A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Dr. Attila Aszódi works as full professor at the Institute of Nuclear Techniques of Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary (BME). He is currently also the dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of BME. Between 1999 and 2014 he was the head of the training reactor at BME. Between 2004 and 2014 he was the director of the BME Institute of Nuclear Technology. Following the Fukushima accident in Japan in 2011, he participated as an expert for the European Commission in the Targeted Safety Review of European nuclear power plants. Between 2014 and 2019 he used to be government commissioner and later secretary of state responsible for the Paks II. nuclear new build project. He took part in several projects of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Commission. He has more than 300 published scientific papers. His research interest is energy policy and sustainability, electricity market and supply security, nuclear power plants, reactor safety and thermal hydraulics of nuclear reactors.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Milán Balázs is a Software Architect at Ericsson Hungary and an Assistant Lecturer at Obuda University, where he is also pursuing doctoral research. He is a co-inventor of BlackAnt, an AI/ML-oriented distributed execution platform. His work focuses on DevOps, distributed cloud and containerized systems, CI/CD infrastructure, and simulation-driven optimization, bridging industrial software architecture with academic research.

He has 40 years of experience in the safety analysis of nuclear facilities. His main area of expertise is probabilistic safety assessment. He has mostly been dealing with safety analysis of pressurized water reactors and new reactor types. His activities also include the development of methods and tools to support risk-informed decision-making. His latest areas of interest are safety analysis of external events, multi-unit reactor sites, small modular reactors, and the application of probabilistic safety assessment over the entire life cycle of a nuclear facility. He has received several awards in recognition of his professional work.
 

Robert Benson, D.Phil., serves as Associate Director for National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress, where he focuses on transatlantic security, European defense, Ukraine, democratic resilience, and the future of U.S.-Europe relations. Before joining American Progress, he worked at the OECD in Paris and the Social Science Center in Berlin.

Mark seeks to capitalize on a series of networks he developed while based in London for 20 years and more recently in Washington, D.C.  He convenes and connects constituencies and positions himself as a thought leader on political and geopolitical developments and trends, focusing on identifying solutions to safeguard civil society and strengthen the resilience of democracy and the rule of law; countering disinformation and other forms of information manipulation; promoting sub-national diplomacy and governance solutions; and supporting initiatives at the intersection of technology, democracy, and civil engagement.

Max Bergmann directs the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program and the Stuart Center at CSIS. He previously worked at the Center for American Progress and at the U.S. Department of State, including on the policy planning staff and as a speechwriter for Secretary Kerry. He holds a master's from LSE and a bachelor's from Bates College. His commentary has appeared in The New York Times, Politico, the Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Johannes Bernhardt is the founder and CEO of Bonn Consulting Group. He studied the law in Marburg, Germany, and holds two Advanced Executive Degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Management, Technology and Innovation, as well as in AI and Digital Business. 

He served Senior Management positions in DHL, as the Head of Global Business Services Consulting and TATA, as Head of Logistics Europe. 

Johannes focusses on the concept and development of data-analytics-platforms and the security aspects around them. He is consulting federal and state authorities around the topics of digitalization and all related cybersecurity aspects. The major focus fields are centering around the AI in transactional data, especially in the agriculture, traffic, logistics and utilities industries. 

Ana Birchall is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Romania, former Minister of Justice and one of Central Europe’s leading voices on geopolitics, transatlantic relations and strategic leadership. Having held senior roles across government, diplomacy and international law, she brings first-hand insight into the political and economic forces reshaping Europe and the wider world.

A graduate of Yale Law School, where she earned both a Master’s degree and PhD in Law, Ana began her career as a lawyer on Wall Street before returning to Romania to serve in public office. Over two decades, she held a series of senior government positions including Deputy Prime Minister responsible for Romania’s Strategic Partnerships, Minister of Justice, Minister Delegate for European Affairs and High Representative of the Prime Minister for Strategic Partnerships with the United States and European Affairs. She also served as a Presidential Adviser on foreign policy and strategic partnerships.
Throughout her career, Ana has been closely involved in strengthening Romania’s relationships with NATO allies, advancing European integration and helping shape policy on security, governance, energy and international cooperation. More recently, she played a leading role in promoting major strategic energy projects through Nuclearelectrica, working at the intersection of energy security, infrastructure investment and geopolitical strategy.

Ana is widely respected for her principled leadership, including her efforts to strengthen the rule of law, combat corruption and reinforce democratic institutions. Her experience spans government, international negotiations, legal reform and strategic policy, giving audiences a rare perspective on how leaders navigate complex political and economic challenges during periods of global uncertainty.
An engaging and highly informed keynote speaker, Ana combines practical leadership experience with deep expertise in international affairs. She helps organisations understand the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape, the future of transatlantic cooperation and the strategic decisions that will define Europe’s security, energy resilience and economic competitiveness in the years ahead.
 

Mike is responsible for the Cobalt Institute’s external engagement, including government and public affairs. In particular, Mike leads on the CI’s global regulatory and political advocacy.

With over a decade’s experience under his belt, Mike has worked with many of the world’s largest mining and metals companies, including the likes of Anglo American and Rio Tinto. Mike has also supported government affairs and communications activities for major international blue chip brands, some of the world’s largest financial services companies, as well as large industrial clients.
 

Krzysztof Bledowski is the Visiting Adjunct Professor of economics and finance at the Rzeszów University of Information Technology and Management (WSiZ). He is also the Treasurer and Executive Committee member of the Board of Trustees of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. His 30+ years of experience span transition economics, finance, and industrial policy. Dr. Bledowski’s prior appointments included work at the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, the International Monetary Fund, the Pioneer Funds, and others.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Theodore Sebastian Boone is Counsel in Dentons’ Budapest office. A practical and solutions-driven lawyer, Theodore focuses on AI, digital and other technology matters, international business transactions, strategic alliances and corporate compliance, risk and policy matters.

In the course of his practice Theodore draws on his extensive commercial and legal experience arising from previous leadership positions in the US and Europe at premier international law firms as well as one of the Big 4 and as a former President and Chair of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary. He is a former Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University School of Law, holds a JD from Columbia Law School and a LLM from Eötvös Loránd Law School and is a former Fulbright Scholar at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.

