Mr. Samuel Berger

National Security Expert

United States

Samuel Berger served as national security advisor to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. He was pivotal in shaping the U.S. role in the post-Cold War era, and led efforts to build relations with China, manage financial crises in Asia and Latin America, drive critical peace negotiations in the Balkans and the Middle East, and expand foreign trade. He was co-chairman and co-founder of Stonebridge International, LLC. Berger passed away on December 2, 2015.

Ms. Ela Bhatt

Civic Leader

India

Ela Bhatt was the founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India, a trade union benefiting the poor that now has more than 1,000,000 members. Bhatt was a member of the Indian Parliament from 1986 to 1989, and subsequently a member of the Indian Planning Commission. She has received honorary doctorates from Harvard, Yale, the University of Natal and other academic institutions. Bhatt is also a member of The Elders, an eminent group of world leaders working to address difficult global challenges.

Bhatt passed away on November 2, 2022.

AM (Ret.) Ajit Bhavnani

Military Commander

India

Retired Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani is the director of SAMTEL Avionics and senior advisor for aerospace and defence at TATA Group. Previously, he was Vice Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. He was the first commander of the Mirage squadron and headed the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment.

Amb. Ian Biggs

Diplomat

Australia

Ambassador Ian Biggs is the Australian ambassador to Iran. Previously, he was acting first assistant secretary of the International Security Division of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. A senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he has served as secretary of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and as special assistant to the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He previously served as ambassador to Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia; Saudi Arabia; Austria; Syria; and Egypt.

Prime Min. Carl Bildt

Diplomat

Sweden

After serving as prime minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994, Carl Bildt served as minister of foreign affairs from 2006 to 2014. He has a long history of service as a mediator, having served as the U.N. secretary-general’s special envoy for the Balkans, as the high representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina for reconstruction and the peace implementation process, as the European Union’s special representative for Former Yugoslavia and as co-chair of the Dayton Peace Talks on Former Yugoslavia. Bildt is currently co-chair of the European Council of Foreign Relations and a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, which works to support democratic leadership and resolve conflict through mediation.

Amb. Robert Blackwill

Diplomat

United States

Ambassador Robert Blackwill is a former U.S. diplomat known for his ability to stimulate progress in negotiation. Currently, he is the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the U.S. ambassador to India (2001-2003) and as ambassador for conventional arms negotiations with the Warsaw Pact. Before reentering government in 2001, Blackwill was the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government for 14 years.

Dr. Bruce G. Blair

National Security Expert

United States

Dr. Bruce G. Blair co-founded Global Zero with Matt Brown in 2008. He was also a research scholar in the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University. From 2011 to 2017, he served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board. For many years, Blair was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution and served as a project director at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. He previously served in the U.S. Air Force as a Minuteman ICBM launch control officer and as a support officer for the Airborne Command Post of the Strategic Air Command.

Blair passed away on July 19, 2020.

Dr. Barry Blechman

National Security Expert

United States

Dr. Barry Blechman is co-founder of the Stimson Center, a nonprofit institution focused on enhancing international security and reducing global risks in the form of transnational threats and weapons of mass destruction. Dr. Blechman served as chair of the board of the Stimson Center from 1989 to 2007, and is currently a distinguished fellow focused on nuclear disarmament.

With more than forty years of experience in the field of national security, Dr. Blechman is an expert on political and military policy, military strategy and defense budgets. In addition to positions in the Departments of State and Defense and the Office of Management and Budget, he served on the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the U.S., the Defense Policy Board and the Department of State Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy. Blechman received his doctorate in political science from Georgetown University and has taught at several leading universities. He has authored dozens of articles, books and papers including “Elements of a Nuclear Disarmament Treaty” and “Unblocking the Road to Zero.”