GMF Cities

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.

Hannah Abdullah is a senior fellow with the GMF Cities program. She leads its work on sustainable urban development and climate justice to support transatlantic exchange and learning for achieving an inclusive green transition. She regularly speaks and publishes on the role of cities in climate and environmental governance.

Before joining GMF, she was a senior research fellow for the Global Cities Program of the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, where she led the organization’s research and other activities on urban climate action in close collaboration with Barcelona city council. She also served as a program officer for the New York office of the Goethe-Institut, Germany’s cultural agency, where she developed and managed programs on urbanization and architecture, among other areas.

Hannah Abdullah holds a master's degree and a PhD in sociology from the London School of Economics (LSE). She held research, teaching, and lecturing positions at LSE and at the University of Dresden, the University of Leipzig, and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.

Simone Mangili is currently a Senior Program Officer at the Compagnia di San Paolo Philanthropic Foundation, focused primarily on initiatives and strategic projects at the nexus of sustainability, resilience, and equity. Prior to joining the Compagnia di San Paolo, Mangili served as Aide to the Mayor of Torino, Italy, and Aide to the Deputy Mayor for Environment and Sustainability. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing strategic planning projects requiring cross-sector collaboration and for developing policy and delivering projects to realize an ambitious sustainability agenda for the 21st century.