Since 2017, Martina Boguslavets has been the Executive Director and founder of the Institute of Legislative Ideas. Martina Boguslavets is an expert with more than 10 years experience in GR, fighting corruption, and preventing corruption risks. Martina is leading the direction of transparent rebuilding of Ukraine without corruption and reforming law enforcement agencies. She is working on implementing mechanisms for accountable reconstruction, providing recommendations to public authorities and international partners to support the reforms. Martina leads the direction of increasing the institutional capacity of cities, strengthening the integrity of local authorities, preventing corruption, and ensuring transparent use of reconstruction funds. The developer of the Methodology for anti-corruption assessment of draft normative and legal acts of local self-government authorities. Boguslavets has experience working with the Ukrainian Parliament as a member of the Public Expert Council under the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Prevention and Counteraction to Corruption (2015-2019) and as the head of the project on public-parliamentary protection of judges-whistleblowers on corruption with the involvement of judges, lawyers, and members of the Ukrainian Parliament. Has experience working with communal enterprises at the local level. Worked as a lawyer on legal issues in the office of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee and led the direction of liaison with law enforcement agencies and the Office of the Prosecutor General. She headed the "In the Name of Ukraine" project, which monitored investigations into the murders of participants in the Revolution of Dignity. Co-authored bills on anti-corruption courts and on preventing the persecution and punishment of persons who directly participated in hostilities in the ATO. Martina Boguslavets is a co-developer of the National Police reform strategy, author of a number of studies and analytical materials on risk prevention and ensuring accountable reconstruction, and speaker at national and international conferences.
Mark D. Simakovsky serves as Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia (E&E) at USAID, with a portfolio supporting E&E programs on democracy, development and governance, as well as overseeing regional and bilateral programs for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. Mr. Simakovsky is the Bureau lead on Ukraine and Russia policy and represents E&E in the interagency, Congress and the Administration on Ukraine and Russia-related issues.
Mr. Simakovsky brings over 15 years of national security experience in the private sector and the U.S. government, including work at the State Department, Department of Defense, and Congress, focused on U.S. national security challenges in Europe and Eurasia. Most recently, Mr. Simakovsky was Senior Vice President at Beacon Global Strategies, a national security consulting firm in Washington, DC from 2015-2021. He was also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center from 2015-2021.
Prior to his recent work in the private sector, Mr. Simakovsky spent a decade in government across two administrations. His work at the Pentagon from 2007-2015 helped shepherd U.S. defense policy in Europe and Eurasia through a turbulent period. He served as the Europe/NATO Chief of Staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for Policy, where he played a key role developing and implementing U.S. deterrence and reassurance measures in Europe in the wake of Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Prior to this position, he was the Russia Country Director in OSD Policy, where he helped lead the Department’s response to the 2014 Ukraine crisis and drafted the Department’s post-conflict strategy for Russia.
In 2013, Mr. Simakovsky was a Brookings congressional national security fellow in the office of Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). From 2012-2013, Mr. Simakovsky served as the inaugural Ronald D. Asmus Non-Resident Policy Entrepreneur Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, traveling throughout Europe and publishing a NATO enlargement study. Mr. Simakovsky also served in the Pentagon as the Eurasia Strategy Advisor/NATO Coordinator from 2011-2012 and the Country Director for Georgia/Moldova from 2007-2011. In the latter position, he led the Pentagon’s response to Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia. Mr. Simakovsky began his government service in 2006 as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Office of Russian Affairs, Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs, Department of State.
Mr. Simakovsky is a recipient of the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service and was a finalist for the 2010 U.S. Federal Government “Emerging Leaders Call to Service Medal” for his work on supporting U.S. engagement in Georgia. He was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Simakovsky graduated from Georgetown University with a Masters in Science in Foreign Service (magna cum laude) and earned a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) in diplomacy and foreign affairs from Miami University (Oxford). While at Georgetown, he was a foreign language and area studies fellow in Russian, completed language training at St. Petersburg State University and traveled to Georgia on a Georgetown grant. He returned to live in Georgia as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar from 2005-2006. He speaks Russian.
