Amb. Wolfgang Ischinger

Diplomat

Germany

Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger is a seasoned German diplomat and chair of the Munich Security Conference, which brings high-level political and military leaders together to discuss the central security issues of our time. From 1998 to 2000, Ischinger served as deputy foreign minister of Germany. From 2006 to 2008, he was the German ambassador to the United Kingdom and, before that, the German ambassador to the United States for almost five years. His long career in the German Foreign Service gave him specific expertise in international negotiating processes, having been involved with the Bosnia Peace Talks at Dayton, Ohio and negotiations on NATO enlargement and the Kosovo crisis.

Ischinger is co-chair of the Global Zero NATO-Russia Commision and a member of the Nuclear Crisis Group and the Global Zero Commission.

Amb. Jeremy Issacharoff

Diplomat

Israel

Jeremy Issacharoff is currently Israel’s Ambassador to Germany. He was the former deputy director general for strategic affairs in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Where he was responsible for arms control, nonproliferation, regional security, counterterrorism and the authorization of Israeli Defense Exports. He has served in several senior diplomatic posts including deputy mission chief at the Embassy of Israel in the U.S. and member of the UN secretary-general’s Advisory Board for Disarmament Affairs. He is an expert on nuclear power in the Middle East, the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, the Iranian nuclear program and the political and military aspects of international security.

H.E. Igor Ivanov

Diplomat

Russia

His Excellency Igor Ivanov is president of the Russian International Affairs Council and a professor at Moscow State Institute for International Relations. He served as foreign minister of Russia from 1998 to 2004, and secretary of the Security Council of Russia from 2004 to 2007. An experienced diplomat, Ivanov joined the Soviet Foreign Ministry in 1973 and, in 1991, became ambassador to Madrid. Ivanov has written numerous books and articles on international security issues.

Amb. Peter Jankowitsch

Diplomat

Austria

Ambassador Peter Jankowitsch is a member of the board and former secretary-general of the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Academy of Astronautics, chair of its Social Sciences Section and a former associate editor of Acta Astronautica. A former foreign minister of Austria, he has served as the permanent representative of Austria to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and as the representative of Austria to the United Nations. Prior to joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jankowitsch spent ten years as a member of the Austrian Parliament.

Amb. Max Kampelman

Diplomat

United States

Ambassador Max Kampelman was a diplomat, lawyer and educator. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the counselor of the Department of State and ambassador and head of the U.S. Delegation to the Negotiations on Nuclear and Space Arms with the Soviet Union in Geneva. He held the position of senior advisor to the U.S. delegation to the UN and vice chairman of the U.S. Institute of Peace. In 1999, Kampelman was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the nation, and in 2000 he was among the first to be awarded the Library of Congress Living Legend award.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote of Kampelman, “[his] leadership was instrumental to the successful negotiation of human rights commitments and democratic norms that continue to be international gold standards. His contributions to arms control and international security ushered in a more stable, predictable geostrategic landscape. He never stopped working to control the threat posed by nuclear weapons, and he never stopped speaking out for the cause of human rights.” Kampelman passed away January 25, 2013.

Amb. Shaharyar M. Khan

Diplomat

Pakistan

Ambassador Shaharyar M. Khan is an accomplished former Pakistani diplomat. After serving as Pakistan’s ambassador to Jordan, the United Kingdom and France, he became Pakistan’s foreign secretary, holding the post between 1990 and 1994. Khan was then appointed the UN secretary-general’s special representative to Rwanda where he remained for two years overseeing UN activities in the country. In his retirement, Khan has written a number of books on history and contemporary affairs, including an account of the events in Rwanda.

Khan is a member of the Global Zero Commission.

Amb. Heinrich Kreft

Diplomat

Germany

Ambassador Dr. Heinrich Kreft serves as Germany’s ambassador in Luxembourg. He has served as the director for public diplomacy and dialogue among civilizations in the German Foreign Ministry. Prior to his tenure as ambassador, he served as senior foreign policy advisor to the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag and was a member of the German Council on Foreign Relations. Kreft was stationed for diplomatic terms in both Tokyo and Washington, D.C. and served for many years as part of the foreign policy planning staff. He has held visiting fellowships at the Henry L. Stimson Center, the Heritage Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Center. He has published numerous pieces on major political power and economic relations, international security and European, American and Asian political and economic affairs.

Amb. Vladimir Lukin

Diplomat

Russia

Ambassador Vladimir Lukin is president of the Russian Paralympic Committee. He served as Russia’s human rights commissioner from 2004-2014 after serving as chairman of the Committee on International Affairs in the State Duma from 1993 to 2000 and as head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1968 to 1989. Prior to his work at the Ministry, Lukin spent eleven years as head of the Far Eastern Policy Department at the Institute of the U.S. and Canada at the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he earned recognition as a specialist on Russian-American relations. His expertise came in handy when he was appointed as the first ambassador of the Russian Federation to the U.S., a position for which he won the honorable title Ambassador of the Year in 1993.