Theodore also serves on the faculty of Corvinus University’s Budapest School of Business, where he teaches the course “Business Leadership in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, lectures on international business transactions and is Host of the university’s Corvinus Business Intelligence podcast. Recognized for his expertise internationally and locally, Theodore is listed on the Recommended Roll of Arbitrators of the Arbitration Court attached to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

A highly sought-after speaker on US and EU AI-related legislation and international transactions, Theodore also frequently writes on these topics. Recent contributions include, “The challenge of defining artificial intelligence in the EU AI Act,” published in the Journal of Data Protection and Privacy, “An examination of certain key features of the new White House Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence,” published in Corvinus Law Papers and “The Extraterritorial Impact of the White House Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence,” published in the Hungarian Yearbook of Private International Law.

Previously, he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Parliament, and the European Commission, and later co-founded the Policy Solutions political research institute. He is the co-author of the books Hungary 2030 – A Vision for Hungarians and The Hungary Handbook – 33 Solutions to 33 Problems. He is a frequent guest on policy analysis TV-programs and has given hundreds of interviews to Hungarian and international media outlets, including the BBC, The Economist, and the Financial Times. He has been serving as the executive director of the Equilibrium Institute since its foundation, where, in addition to the operational management of the think tank’s work, he has participated in drafting dozens of policy proposals and frequently writes op-eds for leading Hungarian media outlets.

Matt Boyse is a Senior Fellow with Hudson Institute in Washington, DC.  He is also a Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and George Washington University.  A former U.S. Senior Foreign Service Officer, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs during the first Trump Administration, where he oversaw U.S. policy toward Central Europe and the Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues and served as Sherpa for the Three Seas Initiative.  He also was Chargé d’Affaires in Switzerland, Finland, Romania, and at the U.S. Mission to NATO. 

Klára Breuer is the State Secretary for Bilateral Relations at Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recognized for her long-standing dedication to international diplomacy and statecraft. With decades of experience, she has served as Ambassador to Lisbon and Helsinki, as Press Attaché in Washington, and as Chargé d’Affaires in London. She also worked at the Hungarian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Vienna. Between 2011 and 2014, she was Head of Cabinet to Foreign Minister János Martonyi, and previously served as Diplomatic Adviser to President Ferenc Mádl. She possesses extensive experience in long-term foreign policy planning, political risk assessment, and cross-border partnership development.

Dr. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges. He currently serves as Senior Counselor to the President for International Engagement and E.W. Richardson Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Dr. Carafano is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and served 25 years in the US Army, retiring as a Lt. Colonel. His recent research has focused on developing the national security required to secure the long-term interests of the United States.

Giovanni Cisco is a Research Associate at EIES, specialising in supply chain security across strategic sectors including batteries, semiconductors, defence, and domestic energy. Before joining EIES, Giovanni worked as a Consultant on a GIZ-funded project focusing on critical minerals in semiconductor supply chains. He has also worked as a Trainee at the Council of the European Union and as an Assistant Analyst at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, where he supported foresight analysis on Europe's clean and digital transitions. He contributed to research on critical raw materials, semiconductor and wind energy supply chains. Giovanni holds a Bachelor of Science in Security Studies from Leiden University and a Master of Arts in Transnational Governance from the European University Institute.

Giovanni Cisco is a Research Associate at EIES, specialising in supply chain security across strategic sectors including batteries, semiconductors, defence, and domestic energy. Before joining EIES, Giovanni worked as a Consultant on a GIZ-funded project focusing on critical minerals in semiconductor supply chains. He has also worked as a Trainee at the Council of the European Union and as an Assistant Analyst at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, where he supported foresight analysis on Europe's clean and digital transitions. He contributed to research on critical raw materials, semiconductor and wind energy supply chains. Giovanni holds a Bachelor of Science in Security Studies from Leiden University and a Master of Arts in Transnational Governance from the European University Institute.

Javier Colomina is the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Southern Neighbourhood and Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy. In these roles, he guides NATO’s political dialogue and practical cooperation with partners across the Southern Neighbourhood, including the Middle East, North Africa, and the Sahel.

A career Spanish diplomat, Mr. Colomina previously served as the Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia (2021–2024), and earlier as Spain’s Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO (2017–2021). Prior postings include First Secretary at Spain’s Mission to the United Nations in New York (2002–2006), Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Spain in Damascus (2006–2008), and Political Counsellor at the Embassy of Spain in Buenos Aires (2008–2011). He also served as Senior Adviser for Multilateral and Security Affairs to Spain’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (2011–2014).

Mr. Colomina entered Spain’s diplomatic service in 2001 and has since focused on Euro-Atlantic and regional security, partnership policy, and high-level political dialogue with NATO partners.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Andras serves security and risk (S&R) professionals. He is a leading expert on identity and access management (IAM) and leads Forrester’s customer identity and access management (CIAM) coverage, including customer and organizational identity verification, centralized and decentralized authentication, authorization, and self-service.

Andras also covers: 1) cloud security, including cloud-native application protection platforms (CNAPPs), SaaS security posture management (SSPM), and cloud infrastructure platform native security; and 2) financial crimes management, including fraud management, know-your-customer (KYC), and anti-money laundering (AML). He maintains an interest in evaluating the skill sets and core competencies of professional service providers in these spaces. 

Previous Work Experience

Prior to joining Forrester, Andras was a security architect with CA Technical Services through the Netegrity acquisition. Andras designed the architecture and led the implementation of Fortune 500 companies’ IAM and provisioning solutions. Previously, Andras managed business process reengineering projects.

Education

Andras holds an MBA degree from the Technical University of Budapest and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. He also holds an MSc in computer science and electrical engineering from the Technical University of Budapest. Andras speaks English (fluent), German (advanced), Russian (basic), and Hungarian (native).

Dóra Csernus is the director of climate, energy, and environment policies at the Equilibrium Institute. As an expert in environmental issues, she has worked for the Ministry of Environment and Water, the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations, and the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, representing the Hungarian position in different EU, UN, and OECD fora. She later worked as Director for International Policy Development at Klímapolitika Research and Consultancy Ltd, and as an independent expert in climate and environmental issues. Her main focus is on climate policy, air-quality control, and water policy.

