Ukraine

Brock D. Bierman is president and CEO of Ukraine Focus, a Washington, DC-based humanitarian organization committed to working directly with communities across Ukraine to meet urgent assistance needs through direct cooperation with Ukrainian local, state, and federal authorities.

Prior to helping found Ukraine Focus, Bierman established the Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Light Up Ukraine, and Playgrounds 4 Peace. These programs have helped delivered millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since February 2022. Along with Ukraine Focus’ Rebuild project, they help thousands of Ukrainians defend their freedoms, rebuild their communities, and become more hopeful and resilient.

For his humanitarian contributions, Ukraine's Territorial Defense Force (TDF) awarded Bierman the Shield of the TDF of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and made him an honorary member.

Bierman has organized and led 13 missions to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, raised $2.5 million in cash and in-kind contributions to support Ukraine Focus programs in 2023 alone, and established key relationships and partnerships with international organizations such as Rotary International and the City of Albany, New York.

Bierman has served two presidents, most recently as the assistant administrator of the United States Agency for International Development's Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, and was confirmed by the US Senate by unanimous consent. Bierman also served three terms in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. A native of Rhode Island, Bierman received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Jörg Forbrig is managing director for the Transatlantic Trusts, GMF’s long-term programming to assist civil society and bolster democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. Based in GMF’s Berlin office, he leads the “Engaging Central Europe” program, the Fund for Belarus Democracy, and the “Ukraine: Resilience and Recovery” initiative. He also works closely with the Balkan Trust for Democracy and the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.  

Forbrig’s analytical and policy work focuses on the eastern-most member countries of the European Union and NATO, the EU's eastern and southeastern neighborhoods, and Russia. He has been published widely on democracy, civil society, and Central and Eastern European affairs, and is the author of Reclaiming Democracy (2007), Prospects for Democracy in Belarus (2006), and Revisiting Youth Political Participation (2005). He is also a regular contributor to major international media. 

Bart M.J. Szewczyk (SHEF-chick) is a visiting senior fellow with GMF in Brussels focusing on international order, transatlantic relations, NATO, the European Union, Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations. He also advises on European and global public policy at Covington & Burling LLP and teaches grand strategy at Sciences Po in Paris. 

Josh Rudolph is a senior fellow and the head of GMF’s Transatlantic Democracy Working Group (TDWG), a bipartisan coalition of former senior government officials, lawmakers, and civil society leaders who strive to educate the public and policymakers about foreign and domestic autocratic threats to democracy. He is an expert on Ukrainian governance reforms, and he is pioneering GMF’s work on homegrown autocratic threats in the United States. Before leading TDWG, he was the senior fellow for malign finance and corruption at GMF’s Alliance for Securing Democracy.

Rudolph regularly gives private briefings and public testimonies to governmental bodies, including the US Congress and the European Parliament. He frequently appears in the media and has published work in the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fletcher Security Review, The American Interest, Dallas Morning News, Just Security, and The Hill.

Before joining GMF, Rudolph served in a range of US government positions dealing with finance and national security. As an adviser to the US executive director at the International Monetary Fund, he formulated and represented official US positions toward matters before the organization’s executive board. As a member of the White House National Security Council, he chaired interagency diplomatic and technical work on Russia sanctions and coordinated other economic initiatives. He also served as deputy director of the markets room at the US Treasury Department.

In 2022, Rudolph took extended leave from GMF to serve as the senior fellow on USAID’s Anti-Corruption Task Force, where he was the lead author of the Dekleptification Guide. He also revamped USAID’s strategy for corruption sanctions and tracked oligarch yachts after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Before his public service, Rudolph worked for seven years at J.P. Morgan as an investment banker and financial markets research strategist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Babson College and a master’s degree in public policy with a concentration in international trade and finance from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Olena Prokopenko was formerly Visiting Fellow at GMF.