Heads of state and government from all 28 NATO nations will convene at the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales this September to reaffirm the importance of the Trans-Atlantic bond and build a strong foundation for its future. To help Alliance leaders accomplish this task, NATO has commissioned a working group of emerging leaders from member countries to provide concrete ideas and proposals that support a renewed Trans-Atlantic bond and has asked the Atlantic Council to facilitate this process. The Council selected a representative group of fifteen exceptional emerging leaders to participate in the working group.
At the Atlantic Council’s Toward a Europe Whole and Free conference in Washington, DC on April 29-30, 2014, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, and James L. Jones, chairman of the Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security and former national security advisor, introduced the initiative and the fifteen emerging leaders. Peter Westmacott, British ambassador to the United States, provided concluding remarks.
The emerging leaders were in Washington to begin drafting a report with concrete proposals and present these recommendations in Brussels in early June. Members are also tentatively scheduled to attend the 2014 Young Atlanticist Summit on the sidelines of the official NATO Summit in Wales in early September to represent the next generation of Alliance leaders, pending confirmation of the event.
Full program background on this initiative is available here (PDF)
Fifteen members were selected from a large field of applicants:
Rowinda Appelman –The Netherlands
President, Youth Atlantic Treaty Association
Tobias Bunde –Germany
Policy Advisor; Head of Policy and Analysis (as of July 2014), Munich Security Conference
Boris Ecker –Slovakia
Desk Officer for the United States, Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
Scott Erwin –United States
Engagement Manager, McKinsey & Company
Lars Ragnar Aalerud Hansen –Norway
Fulbright Fellow and MA Candidate, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Michael Hermann –United States
National Security Legislative Assistant, Office of Congressman James Langevin (D-RI)
Gina Maria Jones –United States
Strategic Planner, Defense Intelligence Agency
Joanna Kaminska –Poland
Advisor/Parliamentary Administrator, Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament
Radu Magdin –Romania
CEO, Smartlink Communications
Martin Michelot –France
Program and Research Officer, German Marshall Fund
Sergio Ortiz Martin –Spain
Director and Project Manager, Youth Mediterranean Dialogue; and Assistant to the Director, Jean Monnet Center of Excellence in Freedom, Security, and Justice at Rey Juan Carlos University
Marta Rzechowka –Canada
Captain, Canadian Army
Mark Simakovsky –United States
Russia Country Director, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia (RUE), US Department of Defense
Emre Tuncalp –Turkey
Managing Partner, Sidar Global Advisors
Claire Yorke –United Kingdom
Doctoral Researcher, Department of War Studies, King’s College London