Brian Mefford

Brian Mefford is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Named by the Kyiv Post newspaper as one of the 20 “Most Influential Expats in Ukraine,” Mefford has lived and worked in Eastern Europe continuously for more than 27 years. He is the director and founder of Wooden Horse Strategies, LLC, a governmental relations and strategic communications firm based in Kyiv. For his humanitarian efforts to help Ukraine during the war, he was named a “Philanthropist of the Year” by the Association of Charities of Ukraine in 2023.

Mefford started his work in Ukraine with the International Republican Institute (IRI) in 1999, as a resident program officer. For over a decade, Mefford trained, advised, and consulted with thousands of political activists and governmental officials in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Caucasus, and Iraq. In 2009, Mefford managed an international consulting team working for Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko. From 2016-2019 he worked as a political adviser to Dr. Ulana Suprun, the Minister of Health of Ukraine and successfully implemented a new nationwide healthcare system based on international best practices.

Born in California, he is a graduate of Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas, with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in finance and political science. Mefford has his Master of Arts in defense and strategic studies from the Harry Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri in Columbia. After university, Mefford worked in banking and local politics, serving as an alderman and school board member. He was appointed as a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council for Gifted and Talented Education in 1997 by Governor Mike Huckabee. Mefford speaks English, Ukrainian, Russian, and Greek.