Shawn Turner is the general manager and director of broadcasting at WKAR Public Media and a professor of strategic communication at Michigan State University. His prior positions include deputy White House press secretary for national security, director of communications for national intelligence at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and deputy press secretary for foreign affairs for the National Security Council (NSC).

Brussels Forum Session: The Odesa Debate Part II: The World’s Largest Construction Project: Laying the Foundation at the London Conference

Goran Buldioski is director of programs for Open Society–Europe and Central Asia.

Buldioski’s areas of expertise include democratic transition, civil society, citizen participation, and effective government in Europe, notably Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. Before joining the Open Society Foundations, he worked for the Council of Europe, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, and the National Youth Council of Macedonia. Buldioski’s publications on democracy, think tanks, and policy-relevant issues have appeared in Politico Europe, Foreign Policy, ZEIT Online, openDemocracy, Mediapart, and the Independent, among others. He is a member of the European Council of Foreign Relations.

Buldioski holds MA degrees in public policy from Central European University and in organizational behavior from George Washington University.

Brussels Forum Session: The Economic Counteroffensive: Rebuilding Ukraine

Dorothy Swann McAuliffe was appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the Office of Global Partnerships as special representative in the United States Department of State. Her office directly supports the Biden Administration’s commitment to US global leadership by assembling public-private partnerships to advance key national security and foreign policy priorities.

Among the specific aims of such collaboration are to spearhead new technology and innovation; support entrepreneurship and economic development; combat climate change and strengthen energy security; promote gender equity and human rights; and counter malign influence across the globe. Special Representative McAuliffe has forged these partnerships by engaging a diverse set of stakeholders including civil society, business, non-profit, diaspora, academic, philanthropic, faith-based, and other private sector leaders.

Prior to her appointment by President Biden, she served as the national policy advisor for Share Our Strength and the No Kid Hungry Campaign, where she worked with the private sector to build partnerships to end child hunger and advance equity in public education. As first lady of Virginia, McAuliffe founded and chaired Virginia’s Council on Bridging the Nutritional Divide, a groundbreaking initiative that forged cross-sector, public-private collaboration to improve childhood nutrition and build food access initiatives. 

Gabrielius Landsbergis is minister of foreign affairs in the 18th Government of the Republic of Lithuania. He is a member of the Seimas (parliament) for the Centras–Žaliakalnis constituency and a former member of the European Parliament as a representative of the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats). Landsbergis was elected chairman of the Homeland Union in 2015. He was affirmed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė on 11 December 2020. 

Thomas Wright is special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning at the National Security Council. Previously, he was director of the Center for the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. He is author of All Measures Short of War: The Contest for the 21st Century and the Future of American Power (Yale University Press, 2017) and co-author, with Colin Kahl, of Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order (St. Martin’s Press, 2021). He has a PhD from Georgetown University, an MPhil from Cambridge University, and a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree from University College Dublin.

Stephen E. Biegun is senior vice president of Global Public Policy at The Boeing Company. In this role, he is responsible for advising on global public policy and executing Boeing’s strategy   in support of the company’s priorities, and for optimizing relationships with key stakeholders in the United States and around the world. He is also a member of the company’s Executive Council. 

Biegun served previously as senior advisor at Macro Advisory Partners, helping corporate leaders to minimize geopolitical risk and business disruption in global markets. He has more than three decades of international affairs experience in government and the private sector, including high-level service in the Department of State, the White House, and the United States Congress. 

In 2021, Biegun concluded his most recent government service as deputy secretary of state, to which he was confirmed by the Senate in a strong bipartisan vote of 90-3. Earlier, he served for 15 years as a corporate vice president with Ford Motor Company.  

Biegun began his career as an international affairs specialist with the US Congress, serving in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives with a focus on Russia, the former Soviet Union, and Europe, and ultimately rising to a number of senior-level positions including chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and national security advisor to the Senate Majority Leader. He served two years as the Executive Secretary of the White House National Security Council. 

Brussels Forum Session: Building for the Future: A Green Marshall Plan for Ukraine

Miguel Eiras Antunes leads the global Smart Cities & Urban Transformation practices at Deloitte. He also heads the Public Sector, Transportation, and Infrastructure division for both Portugal and Central Europe.

Antunes coordinates a global team of 4,000 smart-city and urban development experts who advise cities, urban developers, and infrastructure managers on the smartest and most sustainable path for the future. The team leverages Deloitte´s alliances, in-house developed assets, and expertise to help make cities and urban ecosystems greener, smarter, and more connected.

In Central Europe, Antunes leads the Public Sector practice across 40 countries, and in Portugal he leads a Global Center of Excellence focused on developing and deploying technical solutions and assets to modernize public sector and transportation projects for clients.

Passionate about the future of cities, Antunes strongly advocates for a transition “from urban living to more human living”. Under his management, Deloitte has committed to working with partners, governments, and NGOs to improve the urban living of more than 1 billion people by 2025.

During his career, Antunes has led the creation and development of several successful consulting business units across several sectors. as a lead partner, quality assurance partner, or subject matter expert. More recently, he served as an advisor to the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia, often considered the most innovative and forward-thinking urban development project in the world. 

Brussels Forum Session: The Odesa Debate Part I: The World’s Largest Construction Project—Private-Sector Stakes and Perspectives

Beth McGrath is Deloitte’s global leader for government and public services. In this role she is committed to strengthening synergies across global industries and government and public services with a focus on client mission, needs, and solutions. McGrath has broad, multi-disciplined, strategic and operational management experience acquired from 25+ years of successful performance in the United States Government. As a member of Deloitte’s Strategy practice, she advises government and commercial organizations on strategies that help further innovation and improve business operations. 

Prior to joining Deloitte, McGrath was confirmed by the US Senate as deputy chief management officer for the Department of Defense, where she brought a dedicated focus to improving business operations, oversaw a $7+ billion information technology portfolio, and authored the DoD's Strategic Management Plan. She has served as vice chair of the US Federal Suitability and Security Clearance Performance Accountability Council and deputy director for systems integration at the US Defense Finance and Accounting Service. She has also held numerous business/acquisitions roles within the US Department of the Navy.

McGrath is an acquisition-certified program manager, a member of the DoD Acquisition Professional Community, and a member of the National Academy of Public Administration. Her awards include: National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation, Presidential Rank Award, the DoD Medal for Distinguished Public Service (twice), and the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Medal. McGrath has also been named Defense IT Executive of the Year by Government Computer News.