Marcus Lippold is Team Leader Green Deal Ukraine Service and a guest lecturer for Energy Economics & Energy Policy at the Nuertingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences. From 2015 to 2019 he was Corporate Planning Manager for Europe & Russia for Saudi Aramco in London.
Prior to that, he served as Vice President for corporate strategy for MOL Group in Budapest and was a deputy member of the Executive Board of FuelsEurope. From 2008 to 2013 he worked for the European Commission as Coordinator for EU International Energy Relations. Preceding this, Marcus spent 17 years working internationally for ExxonMobil in the areas of Financial Reporting & Planning, IT Systems, and Marketing & Business Analysis with management positions held in Europe and the USA. He is a member of Chatham House and several advisory boards and co-author of “Energy Policies of IEA Countries Review“ for Greece and the UK, amongst others.
Maksym Svysenko is Advisor to the Chairman of the Dnipro Regional State Administration. In this position, he is in charge of cooperation with foreign investors and philanthropic organizations. He is also the Chairman of the Ukrainian Students League Congress. Ukrainian Students League is the largest student organization in Ukraine, which unites 74 universities and 22 youth NGOs. Additionally, he is the coordinator of the national program of personal and professional development of young people StateBuilder. The purpose of the national program StateBuilder is to promote responsible leadership and increase the level of social activism among young people. Hundreds of young people from different regions of Ukraine have graduated from the program and have already created an all-Ukrainian community. From 2020 to 2023, Maksym was a legal associate in the international law firm Kinstellar (former DLA Piper) working mainly in the area of tax consulting for big business. Earlier in his career, he worked as an intern at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. He holds a master’s degree in law from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and taxation from Dnipro University of Technology.
Filiep Decorte is currently the Chief (oic) of UN-Habitat’s Programme Development Branch and acting Emergency Director.
During his career, Filiep has predominantly focused on urban initiatives in conflict- and crisis-affected countries, specializing in urban planning, land, and housing issues. He globally focuses on migration, displacement, land and conflict and the humanitarian, development and peace nexus. He is Chair of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises. He has worked for UN-Habitat for more than twenty years in different capacities, including long-term assignments in Haiti, the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia, and Morocco. He also acted as coordinator for UN-Habitat’s Global Disaster Management Program. He was trained as a civil engineer, architect, and urban and regional planner with advanced master’s degrees from the Universities of Ghent and Leuven in Belgium.
Bogdan Zawadewicz is the Head of Geopolitical Risk Analysis at the Polish Development Bank (BGK). He graduated from the Institute of Political Sciences of the University of Warsaw. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked at the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) and at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg, where he was a member of the research group "Frozen and Unfrozen Conflicts." Additionally, he participated in scientific and research internships at institutions such as the London School of Economics IDEAS, the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow, the Center for Southeast European Studies in Graz, the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, as well as universities in Niš, Novi Sad, and Bucharest. He was also a scholarship holder of the German BAYHOST. Furthermore, he collaborated as a consultant with the Goethe Institute in Tel Aviv on the project "Negotiations Matter," which focused on the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Anton Antonenko is Vice President and Co-Founder at Ukrainian think tank DiXi Group, focusing on energy policy and energy security issues. Anton graduated from the National University of Kyiv Mohyla academy, majoring in political science and European studies. He worked as analyst, expert and advisor in various projects. Anton was participant of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, being the coordinator of Energy Security subgroup. He was also member of civic councils to the Ministry of energy and coal industry of Ukraine and to the State agency on energy efficiency and energy saving of Ukraine. Anton was also deputy coordinator of EnergyTransparency NGO coalition and member of Energy Reforms NGO coalition.
Andrew Friendly is the vice president of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Autodesk, where he leads a global team advancing policies to support Autodesk’s business. Before entering the world of technology, Friendly spent five years at the White House in a variety of positions, including personal aide to President Bill Clinton and senior advisor to the special envoy for the Americas. He holds an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. from Middlebury College.
Jaine Archambeau is an Trainee on the GMF North team.