Vice Adm. (ret.) Yoji Koda

Military Commander

Japan

Retired Vice Admiral Yoji Koda is a former fellow at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, which focuses on the direction of the US-Japan alliance in the coming decades and Chinese naval and military expansion. Before retiring in 2008, Koda served in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) for more than 36 years. Throughout his military career, he held a wide range of posts including director-general of the operations and plans department, director-general of the Joint Staff Office and commander-in-chief of the Self Defense Fleet at Yokosuka. Koda also previously served as an advisor to Japan’s National Security Secretariat.

Vice Adm. (ret.) Verghese Koithara

Military Commander

India

Vice Admiral Verghese Koithara was an independent strategic analyst having retired from the Indian Navy in 1998. His primary focus was on the India-Pakistan conflict and how to achieve a durable peace between the nations. His published books include “Society, State, and Security: The Indian Experience,” “Crafting Peace in Kashmir: Through a Realist Lens,” and most recently, “Managing India’s Nuclear Forces.” In 2002, Koithara was a visiting fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He has written for many journals and periodicals, including Economic and Political Weekly.

Koithara passed away in May 2020.

Prime Min. Wim Kok

Political Leader

Netherlands

Prime Minister Wim Kok served as the president of the Club of Madrid, an organization consisting of former heads of state and government who have come together to demand support for democratic leadership and governance and response to crises, from 2009-2013. From 1994 to 2002, he was the prime minister and minister for general affairs of the Netherlands. After withdrawing from the position of prime minister, he advised the European Commission on the consequences of its plans to expand by 10 members and served as chairman of the European Employment Taskforce, established by the European Council.

Kok first joined politics in 1986 when elected to the Lower House of Parliament later serving as minister of finance. In 2003, he was appointed minister of state.

Kok passed away in October 2018.

Dr. Lawrence Korb

National Security Expert

United States

Dr. Lawrence J. Korb is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Korb is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Prior to joining the Center for American Progress, he was a senior advisor to the Center for Defense Information and a senior fellow and director of national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Korb also served as director of the Center for Public Policy Education and senior fellow in the foreign policy studies program at the Brookings Institution. His prior positions included dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, vice president of Corporate Operations at the Raytheon Company and director of defense studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

From 1981 through 1985, Korb served as assistant secretary of defense for manpower, reserve affairs, installations and logistics. In that position, he administered about 70 percent of the defense budget. For his service in that position, he was awarded the Department of Defense’s medal for Distinguished Public Service. Korb served on active duty for four years as naval flight officer and retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of captain. He has held full-time teaching positions at the University of Dayton, the Coast Guard Academy and the Naval War College.

Dr. Andrey Kortunov

National Security Expert

Russia

Dr. Andrey Kortunov is director general of the Russian International Affairs Council and president of the New Development Technologies Autonomous Non-profit Organization. Previously, he was the president of the New Eurasia Foundation in Moscow. He is also a member of the Russian Association of Regional Studies and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Previously, he served as the president of the Information Scholarship Education Center. Kortunov also served the Committee on International Relations of the Russian State Duma as an advisor, and as the head of the Moscow Public Science Foundation. Kortunov is a syndicated columnist for Novosti and is a regular contributor to U.S. and Russian television news outlets.

Dr. Martha Krebs

National Security Expert

United States

Dr. Martha Krebs serves as senior scientist in Penn State’s College of Engineering and principal investigator and director of the Energy Efficient Buildings. She previously served as executive director for energy and environmental research development at the University of California at Davis. Prior to joining UC Davis, Krebs served as deputy director of the California Energy Commission for Research. She is the former associate vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Los Angeles and founding director of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA and University of California, Santa Barbara.

Krebs is a former assistant secretary of energy at the U.S. Department of Energy and director of the Office of Science. There she was responsible for the research program that underlay the department’s energy, environmental and national security missions. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a fellow of the American Physical Society, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a fellow of the Association of Women in Science.

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.

Pres. Ricardo Lagos

Political Leader

Chile

President Ricardo Lagos is the former president of Chile, having served from 2000 to 2006. He is currently founder and president of the Foundation for Democracy and Development, professor at large at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University and a member of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. In 2008, the UN secretary-general appointed Lagos special envoy for climate change where he served until 2010. He has worked as a consultant at the UN and as an economist at UNESCO and the International Labor Organization. He has also held the posts of minister of public works, minister of education and the ambassador to the Soviet Union. Lagos has authored numerous articles and books including “The Concentration of Economic Power,” “Social Sciences in the Democratization Process” and “Democracy for Chile: A Socialist Proposition.”