Tamás Csiki Varga (PhD) is a senior research fellow at the John Lukacs Institute for Strategy and Politics of Ludovika University of Public Service (Budapest, Hungary), and academic relations manager at Defense Innovation Research Institute (Budapest, Hungary). He is a graduate of Zrínyi Miklós National Defense University and Central European University, and earned his PhD in military sciences in 2018. He has been conducting security and defense policy analysis for the past 17 years. His research focuses on European security and defense, encompassing NATO and U.S. grand strategy, the defense policy of individual European countries (e.g., Germany), Central European defense cooperation, as well as Hungarian security and defense policy. At the strategic level, he was a participant in formulating national security and defense strategies, as well as contributing to various strategic foresight analysis processes for Hungary and NATO. In 2026, his research focus is on European defense industrial cooperation.  

Ambassador Borbála Czakó is a former Hungarian Ambassador to the UK. She is the Founding President of the Institute of Directors Hungary (IOD Hungary), President of the HBLF Women Leaders Forum, and Honorary President of the Hungarian Business Leaders Forum (HBLF).

Elias Dahrouge is a researcher, consultant, and lecturer in international relations and public policy. He specializes in refugees, displaced, and stateless populations in the MENA region, with a particular focus on Lebanon. He serves as the Lead Researcher of the Mobility Rights Unit at the Arab Master in Democracy and Human Rights (ArMA) program at Saint Joseph University of Beirut’s (USJ) Institute of Political Science (ISP). He is also a Research Lead at Khayrion, a consulting firm operating in Central Europe that focuses on the MENA region. He holds a PhD from Corvinus University of Budapest, where his dissertation explored the impact of Syrian refugees on the construction of Lebanese state identity.

In her career, between 2016-2024 she has been a President of the Polish State Development Bank (BGK), which initiates and implements programs aimed at sustainable economic development. She has prepared and executed a new bank strategy mostly focused on increasing the competitiveness of the Polish economy. She is the creator of the financial project - 3 Seas Investment Fund, which financing transport, energy, and digital projects.

Paul is Chief Policy and Global Affairs Officer at ENODA. He brings more than 20 years of experience from across the energy landscape, including energy systems, energy security, climate policy, strategic advisory, and technology innovation. 

He was the founding CEO of ENODA, leading the company through its first two years of growth and technology development. Prior to ENODA, Paul held senior leadership roles including Chief Strategy Officer at Tellimer, where he led the company’s software platform for emerging market financial research, CEO of 4Cast-RGE, and Managing Director and Co-founder of Country Insights. 

Paul began working on energy system stability and security as the first Energy Security Adviser to the U.S. European Command at the U.S. Department of Defense. In this role, he led development of the US military’s energy security strategy across Europe, Africa, and Eurasia. He was the most senior US Department of Defense energy security official based in Europe and represented the US at NATO and with senior government and corporate stakeholders in both Europe and the United States. 

He later advised the UK Parliament’s Energy and Climate Change Select Committee on energy security issues and served as Energy and Climate Fellow at the Stockholm Network, where he led the climate track of the Amigo Dialogue Series in Brussels. 

Earlier in his career, Paul served as Deputy Political Analyst in the scenario planning group at Royal Dutch Shell and helped design the influential Oil Shockwave simulations for Securing America’s Future Energy, later recognised by President Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address. 

Paul has also advised governments including Kazakhstan and Peru on industrial development and supported major industrial and private equity organisations with scenario-based strategy development. He is a regular keynote speaker and published author on energy, technology, and policy.

Jill Dougherty is an expert on Russia and the region.

She served as CNN's Moscow Bureau Chief for almost a decade. Other postings include: White House correspondent; Foreign Affairs Correspondent covering the U.S. State Department; U.S. Affairs Editor; and Managing Editor, CNN International, Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong.

She is currently a CNN on-air Contributor, commenting on Russia-related issues; an Affiliated Scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies; a Distinguished Fellow at The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and a Fellow at the Kennan Institute. She has pursued research on Russia and the media as a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; at the Woodrow Wilson Center; and at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn, Estonia.

She is the author of My Russia: What I Saw from the Kremlin, a book about her decades-long experiences in Russia and the region. Her articles, book reviews, and commentary have appeared in theatlantic.com; politico.com; wilsonquarterly.com; washingtonpost.com; cnn.com, and other publications.

She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Affairs Council.

Taras Dumych is Managing Partner of Wolf Theiss office in Ukraine and a Board Member and Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Ukrainian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association. He has nearly 25 years of experience in advising investors on M&A, corporate governance, energy, private equity, and venture capital in Ukraine and internationally. Taras holds an LL.M. with Merit from London Guildhall University and a joint Master's degree in Global Management (American University Kyiv/Arizona State University), and before entering legal practice, worked in academia and parliament.

Dr. György Eigner is the Dean of the John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics at Obuda University, Acting Director of Biomatics and Applied Artificial Intelligence Institution and Full Professor at the University. He also serves as Professional Director of the Future Industry Science and Innovation Park of Zsámbék project. Since 2025, he has been serving as the Rector’s Commissioner for Artificial Intelligence at Obuda University. He is an active contributor to Hungary’s scientific and innovation communities and is strongly committed to advancing higher education, research, and the development of future-oriented industrial technologies.

Carrie Filipetti currently serves as the Executive Director of the Vandenberg Coalition and a Wilson Center Distinguished Fellow. Before this role, Carrie served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cuba and Venezuela in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and the Deputy Special Representative for Venezuela at the U.S. Department of State, for which she received a Superior Honor Award. From 2019-2020, Carrie also served as the Senior Advisor to the Havana Incidents Task Force, where she was responsible for coordinating an interagency effort to address the causes of unexplained health incidents affecting U.S. personnel and identifying proper long-term care mechanisms. Before these roles, Carrie served as a Senior Policy Advisor for the United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN), where she advised U.S. Ambassador Nikki R. Haley on issues related to counterterrorism, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere.

Carrie began her career spending five years at a private family foundation, where she served as Director of Portfolio Management. In this capacity, Carrie helped oversee the foundation’s transition from a relationship-driven organization to a national leader in strategic philanthropy. Also in her capacity as Director of the Foundation, Carrie served as a Senior Advisor and co-founder of Start-Up Nation Central. This Tel-Aviv-based nonprofit seeks to connect the world with Israeli innovation.
Carrie graduated with a degree in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia as both a Jefferson and Echols scholar.

