Dr. Janice Gross Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

She was the Massey Lecturer in 2001 and a Trudeau Fellow. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate. She has received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from four universities and is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.

She is a frequent contributor to CBC, TVO, and the BBC and writes regularly for the Globe and Mail.

The Honorable Mark William Lippert has a distinguished career that includes service in the United States government, uniformed military, and private sector. In 2022, he was appointed Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics America, after having previously served as Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for YouTube in Asia-Pacific and as a Vice President at Boeing International. From 2014-2017, he served as the United States ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Republic of Korea, based in Seoul. He previously held other U.S. government positions in the Department of Defense, including as chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (2013-2014) and as assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs (2012-2013), the top official in the Pentagon for all Asia issues. Lippert worked in the White House as chief of staff to the National Security Council in 2009. Lippert’s service also includes deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and other overseas locations as a Navy intelligence officer supporting Naval Special Warfare (SEAL teams).

Earlier in his career, Lippert was a staff member in the United States Senate where he worked for range of Members and Committees on foreign policy issues. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a B.A. in political science and holds an M.A. in international policy studies from the same institution. He also studied at Beijing University. His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal for service in Iraq, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Basic Parachutist Badge. He is also the recipient of the Department of Defense’s Distinguished Public Service Award and the Department of the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award. He sits on the Board of Trustees of The Asia Foundation and the Board of Directors of the Korea Society. Lippert is married to Robyn E. Lippert who serves as a senior vice president at UnitedHealth Group and has two children, Sejun and Saehee. They live in with their basset hound, Grigsby.

Ahmet Taçyildiz is Treasurer of the Board at Halifax International Security Forum. Ahmet has been the founding chairman of Ant Holding and the chairman of GAP Insaat, a global construction company. As an accomplished businessman, entrepreneur and investor, Ahmet has been executing on global strategic opportunities for the holding companies and multiple start-up ventures and NGOs he is leading

Ahmet has been an active member of various Committees and Councils in the past years including the Turkish American Businessmen Association (TABA- AmCham) as the Vice President, the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) of Turkey and Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD). Ahmet holds BA in Business Administration.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is the 4th and 1st female President of Croatia (2015-2020) with broad national and international experience in politics, diplomacy, geopolitics and security studies. During her career as an elected official and in national and international civil service, among other, she was elected a Member of the Croatian Parliament (2003), and served as Croatia’s first female Minister of Foreign Affairs (2003-2008) and Ambassador to the United States, co-accredited to Mexico, Panama and the Organization of American States (2008-2011), as well as the first female Assistant Secretary General and member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Senior Leadership (2011-2014). Currently, she is a co-Chair of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB). She is an Executive in Residence at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, a geopolitical expert and speaker.

She was a visiting fellow at the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at American University in Washington DC in 2021, and at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame in October 2022. She is member of the Board of Directors of Halifax International Security Forum, member of the International Advisory Board of the US Atlantic Council, member of the Concordia Leadership Council, a member of the Bord of Trustees of Friends of Europe, member of the International Advisory Council of the GLOBSEC Policy Institute, Women Political Leaders (WPL) Global Ambassador on Immunization, and chair emerita of the Council of Women World Leaders. She was elected an independent member of the International Olympic Committee in 2020, and has been appointed Chair of the Future Hosts Commission for the Games of the Olympiad. She also serves as a Member of the High-Level Advisory Council for the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC).

Parallel to her diplomatic and political careers, she has pursued an academic career in government, international relations and security studies at the Vienna Diplomatic Academy (1994-1995), the George Washington University (2002-2003), Harvard University (2009), the Johns Hopkins University (2011), and the University of Zagreb. She is a recipient of the 2019 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement award for her “remarkable contributions as a leader, diplomat, and public servant”, the George Washington University President’s medal, and a number of other national and international awards, decorations, recognitions, honorary doctorates and honorary citizenships.

Joshua J. Omojuwa is the founder at The Alpha Reach. He is the author of Digital; the New Code of Wealth. Omojuwa is on the board of several organisations, including the Convention on Business Integrity (CBi), and the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship, Nigeria’s foremost fellowship programme. He is a renowned International speaker, and has addressed audiences all over the world, often leading conversations on challenges and opportunities in Africa, New Media, democracy and governance.

He was a guest lecturer at the Free University in Berlin. He has been featured on local and international media platforms. He is an alumnus of University College, London (UCL) having studied Behaviour Change there.

Luis Rubio is chairman of Mexico Evalúa and former chairman of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations. Winner of the APRA book award 1985, the Dag Hammarskjöld award (1993) and the National Journalism Award (1998). He is a contributing editor of Reforma and his analyses and opinions often appear in major newspapers of the world. He serves on the boards of several hedge funds and of Coca Cola-Femsa. He is member of the Trilateral Commission and of the Halifax International Security Forum Agenda Working Group. He is author and editor of fifty books, including Unmasked: the End of Make belief and A World of Opportunities. In the 1970’s he was planning director of Citibank in Mexico and served as an adviser to Mexico’s Secretary of the Treasury. He holds a diploma in Financial Management, a MMBA, and his MA and PhD in political science are from Brandeis University.

Dean Fealk is an award-winning international attorney, WSJ bestselling author and civic leader bridging sectors to partner alongside business, government, and NGOs to promote international security, democracy and shared prosperity. As Northern California co-managing partner of global law firm DLA Piper, he advises multinational companies on key strategic and legal issues related to growing their business internationally, having counseled on more than US$40 billion in cross-border transactions.

Dean also serves in leadership capacities to various civic organizations, including CEO business groups, NGOs, and think tanks, and has advised and convened government leaders and politicians around the world – from the NATO Secretary General, to the Mayor of Seoul to the Justice Minister of India – on a range of international public policy issues. He is a Forum Founder of Halifax International Security Forum, the world’s most consequential meeting on democracy and global affairs, that is dedicated to strengthening strategic cooperation among democracies. Dean is also co-founder of Transatlantic West, a community of leaders promoting stronger ties between Europe and Silicon Valley.

Passionate about service and public policy, Dean has advised three presidential campaigns on foreign policy and represented the State of California in trade and investment missions around the world. He serves as a governor’s appointee on the California Workforce Development Board, promoting job quality, worker voice, equity, and environmental sustainability for the state’s 18 million workers. He is past chair of the Northern California District Export Council, appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to represent and advocate on behalf of the region’s diverse array of exporters, resulting in $75 billion in annual in exports. He has also advised the U.S. trade representative on international trade issues impacting the technology and innovation ecosystem.

Recognized for his leadership in public diplomacy, Dean has been designated a Fulbright Scholar to Korea, an Honorary Senator of the German Economy, an Eisenhower Fellow to China, a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a Marshall Memorial Fellow to the EU, a US-Spain Council Young Leader, an International Fellow of Center for Strategic International Studies, a Truman National Security Fellow, and a Carnegie New Leader. Dean is an elected life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.