations. On campus, he is the host of “Cold War Five: America’s Role Abroad” and has conducted research into non-proliferation as well as international conflicts. His academic interests include responsible national security and the convergence of diplomatic and defense strategy, particularly in relation to Russia and the Former Soviet Union.
Christopher Gettel
Christopher Gettel is a recent Masters graduate in International Security and holds Graduate Certificates in Terrorism and Homeland Security as well as Nuclear Deterrence. He completed his BA in Criminal Justice in 2015. He plans on starting his PhD. shortly in a relevant field, then going into a career in nuclear weapons policy. His academic and research interests include nuclear weapons policy, strategic relations among global powers, and international relations.
Brandon Nakasato
Brandon Nakasato is a 2012 graduate of New England College with an MA in Public Policy where his Master’s thesis discussed UN reforms to address the global democratic deficit. He previously completed a BA in Political Science and History from Western Kentucky University. His research interests concern the democratization of global decision-making and the development of a transnational or postnational civic identity.
Board of Directors
YY Yuli Yeliseyev — Treasurer
Yuli Yeliseyev studied economics at Gettysburg College, graduating magna cum laude. He earned his M.B.A. in finance from the University of Rochester and is a CFA charterholder.
William M. Irvine — Board Member
William M. Irvine, Ph.D., is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
SR Steve Rosenberg — Board Member
Steven Rosenberg joined the AUD Board in the early 1990s. An attorney, he served as general counsel for NYC's Office for Economic Development.
Steve H. Hanke — Board Member
Steve H. Hanke, Ph.D., is a Professor of Applied Economics and Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise.
Solomon Passy — Honorary President
Solomon Passy, Ph.D., Honorary President, began developing a concept of an Atlantic destiny for a future post-Communist Eastern Europe during the Cold War. In 1991, he founded the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria.
RW Rick Wicks — Board Member
Rick Wicks joined AUD in the 1980s and was AUD Administrative Director in 1986-87. He is a co-founder of World Democracy News.
Richard Rosecrance — Board Member
Richard Rosecrance, Ph.D., is an Associate with the International Security Program at the Kennedy School's Belfer Center. He is also a Research Professor of Political Science at UCLA.
Richard Conn Henry — Board Member
Richard Conn Henry, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Director of the Maryland Space Grant Consortium at The Johns Hopkins University.
PLC Patricia Luce Chapman — Vice President
Patricia Luce Chapman, Vice President. Born in 1920 in Hankow (now Wuhan), China, Pat grew up in several Chinese cities. She is the author of Tea on the Great Wall: An American Girl in War-Torn China (2015).
NH Nicholas Hager — Board Member
Nicholas Hager is a Magistrate at the Supreme Court of Virginia. He holds a Juris Doctor from the Emory University School of Law and a Master of Science in Global Politics from LSE.
RJDWV Rev. John D. Willard V — Board Member
Rev. John D. Willard V received his B.A. from Loyola College in Baltimore and an M.A. in History from UMBC. He was ordained to the Sacred Order of Priesthood in the Episcopal Church.
Emiliano Alessandri — Board Member
Emiliano Alessandri, Ph.D., is a Visiting Professor with the Transatlantic Affairs Program at the College of Europe. He is also a Senior Transatlantic Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Donald N. Jensen — Board Member
Donald N. Jensen holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in government from Harvard. He was in the Foreign Service from 1985 to 1996.
DBS David B. Shine — Board Member
David B. Shine has a B.A. in history from Hanover College and an M.S. in British and European history from the University of Edinburgh.
DSC Daniel S. Cartwright — Board Member
Daniel S. Cartwright joined Federal Union in 1975. An attorney and head of his own firm, Cartwright is a frequent lecturer on legal and ethical issues.
Chris Hamer — Board Member
Chris Hamer, Ph.D., is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales. He authored A Global Parliament: Principles of World Federation.
Advisory Board
Domènec Ruiz Devesa
Trygve Throntveit
Trygve Throntveit, Ph.D., is Director of Strategic Partnership at the Minnesota Humanities Center and Global Fellow for History and Public Policy at the Wilson Center.
Tad Daley
Tad Daley, JD, PhD, is Director of Policy Analysis at Citizens for Global Solutions. He is author of Apocalypse Never: Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World.
Stanley R. Sloan
Stanley R. Sloan, Ph.D., is the founding Director of the Atlantic Community Initiative, a Visiting Scholar at the Rohatyn Center at Middlebury College, and Nonresident Senior Fellow at The Atlantic Council.
Lyubomir Ivanov
Lyubomir Ivanov, Ph.D., a native of Bulgaria, is an expert in foreign policy and a founding member of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria.
Luis Cabrera
Luis Cabrera is the Deputy Head for the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University. He is the author of The Humble Cosmopolitan, The Practice of Global Citizenship, and Political Theory of Global Justice.
Kenneth Weisbrode
Kenneth Weisbrode, Ph.D., is a diplomatic and cultural historian at Bilkent University. He is the author of The Atlantic Century.
JK John Keane
John Keane is Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney and at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin.
John Davenport
John Davenport, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at Fordham University. He is author of A League of Democracies (2021).
Giles Scott-Smith
Giles Scott-Smith, Ph.D., is Dean of Leiden University, where he is also Professor of Transnational Relations and New Diplomatic History.
Farsan Ghassim
Farsan Ghassim, Ph.D., is a Junior Research Fellow in Politics at Queen's College in Oxford. He is an expert on global governance and survey methods.
Ettore Greco
Ettore Greco is Executive Vice President of the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome, and Head of the Multilateralism and Global Governance Program.
Debasish Roy Chowdhury
Debasish Roy Chowdhury is a Pulitzer Center fellow and co-author of To Kill a Democracy: India's Passage to Despotism.
Charlie Laderman
Charlie Laderman, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in International History at King's College London. He co-authored Hitler's American Gamble (2021).
Brendan Simms
Brendan Simms, Ph.D., is a Professor of the History of International Relations and Director of the Center for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge. He is the founder and President of Project for Democratic Union.