In her spare time, Carrie volunteers as an EMT at a local Fire Department and serves on the board of Fired Up to Help, a local non-profit that provides hot meals to first responders in the aftermath of natural and man-made disasters. She also serves on the Board of the National Endowment for Democracy.

Jörn Fleck serves as senior director with the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council with primary responsibility for the center’s European Union (EU) efforts, programming related to Western Europe, Brexit, and US-EU trade relations. Jörn also leads outreach to US and European legislators as well as the Council’s Transatlantic Digital Project, which seeks to promote closer US-EU cooperation on digital policy matters.

Jörn previously was director at the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) and helped to launch TPN’s annual signature event, Transatlantic Week, which has become a major event in the transatlantic calendar. He continues to support TPN programming and promotes cooperation between both organizations.

Before joining TPN, Jörn was chief of staff for a British member of the European Parliament (MEP). In this role, he worked extensively on US-EU relations, trade policy, and EU foreign and security policy. Jörn further served as the staff lead for the MEP’s rapporteurship for the 2007 EU general budget.

Jörn holds an MA in international commerce and policy from the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and a BA in politics and international relations with first-class honors from the University of Kent at Canterbury in the United Kingdom. Jörn is a German national.

Jamie Fly is chief executive officer (CEO) of Freedom House.

Previously, Fly was senior counselor at Palantir Technologies from 2023 to 2025, where he supported efforts to defend Ukrainian democracy from Moscow’s illegal, full-scale military invasion, and served as president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) from 2019 to 2020 and 2021 to 2023. 

Fly also held various roles at the German Marshall Fund of the United States including senior fellow, advisor to the president, co-director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, and director of the Future of Geopolitics and Asia programs. He served as counselor for foreign and national security affairs to Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) from 2013 to 2017, and as foreign policy advisor during Senator Rubio’s presidential campaign. Prior to joining Senator Rubio’s staff, he was the executive director of the Foreign Policy Initiative. Fly additionally served in the George W. Bush administration at the National Security Council and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

In the course of his forty-year Foreign Service career, Ambassador Fried played a key role in designing and implementing American policy in Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union.  As Special Assistant and NSC Senior Director for Presidents Clinton and Bush, Ambassador to Poland, and Assistant Secretary of State for Europe (2005-09), Ambassador Fried helped craft the policy of NATO enlargement to Central European nations and, in parallel, NATO-Russia relations, thus advancing the goal of Europe whole, free, and at peace.  During those years, the West’s community of democracy and security grew in Europe.  Ambassador Fried helped lead the West’s response to Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine starting in 2014:  as State Department Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, he crafted U.S. sanctions against Russia, the largest U.S. sanctions program to date, and negotiated the imposition of similar sanctions by Europe, Canada, Japan, and Australia.  

Ambassador Fried became one of the U.S. government’s foremost experts on Central and Eastern Europe and Russia.  While a student, he lived in Moscow, majored in Soviet Studies and History at Cornell University (BA magna cum laude 1975), and received an MA from Columbia’s Russian Institute and School of International Affairs in 1977.  He joined the U.S. Foreign Service later that year, serving overseas in Leningrad (Human Rights, Baltic affairs, and Consular Officer), Belgrade (Political Officer), and in the Office of Soviet Affairs in the State Department. 

As Polish Desk Officer in the late 1980s, Fried was one of the first in Washington to recognize the impending collapse of Communism in Poland, and helped develop the immediate response of the George H.W. Bush Administration to these developments.  As Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw (1990-93), Fried witnessed Poland’s difficult but ultimately successful free market, democratic transformation, working with successive Polish governments.

Ambassador Fried also served as the State Department’s first Special Envoy for the Closure of the Guantanamo (GTMO) Detainee Facility.  He established procedures for the transfer of individual detainees and negotiated the transfers of 70 detainees to 20 countries, with improved security outcomes.   

Ambassador Fried is currently a Weiser Family Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is also on the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy and a Visiting Professor at Warsaw University.

Dan Fried has been married to Olga Karpiw since 1979; they have two children (Hannah and Sophie), and are the besotted grandparents of Ava Helen and Zora Fried Hanley. 

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Prof. Dr. Péter Galambos received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) in 2006 and 2013, respectively. He was a Research Intern with Toshiba Corporate Research and Development Center, Kawasaki, Japan, from 2007 to 2008, then joined the Institute for Computer Science and Control, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA-SZTAKI), Budapest, where he held a "Young Researcher" Scholarship from 2010 to 2012. From 2011 to 2015, he served as a Team Leader with MTA-SZTAKI and coordinated the development of the VirCA VR system and its research applications. He joined Obuda University in 2013, where he participated in robotics-related R&D activities and education. He is currently a full professor and director of the Antal Bejczy Center for Intelligent Robotics at Obuda University, Budapest. Starting in July 2024, he has been acting as the vice-rector for innovation. His current research interests include Advanced Industrial Robotics and Physical AI, Cyber–Physical Systems, and Virtual Reality. He is the author and co-author of more than 170 scientific papers and has received more than 2400 citations. In addition to his career in academia, he is the co-founder, and CTO of the MAXWHERE 3D Digital Twin software platform.

After working in the U.S. Senate and for the second Reagan Administration in the 1980’s, Mr. Gencarelli’s consulting firm has assisted various health and technology start-ups, health professional associations and energy firms navigate the U.S. Congress and federal agencies seeking policy changes, research and development funding and tax policy.

Since 2014, his firm has worked to strengthen ties between European and U.S. energy companies and their respective governments. The firm played a particularly important role in bringing Polish energy officials to Washington in 2014 to successfully argue that the long-standing U.S. ban on export of U.S. crude oil should be eliminated.

The Gencarelli Group has continued through its representation of former president of Poland, Lech Walęsa, to foster strong economic and political ties between the United States and Europe with a focus on Poland and Ukraine.

Most relevant to the Equilibrium/NATO Energy and Securty Conference is the Gencarelli Group LLC work started in 2023 making BlastWave, Inc. and its unique BlastShield cyber-protection software part of the U.S. and allied nations’ toolkits to prevent cyber-disruption of our critical infrastructure.

Levent Gümrükçü is the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye.

A graduate of Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Ambassador Gümrükçü has held a number of senior diplomatic positions, including Permanent Representative of Türkiye to NATO, Director General for Bilateral Political Affairs (Americas), Ambassador to Brussels, and Ambassador to Tbilisi. He has also served as Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Deputy Director General for Policy Planning.

