Amb. Kishore Mahbubani

Diplomat

Singapore

Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani is dean professor in the practice of public policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore and served as its dean from 2004 to 2017. He joined the Singapore Foreign Service in 1971, serving in Cambodia, Malaysia, Washington, D.C. and as ambassador to the United Nations in New York, where he was president of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002. From 1993 to 1998, he served as permanent secretary at the Foreign Ministry. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal by the Singapore Government in 1998 and the Foreign Policy Association Medal in June 2004. Mahbubani is on the board of several institutions, including the Yale President’s Council on International Activities and the Indian prime minister’s Global Advisory Council. He has published extensively in leading international journals and has authored several books, including “The Great Convergence: Asia, the West, and the Logic of One World.”

Hon. Hiroe Makiyama

Political Leader

Japan

The Honorable Hiroe Makiyama is a member of the House of Councilors of the National Diet of Japan. She is the director of the Committee on Fundamental National Policies Special Committee on Political Ethics and Election System and is a member of several other legislative committees, including the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense. Makiyama was first elected to the House of Councilors in 2007 after practicing law in the United States. She has also worked as director for the Tokyo Broadcasting System, Inc.

Sen. Mikhail Margelov

Political Leader

Russia

Senator Mikhail Margelov is a Russian political figure and international relations expert who is chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation and special representative for cooperation with African countries. In 2000, Margelov served as a consultant to Vladimir Putin’s Electoral Headquarters in charge of contacts with the foreign media. Margelov graduated from the Institute of Countries of Asia and Africa, which is affiliated with Moscow State University.

Margelov is a member of the Global Zero NATO-Russia Commission and the Global Zero Commission.

Amb. Jamsheed Marker

Diplomat

Pakistan

Ambassador Jamsheed Marker was a lecturer and diplomat-in-residence at Eckerd College in Florida. He was a former ambassador of Pakistan and served as Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations. In 1997, then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan enlisted him to head the campaign to persuade Indonesia to grant independence to East Timor. Marker  served at postings in more than ten nations since his diplomatic career began in 1964, including Ghana, Romania and the former USSR. As ambassador to the United States in 1986, he worked closely with the Reagan administration in negotiating the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Prior to his lengthy and illustrious diplomatic career, Marker was known in Pakistan as a cricket commentator. After leaving diplomatic work, he authored “Quiet Diplomacy: Memoirs of an Ambassador of Pakistan” and “East Timor: A Memoir of the Negotiations for Independence.”

Marker passed away on June 21, 2018.

Col. Gen. (ret.) Evgeny Maslin

Military Commander

Russia

Retired Colonel General Evgeny Maslin was the director of ANO “Aspect-Conversion” specializing in the upgrade of physical protection systems at Russian nuclear hazardous facilities within the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and Global Partnership. Having joined the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union at the age of 17, he graduated from the Budenny Military Signal and Engineering Academy and began his service in nuclear divisions. Maslin retired in 1997 after serving as head of strategic forces for the Main Directorate at the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Maslin passed away on February 28, 2022.

Lt. Gen. (ret.) Talat Masood

Military Commander

Pakistan

Retired Lieutenant General Talat Masood served in the Pakistan army for 39 years and retired as the secretary of defense production in the Ministry of Defense. Since retirement, he has worked actively with think tanks and universities, writing on security and political issues and appearing on international media networks. Masood has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in defense and strategic studies.

Amb. Jack Matlock

Diplomat

United States

Ambassador Jack Matlock is a former United States diplomat, who has held academic posts since 1991 at U.S. institutions such as Columbia and Princeton University. During his 35 years in the Foreign Service, he served as ambassador to the Soviet Union, special assistant to the president for national security affairs, senior director for European and Soviet affairs on the National Security Council Staff and ambassador to Czechoslovakia. Matlock is also the author of several books about the end of the Cold War.

Rt. Hon. Lord Jack McConnell

Political Leader

United Kingdom

The Right Honorable Lord Jack McConnell is chairperson of the board of trustees of Radio Clyde and West Sound’s Cash for Kids, the oldest broadcast children’s charity in Scotland. He also serves on the board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy. From 1999 to 2011, he was a member of the Scottish Parliament, during which time he held various ministerial positions including, minister for education, Europe and external affairs and minister of finance. He was the longest serving and youngest first minister of Scotland, a position he held from 2001 to 2007. After leaving the position of first minister, he worked to support the U.K.’s efforts to improve the ability of international institutions to prevent and resolve conflict as the special representative for peace building under Prime Minister Gordon Brown. McConnell has represented Scotland on the EU Committee of the Regions and was elected president of the Conference of European Legislative Regions in 2004. He was introduced to membership of the House of Lords in 2010 as Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale.