Dr Rachel Aron spent over 25 years as a British diplomat gaining experience of top level policy-making and corporate leadership in Whitehall and abroad, including as UK Ambassador to Belgium. She is accredited to Ashridge Business School and leads coaching assignments for senior private sector executives.
Matthew Bryza (also North America) is former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia. Early in his US Foreign Service career he also served in Poland and Russia, as well as on the National Security Council Staff at the White House. He was the Director of the International Centre for Defense Studies in Estonia during 2012-2015. He now heads a Turkish-Finnish environmental solutions company, has a strategic consultancy in Istanbul, and is a board member of energy companies in Turkey and the UK.
John Buck served as British Ambassador to Portugal, having previously been Head of Public Diplomacy, Head of the Government’s Communication and Information Centre during the Iraq War, and then FCO Director for Iraq. He then joined leading energy multinational BG Group as Group Director, Government and Public Affairs. At The Ambassador Partnership he specialises in the energy sector and also delivers training and coaching in negotiation, country branding and diplomatic skills.
Ünal Çeviköz is a retired Turkish Ambassador and a former Member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. He served as Turkey’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan (2001-2004), Iraq (2004-2006) and the United Kingdom (2010-2014). From 2007 to 2010, he was the Deputy Undersecretary for bilateral Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from 2013 to 2015 he was President of the 28th General Assembly of the International Maritime Organization. Retired from diplomatic service in 2014, Çeviköz has been a consultant, a member of several think-tanks as well as foreign policy columnist for various Turkish newspapers. In 2018, Çeviköz joined the Republican People's Party (CHP) and was elected an MP from Istanbul. He was also elected Vice President of Socialist International 2022 and maintains this position. He retired from active politics after the Turkish elections in 2023.
Charles Crawford CMG is a communication consultant who has drafted speeches for members of the Royal Family, Prime Ministers and other senior figures. He gives masterclasses in negotiation technique and public speaking / speechwriting. He is an expert on central Europe, having served as British Ambassador in Warsaw, Belgrade and Sarajevo.
Dr Peter Gooderham CMG (also Defence and Security) served during his diplomatic career in Brussels for NATO and Ambassador to the EU’s Political and Security Committee (PSC). He also served in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, and twice for the UN as a member of the UK Mission in New York and as UK Ambassador to the UN in Geneva (2008-12). Following diplomatic service, he was a member of the Senior Directing Staff at the Royal College of Defence Studies and Director of the International Chamber of Commerce (UK).
Colin Munro CMG was UK Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and British Ambassador to Croatia. He is based in Vienna, consulting on European political and security issues.
Leonidas Pantelides is a former Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus in Washington DC from where he retired in 2018. He also served in a similar capacity in Moscow (2004-2008), Athens (2001-2004), Stockholm (1998-2001) and Geneva (2011-2014). During his tenure in the diplomatic service Leonidas worked extensively on Middle East Affairs. After his retirement he was appointed as presidential representative on the Committee for Missing Persons.
Fredrik Schiller (also Africa) is a former Swedish Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina and to Eritrea. He is an economist and advisor primarily on wider European affairs, the Horn of Africa and international organisations. He has served at the United Nations, in the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He is a conflict specialist with solid experience of operational crisis management and recovery and is strongly committed to innovative solutions to geostrategic challenges and to smart and sustainable entrepreneurship.
Lars-Hjalmar Wide has over four decades of experience from bi- and multilateral diplomatic posts abroad as well as from leadership positions at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm. He has deep knowledge of and experience from multilateral negotiations in the United Nations. He has been Director General for the Inspectorate for Strategic Products (a governmental export control agency) and has served as First Marshal of the Court of H.M. The King of Sweden in charge of planning and implementation of the official program of the Royal Family. He has served as Sweden’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Malta, The Holy See and until September 2019 to Spain and Andorra. He is currently vice chairman of the Foundation for the Stockholm Prize in Criminology.
