David Inserra is a fellow for free expression and technology at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on the importance of both policies and a culture that promotes free expression in the technology space. Inserra’s work covers topics including online content policies and moderation, government discussions, and the harmful impacts of censorship on individuals, companies, technology, and society. Inserra comes to Cato following four years on Meta’s content policy team, where he was responsible for crafting and enforcing Meta’s Community Standards—focusing on hate speech, violent speech, and restricted goods and services—and supporting Meta’s Oversight Board. Inserra has an MPP from George Mason University and a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary.
Brussels Forum Session: Rebalancing Power, Restoring Trust: The GMF
Transatlantic Taskforce Report
Thierry Déau is Meridiam’s chairman and chief executive officer. He founded Meridiam, an independent investment Benefit Corporation specializing in the development, financing, and management of long-term and sustainable infrastructure projects, in 2005, with the belief that the alignment of interests between the public and private sectors can provide critical solutions to the collective needs of communities. Managing over $22 billion in assets, the firm has to date more than 125 projects under development, under construction, or in operation.
Meridiam currently maintains offices in Paris, Istanbul, Addis Ababa, Dakar, Luxembourg, Amman, Vienna, Libreville, Johannesburg, and Washington, DC, and is a leading investor in public infrastructure across Europe, North America, and Africa.
Prior to Meridiam, Déau worked for France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), where he held several positions within its engineering and development subsidiary, Egis Projects.
Déau is currently a board member of Fondation des Ponts, board member of the Friends of the Paris Opera (AROP), chairman of the Établissement public du Palais de la Porte Dorée, founder of the Africa Infrastructure fellowship program (AIFP), founding member of the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership (SDIP) of the World Economic Forum, chairman of the Long-term Infrastructure Investors Association (LTIIA), chairman of the Fast-Infra Group (FIG), chairman of UP for Humanness, and president of the Archery Foundation, which supports young talents from underprivileged areas in France in their personal and professional development.
Déau graduated from École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées engineering School.
Brussels Forum Session: Trade Wars and a New American Economic Order (Virtual)
Pierre Yared is vice chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the executive office of the US president. He is also the MUTB professor of international business at Columbia Business School. He previously served as the school’s senior vice dean for faculty affairs and vice dean for executive education. He teaches global economic environment, a core MBA course in macroeconomics, for which he received the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
Yared’s research, which has been published in leading academic journals, examines the political economy of macroeconomic policy. He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Economic Club of New York.
Yared holds a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University.
Brussels Forum Session: Where Did the Political Center Go?
Mene Ukueberuwa is a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board, where he covers immigration, labor, and federal agencies. He was previously an editor at City Journal and the New Criterion.
Brussels Forum Session: Make China Great Again & Civil Society’s Role in Building Democratic Resilience: Lessons from Central and Eastern Europe
Daniel Twining joined the International Republican Institute (IRI) as president in 2017. He previously served as counselor to the president and director of the Asia program at GMF, as a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s policy planning staff handling Asia during the George W. Bush administration, as the foreign policy adviser to US Senator John McCain, and as a staff member of the US trade representative. He has been an associate of the US National Intelligence Council, taught at Georgetown University, and served as a military instructor associated with the Naval Postgraduate School.
Twining serves on the Bush Institute’s Advisory Council and Microsoft’s Human Rights Advisory Council. He testifies regularly before the US Congress on international affairs, has been a columnist for Foreign Policy and Nikkei, and has written for Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and other publications. He has served as an adviser to six presidential campaigns.
Twining graduated with the highest distinction from the University of Virginia. He was a Fulbright/Oxford Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he earned a master’s degree and a PhD. He has been sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party.
Brussels Forum Session: Make China Great Again
Desmond Shum is an entrepreneur and author with decades of experience in private equity and real estate in China. He was a pioneer in the development of airport cities as president of Aeropolis, overseeing major projects such as cargo terminals, logistics hubs, and office facilities at Beijing Capital International Airport. His work helped turn transportation nodes into engines of long-term regional growth.
Shum is an active philanthropist, supporting scholarships at Tsinghua University, Harvard University, and other institutions, with a focus on advancing humanities education. He is the author of the international bestseller “Red Roulette”, a memoir that explores wealth and power at the highest levels of the Chinese state. The book became a New York Times and SPIEGEL bestseller, and has been translated into 12 languages.
Shum has served as an honorary trustee of Tsinghua University and was a member of the 11th and 12th Beijing Political Consultative Conference. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and an EMBA from the joint program of Northwestern University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is a chartered financial analyst and a Henry Crown fellow of the Aspen Institute.
Brussels Forum Session: Defense as a Driver of Innovation: Ideas from GMF Transatlantic Taskforce Members and Friends
Angus (Gus) MacGregor is the general manager for defense and intelligence within Microsoft’s worldwide public sector organization.
He was commissioned into the British Army in 1986 and served as an artillery officer, supporting training and operations in Africa, the Balkans, Canada, the Far East, the Falkland Islands, Germany, the Mediterranean, Norway, and the United Kingdom. His military career culminated in 1999, when he was part of NATO’s spearhead operations in Macedonia and Kosovo. After retiring from the army, he concentrated on IT personal markets.
MacGregor joined SAP in 2004, initially focusing on supporting defense and public security initiatives, and working in close cooperation with the industry business unit. One year later, he assumed responsibility for coordinating the public services portfolio and managing its daily operations as chief of staff. In 2010, he became global head of the defense and security industry business unit, a position he held for a decade. He is certified as an SAP Human Capital Management consultant.
MacGregor graduated as a staff officer from the Junior Command and Staff College at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School and Mannheim Business School.
Brussels Forum Session: Make China Great Again
Miriam Lexmann is a quaestor of the European Parliament, and a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on International Trade. She co-chairs the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and was among five members of the European Parliament sanctioned by Beijing in 2021 for standing up against human rights violations.
A former Slovak diplomat, Lexmann previously worked in civil society and with international institutions promoting freedom and democracy.
Sasha Havlicek is a social and policy entrepreneur who, for the last two decades, has incubated and scaled global initiatives to counter the rise of weaponized hate, disinformation, and extremism, online and offline. As founder of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), she has led the expansion of its advanced digital analytics capability, which is designed to detect and mitigate information threats to democracy, public safety, and national security. Spearheading ISD’s extensive partnerships with governments, cities, businesses, and communities, she oversees the organization's global research teams, policy advisory support, training, digital literacy, and communications programming.
Havlicek has advised a range of governments at the highest levels, has testified before the US Congress and the UK Parliament, and is a regular commentator in the media. She is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the advisory boards of the Global Internet Forum on Counter-Terrorism, the Christchurch Call, and the Global Partnership for Action on Online Gender Based Abuse. She is a founding board member of the Forum on Information and Democracy and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Coalition on Internet Safety.
Brussels Forum Session: Tech Wars: Who Will Win the Innovation Race?
Heike Freund is the chief operating officer of Marvel Fusion. She focuses on building and scaling the company, professionalizing processes, and forming partnerships with industrials. She was previously a partner at McKinsey & Company and a core member of that company’s operational leadership team.
Freund has more than 15 years of experience in leading global industrialization projects. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Karlsruhe.