Since joining the Ministry in 1991 in the Office of the Private Secretary to the Minister, he has served in various capacities at the Permanent Representation of Türkiye to the United Nations, the Permanent Representation of Türkiye to NATO, as well as at the Embassies of the Republic of Türkiye in Tehran and Washington.

Ambassador Gümrükçü is also a graduate of the NATO Defense College in Rome.

Hessam Habibi Doroh is the author of Sunni Communities in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Brill 2023) and has extensive teaching and research experience in the field of international relations and ethno-religious minorities, with a focus on Iran. He read South Asian Studies at Vienna University and International Relations at Krems Danube University.

He finished his doctoral project at the University of Public Service in Budapest, examining the politics of borders and border areas in Iran. Since September 2025, he has served as a researcher at the Institute for Peace Support and Conflict Management at the National Defence Academy.

Sebastian Hartmann has served as the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence of Germany since 2025.He has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2013 and has held several roles in the Social Democratic Party (SPD): Member of the Parliamentary Control Panel and the Committee for Electoral Reform (Chairman of the SPD Parliamentary Group, 2022-25), Chairman of the SPD Parliamentary Group on Internal Affairs (2021-25), Member of the Committee on Internal Affairs (2016-25) and Member of the Committee on Transport and Digital Infrastructure (2013-18).Since 2019 he is a Member of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly and in 2024, he started his career as a Reserve Officer Candidate in the Bundeswehr.Sebastian Hartmann is from North Rhine-Westphalia, where he also lives with his family.

Dr. Lucas F. Hellemeier is an external lecturer at the John F. Kennedy Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin, where he earned his PhD in Political Science in 2025. His dissertation examined the choice between acquiring U.S. defense systems and developing European alternatives in defense procurement and was awarded the John McCain Dissertation Award by the Munich Security Conference. He was a Fulbright Visiting Researcher at Boston University and a Morgenthau Fellow at the University of Notre Dame. Since March 2026, he has worked as a Strategy Specialist at MBDA.

Karine Herviou was appointed IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security on 16 June 2025. Ms Herviou brings over three decades of leadership and expertise in nuclear safety, emergency preparedness and response, and international regulatory collaboration.

Before her current appointment, Ms. Herviou was the Deputy Director General of the French Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ASNR), where she oversaw safety review and R&D for France’s civil nuclear activities. Her career is marked by strategic leadership in nuclear safety, crisis management, and innovation in safety oversight.

Ms. Herviou has led major safety reviews across a wide spectrum of nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors, fuel cycle facilities, and life extension of nuclear facilities. She has also played a pivotal role in shaping national emergency preparedness and response strategies.

From 2020 to 2024, she served as Deputy Director General of the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). During this tenure, she enhanced synergies between safety research and expertise, which also addressed the integration of artificial intelligence into these two areas.

Her earlier roles include Director of New Reactors and Safety Approaches at IRSN (2017–2020), where she chaired key OECD/NEA and European Technical Safety Organizations Network (ETSON) working groups on advanced reactors and championed systemic safety methodologies that integrated human and organizational factors.

Ms Herviou also served as Head of IRSN’s New Reactors Department (2012–2016) and led the safety review of the Flamanville EPR project (2009–2016). Notably, she contributed to France’s first post-accident policy and played a central role in emergency response development during her leadership of IRSN’s Emergency Preparedness Division (2003–2009).

She holds an Advanced Graduate Degree in Nuclear Engineering and an MSc in Nuclear Reactor Physics from INSTN Saclay, France, as well as a Master’s in Physics from the University of Paris XI – Orsay.

Katarína holds an MA in Political Science specializing in the Middle East and North Africa and a PhD in Religious Studies focusing on Muslim and Middle Eastern minority communities both in their homelands and the diaspora. She has undertaken numerous studies and research trips to the MENA region and has extensive experience in providing cultural and political consulting for European business clients specializing in the Middle East markets.
 

Tomi Huhtanen studied International Politics and Economics at the University of Helsinki, International Law and Political History in Madrid, and earned an MBA in Brussels. He began his career in the European Parliament and served as an adviser to the European People’s Party (EPP) from 1999 to 2007. He founded the European View journal and, since 2007, has led the EPP’s think tank, the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, serving as its Executive Director since 2015. He is also a frequent commentator on European and international political affairs.

Company executive with more than 25 years of international leadership experience and over a decade of board-level expertise in the energy sector. Between 2020 and 2025, she served as President of the Board and Country Chair of Shell Hungary, leading one of Hungary’s largest companies and representing the country on Shell’s Central and Eastern European regional management team.

Since 2021, she has served as President of the Hungarian Business Leaders Forum (HBLF), promoting responsible business, good governance, and inclusive leadership. She initiated programmes such as the award-winning HBLF Xmentor Programme and the HBLF Board Level Programme to support the next generation of leaders, with a particular focus on developing talent from underrepresented groups.

She is a frequent speaker on energy, leadership, and social responsibility. She was recognized among Forbes Hungary’s Most Influential Women in Business from 2020 to 2025 and received the Community CEO Award from Budapest Business Journal in 2023.
 

Zsolt Jamniczky has been a leading executive in the Hungarian energy industry for more than a decade and a half and is a committed advocate of carbon-neutral and sustainable operations.

He graduated in international relations from the Budapest University of Economics in 1991, and between 1992 and 1994 studied postgraduate law at Eötvös Loránd University. From 1996 to 2007, he held senior positions in corporate affairs at Reetsma and later Philip Morris, working in Budapest, Brussels, and Zagreb.

In 2007, he joined E.ON Hungária Group as Director of Corporate Affairs, and in 2010, he became Deputy Group CEO. Since 2016, he has served as Deputy CEO for Customer Solutions at E.ON Hungaria Group, overseeing Customer Service, Energy Markets, Energy Sales, Energy Solutions Sales, Constructions and Operations, as well as Brand and Marketing. 

He is President of the Eurelectric Hungarian Association, a board member of Eurelectric in Brussels, a board member of the Business Council for Sustainable Development, director of the Hungarian Business Leaders’ Forum, board member of the Joint Venture Association, and serves as a board member of the Future Mobility Association and the Smart Future Innovation Cluster as well. 

In recognition of his work, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary in 2016 and the Special Award for the Manager of the Year for Green Economy in 2023 by the Joint Venture Association. 

