Civil Society

Irina Neagu is a senior program coordinator for the Black Sea Trust (BST), administering its Empowering Youth through Capacity Building, Collaboration, and Peace Initiatives project. She also plays a key role in BST’s Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership project. 

Neagu has expertise in youth engagement and cross-border issues in the Black Sea region, with a focus on the South Caucasus. She heads a Romanian NGO that supports civic activities and youth education.

Neagu holds a master’s degree in comparative politics and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and European studies from the University of Bucharest. 

   Clara Volintiru is the Black Sea Regional Director based in Bucharest. 

Zsuzsanna Végh is a program officer at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Her analytical focus is on Central and Eastern Europe, especially the foreign and EU policies of the Visegrád countries, the state of democracy, and the role and impact of the populist radical right in the region.

Végh has extensive experience working at the intersection of policy analysis and academic research. She has been an associate researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations and authored reports for Freedom House’s flagship project, Nations in Transit, on her native Hungary. She worked at the European University Viadrina as a researcher and lecturer in 2017–2024, and at the Center for European Neighborhood Studies of Central European University in 2012–2017.

Végh holds Master’s degrees in international relations and European studies from Central European University and in international studies from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.

Katerina Geisler is a senior program coordinator for the GMF Cities team. She focuses on projects that link city and international affairs, and that connect cities on both sides of the Atlantic so that they can better tackle shared local challenges.

Geisler has experience working in democracy and international cooperation. She joined GMF from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of International Affairs. Before that, she worked as a policy analyst for a US congressional campaign.

Geisler holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and political science from Florida International University and an executive course certificate in subnational diplomacy from The George Washington University.

Iryna Khomiak is a program officer with GMF’s Ukraine: Relief, Resilience, Recovery program, based in Berlin. She works within the emergency response programming for support of Ukrainian civil society and independent media, especially in terms of the full-scale Russian war. Prior to this, she worked as a coordinator of the Master in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Program at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, and on judicial, police, and juvenile probation reforms in Ukraine. She has worked within international projects funded by USAID and Global Affairs Canada as well as on numerous projects of the British Council in Ukraine.

Inspired by the spirit of the Revolution of Dignity and her experience, Iryna decided to pursue her Master’s degree in human rights at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. There, she focused mainly on peace and conflict resolution policies, women’s rights within this, and the right to education for national minorities. She also holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in the theory and history of literature and comparative studies from the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla academy” in Kyiv, Ukraine. In addition to her native Ukrainian, she speaks English and German, and she has basic knowledge of Polish. 
 

Sergiu Panainte is the deputy director of the Black Sea Trust (BST), overseeing the strategic and operational implementation of BST’s grantmaking and capacity building activities across the Black Sea region. He is responsible for conceptualizing and leading programs, engaging with major donors and stakeholders, and managing a diverse team to foster regional cooperation and development. 

Panainte is a seasoned professional in the field of international relations, grant management, and democracy, with a focus on the Black Sea basin and administration of programs that support civil society, media, human rights, and democratic development. His expertise also extends to monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

Fluent in Romanian, English, and Russian, Panainte holds master’s degrees in international relations and European studies from Central European University in Budapest and in international relations from Moldova State University. His scholarly work includes several publications focused on regional politics and EU relations.

Gordana Delić is the regional director of the GMF Balkans program, the Balkan Trust for Democracy and deputy managing director of the Transatlantic Trusts. She has 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector in the area of civil society development, with extensive experience in program management and development, grant solicitation, corporate philanthropy, research and planning, election processes, get-out-to vote campaigns, human rights, and reconciliation. Delić has knowledge of both the nongovernmental and governmental sectors in the Balkans, as well as of international donor strategies, programs, procedures, and operations in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe. Prior to joining the Balkan Trust for Democracy, Delić worked at Freedom House Serbia. Her international experience includes five years of work on different democracy development programs in Slovakia. Delić is fluent in Serbian, English, and Slovak. She also communicates in Czech, German, and Spanish.