Margarita Assenova

Director of Programs for the Balkans, Caucasus & Central Asia

Margarita Assenova is a professional journalist and political analyst with over 25 years of experience in print and broadcast media, including Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. In 1997 she was awarded the John Knight Professional Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University for her reporting on nationalism in the Balkans. Assenova has worked on democracy projects in Central-Eastern Europe and Central Asia for the International Republican Institute, Freedom House, the Institute for New Democracies, and the Woodrow Wilson Center forInternational Scholars in Washington, D.C. She currently serves as the Course Chair (Contractor) for Southeast Central Europe Advanced Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State. Assenova has authored book chapters on security, energy and democracy published by CSIS Press, Brassey’s, Freedom House, and Bertelsmann Foundation Publishers.

Caitlin A. Buckley

Program Associate/Events Coordinator

Caitlin graduated from University of California, Davis with a B.A. in Political Science. During her undergraduate studies, she worked for the state of California, a lobbying firm in Washington D.C., a political think tank, and as research assistant for Sasha Abramsky on Inside Obama's Brain. Following graduation, she spent a year teaching English as a foreign language in Moscow and then studied business at the graduate level in France. She has lived, studied, and worked in various countries and is proficient in French, Spanish, Italian and Russian.

Matthew Czekaj

Program Associate/Managing Editor, Eurasia Daily Monitor

Matthew Czekaj is a Program Associate for Europe and Eurasia at The Jamestown Foundation and also serves as the Managing Editor of Jamestown's daily publication, the Eurasia Daily Monitor. Prior to joining Jamestown, Mr. Czekaj was a Research Associate at the Atlantic Council, where he worked on issues of European Enlargement. Before that, he was a Research Assistant at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) Energy Security Program. Mr. Czekaj holds a Master's degree in Russian and East European Studies from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and a Bachelor's degree in International Relations with a concentration in European Studies from Johns Hopkins University. He is fluent in Polish, and speaks some French.

Glen  Howard

President

Mr. Howard is fluent in Russian and proficient in Azerbaijani and Arabic, and is a regional expert on the Caucasus and Central Asia. He was formerly an Analyst at the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Strategic Assessment Center. His articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, and Jane's Defense Weekly. Mr. Howard has served as a consultant to private sector and governmental agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Intelligence Council and major oil companies operating in Central Asia and the Middle East.

Peter Mattis

Editor, China Brief

Mr. Mattis received his M.A. in Security Studies from the Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and earned his B.A. in Political Science and Asian Studies from the University of Washington in Seattle. He previously studied at Tsinghua University in Beijing, taking Chinese language courses and auditing courses on Chinese history and security policy. He previously worked as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Asian Research in its Strategic Asia and Northeast Asian Studies programs, providing research assistance and editing support. Most recently, Mr. Mattis worked as an international affairs analyst for the US Government. He is proficient in Mandarin Chinese and possesses elementary German language skills.

Andrew McGregor

Managing Editor of Global Terrorism Analysis

Andrew McGregor is Director of Aberfoyle International Security, a Toronto-based agency specializing in security issues related to the Islamic world. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto’s Dept. of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations in 2000 and is a former Research Associate of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. In October 2007 he took over as managing editor of the Jamestown Foundation’s Global Terrorism Analysis publications. He is the author of an archaeological history of Darfur published by Cambridge University in 2001 and publishes frequently on international security issues. His latest book is A Military History of Modern Egypt, published by Praeger Security International in 2006. Dr. McGregor provides commentary on military and security issues for newspapers (including the New York Times and Financial Times), as well as making frequent appearances on radio (BBC, CBC Radio, VOA, Radio Canada International) and television (CBC Newsworld, CTV Newsnet, and others).