With expertise on Gulf-Asia relations, Dr Janardhan is also a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, Washington, and the Great Game Lab, Arizona State University, and a co-facilitator of Track II and Track 1.5 diplomatic initiatives. A PhD from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he is the author of six books. Two of these, published in 2026, are: Workarounding and Global Gulf.

Pavlína Janebová is the Research Director at the Prague-based Association for International Affairs (AMO). She is the author and editor of expert publications on Czech foreign and European policy and Central European cooperation. She is also involved in AMO’s initiatives aimed at strengthening the voice of women in foreign and security policy. She holds a degree in International Relations and European Studies from the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in Brno.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Ákos Janza is an AI transformation leader, senior executive, international business advocate and CxO advisor. He is Advisor to the President of Masterplast Nyrt., CEO of Masterplast Modul House, Managing Partner of n20k and founder of VoHum.ai. Previously, he led global operation at MSCI. As President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary, he speaks on AI, business transformation, leadership and the future of work.

Géza Jeszenszky (b. 1941) is a retired professor of history at Corvinus University of Budapest, also a politician and diplomat. He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the first freely elected government after the fall of communism (1990-94). From 1998 to 2002, he was Hungary’s ambassador to the United States, and to Norway and Iceland from 2011 to 2014.

He was a visiting professor at several American and European universities. He is the author of a large number of scholarly publications, including Post-Communist Europe and Its National/Ethnic Problems (Budapest, 2009); July 1944. Deportation of the Jews of Budapest Foiled (Reno, NV, 2018); Az elveszett presztízs. Magyarország megítélésének megváltozása Nagy-Britanniában (1894-1918), 3. kiad., Budapest: Fekete Sas Kiadó, 2020); Lost Prestige, The Changing Image of Hungary in Britain, 1894-1918. (Reno, NV, 2020)Kísérlet a trianoni trauma orvoslására. Magyarország szomszédsági politikája a rendszerváltozás éveiben. 2. kiad., (Budapest: Osiris, 2023); and Hungary and Its Neighbors, 1988–1994. Attempts to Heal the Wound of 1920. (Reno, NV: Helena History Press, 2025).

Krisztián Jójárt is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of War Studies of the Swedish Defence University and a co-chair of the Russia research group. His research focuses on the Russian armed forces and Russian military thinking. He is also an associate fellow with the Budapest-based John Lukács Institute for Strategy and Politics. Krisztián holds a PhD in Military Sciences from the National University of Public Service and an MA in International Relations from the Corvinus University of Budapest. 

Ms. Andrea Beatrix Kádár, head of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority since 2021, has been working in the field of energy, and specifically nuclear energy, since 2014. Having studied at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics to become a chemical engineer, Ms Kádár began her career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2014, she has found her calling in dealing with issues of energy policy matters, serving as deputy state secretary. In 2021, she was appointed head of the nuclear regulatory body of Hungary. She spends her free time with her family. She enjoys reading, jogging, and volleyball.
She is fluent in English and French. 

Professional career: 
2021 – President, Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority  
2014–2021 Ministry of National Development/Ministry for Innovation and Technology, Deputy State Secretary for Energy Affairs 
2012–2014 Prime Minister’s Office, Deputy State Secretary, Heading the Bureau of National Security 
2011–2012 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy State Secretariat for European Affairs, Advisor (EU strategic affairs) 
2010–2012 Permanent Representation for Hungary to the European Union (Brussels) 
2003–2010 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Head of Unit 

Language skills: English, French
 

Tibor Kapu, a Hungarian mechanical engineer, was mission specialist for Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4). He graduated from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics with a degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in polymer technology. He has worked in the pharmaceutical, logistical, and automotive industries, including hybrid car battery development. From 2022, he focused on space radiation protection at an aerospace technology company.

In 2023, Kapu was selected as one of four Hungarians for the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) Astronaut Program from 247 candidates. His training included aircraft flying, space environment simulation, mental and physical endurance tests, and studies in space engineering, space health, and spaceflight history. As part of the Ax-4 mission, he spent 18 days aboard the International Space Station.

Babett Kecskésné Pavlics has more than 20 years of experience in banking operations, money and capital markets, and over 15 years of leadership experience. She built her professional career at Hungary’s leading financial institutions (Raiffeisen and UniCredit), holding positions with significant responsibility for client portfolios, profitability, and product portfolios since 2005. She has decades of experience not only in direct management, but also in successfully leading collaboration between various teams in both domestic and multinational environments. Since March 2020, she has been the CEO of KELER CCP Ltd., a key infrastructure entity responsible for the clearing and settlement of transactions on Hungary’s capital and energy exchanges.

Ágnes Kelemen is an expert in climate mitigation, environmental policy and regional development. She holds an MSc in Economics and an MPhil in Environmental Sciences and Policy. With experience in philanthropy, consultancy, think tanks, public administration and the European Commission, her expertise includes low carbon development strategies, EU climate policy, regional economic and social development, electricity sector decarbonisation and energy efficiency in buildings. She has worked across the EU, Western Balkans, Ukraine, Turkey, China and Kazakhstan. She is a contributing author to two chapters of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report and has authored other publications in the field of climate change and energy.

Aaron Korewa is the director of the Atlantic Council’s Warsaw Office, which is part of the Europe Center. Korewa previously worked at the McCain Institute for International Leadership, where he spent the last five years serving as program manager, following many years of working in both Sweden and Poland. Born in Sweden but with both Polish and American family roots, Korewa holds an MA in international politics and a BA in economics from Uppsala University. At the McCain Institute, he ran the Kissinger Fellowship, an initiative focused on developing the strategic skills of future foreign-policy and national-security leaders with the kind of principles that are the hallmark of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s career. Korewa also directed a project to counter disinformation from authoritarian states and participated in the McCain Institute’s Working Groups on Russia and Reaffirming America’s Alliances. Korewa frequently features as a commentator on Polish television on transatlantic security issues and previously wrote for Svenska Dagbladet, a major Swedish newspaper. He is based in Warsaw. 

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Péter Krekó is the director of Political Capital and Associate Professor at ELTE University in Budapest. He is affiliated with two policy institutes in Washington DC, as a Reagan-Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

Previously he was a Europe’s Futures Visiting Fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and the Erste Foundation, and a non-resident Associate Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Institute of Policy Research. He worked as a Fulbright Visiting Professor in the United States at the Central Eurasian Studies Department of Indiana University, and was the co-chair of the PREVENT working group at the EU Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN). He was a PopBack Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Recently a Senior Fellow at Central European University Institute of Advanced Studies.  

He is the author of two books. The first is entitled The Hungarian Far Right, which was co-authored by Attila Juhász. The book was published by Ibidem Verlag in 2017 and is being distributed by Columbia University Press. His second book on fake news and conspiracy theories was published in Hungarian in 2018, becoming a social science bestseller, currently under reprint.

He is a regular commentator in leading international media, publishing articles, among others, in papers such as Foreign Affairs, the Journal of Democracy, Newsweek, Financial Times and The Guardian.

Nico Lange is the founder and director of IRIS (Institute for Risk analysis and International Security) in Berlin. He is a senior fellow for transatlantic security and defense at CEPA in Washington D.C and a senior advisor at Rasmussen Global. Lange is a member of the advisory council to the German Federal Minister of Economy on security and defense industry. Lange was Chief of Staff at the Federal Ministry of Defense of Germany from 2019 to 2022 and a senior fellow to the Munich Security Conference from 2022 to 2025. Before being appointed to the MoD, Lange was Deputy General Manager of the CDU Deutschlands and Director of Strategic Planning and International Politics at CDU Headquarters. Prior, Nico Lange served as State Commissioner for Innovation and Strategy to the State Government of Saarland, Director of the USA office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Washington D.C, and Deputy Director for political consulting at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung headquarters in Berlin. Lange served as director of the Ukraine office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Kyiv from 2006-2012. He was awarded a Robert Bosch Fellowship in St. Petersburg, Russia from 2003-2006. Lange speaks fluent Ukrainian and Russian.

Dr Emilio Miguelañez Martin is responsible for shaping the ENODA platform’s pioneering use of AI and data as a market differentiator. 

Emilio has over 15 years of industry experience in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, delivering smart systems across several industry domains, from subsea equipment and underwater robotics to offshore wind turbines. 

He has always been fascinated with how data can be transformed into information and knowledge to support decisions or make some actionable motion (in robotic terms). 

Emilio has been an active member of the Institute of Physics CEng Panel since 2016.

Marek Matraszek is Chairman of CEC Group (www.cecgr.com), the leading public affairs brand in Central Europe providing strategic political intelligence, analysis, and advocacy services for major US, UK, and European multinationals in the region. As Chairman, he oversees the Group’s regional activities, its growth in new product areas and client sectors, as well as international brand positioning. Although his experience stretches across most industrial sectors, he has special expertise in defence, and he currently advises several defence prime contractors in Central Europe.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Gabriella Mátyás-Kollár is an economist and technology expert serving as Head of AI Development at Shiwaforce.com Zrt., where she guides both large enterprises and SMEs through their AI transformation. Her work spans AI maturity assessments, executive education, advisory, and hands-on solution development, always anchored in business impact and responsible AI use.

She views artificial intelligence not as an isolated technical concern but as a radical, organization-wide innovation force that belongs at the top of every leadership agenda. By bridging the technical and business worlds, she helps companies move beyond experimentation toward measurable, sustainable results.

Gabriella holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and studied in France, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and San Francisco. She previously held senior innovation, operative and digital transformation leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, Erste, Allianz, and Aegon.

A frequent speaker at international conferences and executive forums - recently on the lead AI panel at INSEAD's Alumni Forum, alongside top faculty and industry experts -, she is a HTE Women & AI TOP50 honoree and founder of the Women & AI Hungary professional community.

Mr. Krisztián Mészáros has served as State Secretary for Multilateral Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary since June 2026. He brings more than two decades of experience in diplomacy, international security, and multilateral affairs, having held a number of senior positions within both the Hungarian foreign service and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Before he was appointed State Secretary, Mr. Mészáros served as Director for Partnerships and Global Affairs in NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Policy Division from 2024 to 2026. Between 2018 and 2023, he was Deputy Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General, where he supported the Secretary General’s engagement on key political and security issues. Earlier, from 2015 to 2017, he served as NATO Civilian Liaison Officer to the United Nations in New York, strengthening cooperation between NATO and the UN.

From 2010 to 2015, Mr. Mészáros worked in NATO Headquarters in Brussels as a Staff Officer responsible for a range of partnership portfolios, including relations with Georgia, Moldova,
and Japan, as well as broader Euro-Atlantic partnership policy. Before joining NATO’s International Staff, he held several positions within the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Hungary’s Permanent Delegation to NATO, focusing on NATO–EU relations, transatlantic affairs, summit preparations, and multilateral diplomacy.

Mr. Mészáros holds a Master’s degree in Economics with a specialization in International Relations from the Budapest University of Economics and Public Administration, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with a major in Tourism and Hospitality. He also completed NATO’s Executive Development Programme for senior leaders.

A career diplomat with extensive experience in international organizations, strategic partnerships, and security policy, Mr. Mészáros has developed particular expertise in transatlantic relations, NATO partnerships, multilateral diplomacy, and global security cooperation. He is a native Hungarian speaker and is fluent in English, French, German, and Finnish.

Andrew A. Michta is Professor of Strategic Studies at the Hamilton School at the University of Florida. Before joining Hamilton, Michta was a Senior Fellow with the Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the former dean of the College of International and Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. He holds a PhD in international relations from Johns Hopkins University. His areas of expertise are international security, NATO, and European politics and security, with a special focus on Central Europe and the Nordic and Baltic states.

Previously, he was professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Europe Program, and an affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. From 1988 to 2015, he was the M.W. Buckman distinguished professor of international studies at Rhodes College. 
Michta is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University.  He is fluent in Polish and Russian and proficient in German and French.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Vilma Misiukonienė is an EU digital policy expert with more than 20 years of experience in digital transformtion, digital identity, cybersecurity, AI  and technology law. 

Combining legal and technical expertise, she has worked with European institutions, governments, and the digital industry on digital policy, regulation, and large-scale innovation initiatives.

Vilma has served as an expert for the European Commission on digital policy and innovation initiatives, was a member of the Industry Advisory Group of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), and served as Digital Affairs Advisor during Lithuania's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. She currently co-leads Lithuania's participation in the European Commission's Large Scale Pilot projects.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Júlia Molnár is the Immediate Past District Governor of Rotary International District 1911, Hungary, representing more than 1,200 members across 57 Rotary clubs and 30 youth clubs. She led the organization during the centennial year of Hungarian Rotary, with a strong focus on youth leadership, international partnerships, and community service.During her governorship, Rotary Hungary achieved a remarkable milestone: seven new youth clubs (EarlyAct, Interact, and Rotaract) were chartered and began their service activities—an unprecedented achievement in a single Rotary year in Hungary. She has been a dedicated advocate of Rotary’s youth programs, helping young people develop leadership skills, international understanding, and a lifelong commitment to service.

Professionally, Júlia is the co-owner and managing director of a language school, adult education center, and printing company. For more than two decades, she has worked at the intersection of education, communication, entrepreneurship, and organizational development.Her perspective on artificial intelligence is shaped by a simple conviction: while technology is transforming the future, it is people who determine its impact. She believes that curiosity, international experience, leadership, and a commitment to service are essential human qualities that education must continue to cultivate in the age of AI.At BAISS 2026, Júlia brings the perspective of an educator,business leader, and Rotary leader, bringing together education, civic leadership, and international cooperation to prepare the next generation for an AI-driven world.

Albéric serves as Executive Director of EIES, the European Initiative for Energy Security, where he develops and builds support for national and supranational policies that drive energy and national security across the European continent. Albéric is an energy policy expert with over a dozen years of experience at the intersection of energy and security, previously as Director for Energy, Mobility, and Climate at the Centre for Regulation in Europe, in advisory capacities, in energy markets analysis, and as an Editor in Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

He holds a B.A. in Political Science and a Master's in International Security from Sciences Po's Paris School of International Affairs. A French national, he is a former auditor of France's Institut des hautes études de défense nationale (IHEDN).

Mr. Falah Mustafa is a distinguished diplomat and statesman with decades of experience in governance, foreign policy, and international diplomacy. Since July 2022, he has served as Special Assistant to the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, H.E. Nechirvan Barzani, and Head of the Analysis Unit at the Presidency, providing strategic advice on foreign policy, national security, and international engagement.

Previously, he served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the President (2019–2022) and, from 2006 to 2019, as the first Minister and Head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations, where he led the Kurdistan Region’s foreign policy and strengthened its international partnerships.

Earlier in his career, he served as Minister of State (2004–2006), Senior Advisor to the KRG Prime Minister (2002–2004), KRG Liaison Officer to the Coalition Provisional Authority- CPA (2003) and the Multi-National Forces’ Korean Contingent in Erbil (2004), Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation (1999–2002), and Public Relations Officer at the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Department of Foreign Relations (1991–1999).

Minister Bakir is also a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Kurdistan – Hewlêr (UKH), where he teaches diplomacy, foreign relations, foreign policy analysis, and national security. He has represented the Kurdistan Region at numerous international conferences and policy forums and is committed to advancing economic development, cultural diplomacy, and youth empowerment.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Mosul, a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Bath (UK), and completed the Senior Managers in Government Executive Education Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Fluent in Kurdish, Arabic, and English, he lives in Erbil with his wife and four children.

Balázs has worked with billion-dollar corporations as well as startups, building a strong professional background in cybersecurity. After co-founding NewPush in 1999, Balázs went on to design and supervise the deployment of complex cybersecurity solutions, fast credit card payment systems, fare collection systems, and analytics systems. More recently, he has designed compliance systems for SOX, PCI, HIPAA, and leveraged the HITRUST CSF. Balázs now focuses on the Connective Platform™.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Gábor Náray-Szabó graduated in chemistry from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in 1967. After a career in pharmaceutical research and industry, he became Professor at ELTE in 1992. He served as Deputy Secretary General of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, senior official at the Ministry of Education, and Director General of the MTA Library. An author of 250+ publications and 8 books, he is an internationally recognized theoretical chemist, full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and active science leader.

2026- Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian National Assembly.
2014- Deputy Floor Leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group.
1990- Member of Parliament.
1988 Founding member of Fidesz.
1998-2002, 2010-2014 Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2014-2026 Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament.
2024- Chairman of the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance, PACE.
2021-2024 President of the Political Affairs Committee, PACE.
2014- Member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the president of the Hungarian-American friendship group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Knight of the Johanniter (St. John) Order.

Founder of the Pro Minoritate Foundation.

He graduated from the Budapest (Corvinus) University of Economics with a degree in economics and sociology in 1987. 

Married, father of three children.

Marek Nieduzak is the Poland Director of EIES. Marek's expertise spans energy policy, financing, and law. He served as CEO of Pekao Investment Banking, the corporate finance advisory arm of Pekao Group, leading the financing of flagship energy projects including Baltic Power, Poland's most advanced offshore wind development, and Baltic Tower, the country's major offshore turbine tower manufacturer. Marek served as Undersecretary of State within the Ministry of Economic Development, prior to which he held positions as Head of Business Regulations, Head of Regulatory Risk Assessment, and Deputy Head of Legal departments. Earlier in his career, Niedużak held posts in leading Polish law firms, including Salans D. Oleszczuk Kancelaria Prawnicza Sp.k. (now Dentons) and Sołtysiński, Kawecki & Szlęzak. Niedużak holds a Doctorate degree and a Master of Law from Jagiellonian University, and a master's degree in law (LL.M.) from the University of Cambridge.

Paweł Nierada brings over 25 years of executive experience in capital markets, investment banking, and strategic financial management. He is one of the founding Partners of the Three Seas Business Council — the business and investment hub for the Three Seas region, connecting enterprises, investors, public institutions and NGOs to unlock the region’s full economic potential.
Before that, since 2016, Paweł served as First Vice President – Deputy CEO at Poland’s national development bank BGK (Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego), where he led Capital Markets, Treasury, Investment, and International Relations, strengthening Poland’s financial stability and international presence.

He was one of the principal architects behind the creation of the approx. US$ 1.3bn Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund, which laid an important foundation for the development of the Initiative and supported economic growth in Central and Eastern Europe. He subsequently served as a Supervisory Board Member of the Fund. Since 2022, the founders of TSBC have been the driving force behind the establishment of the Three Seas Development Bank, conducting extensive promotion and consultations for this initiative throughout the region.

He also served as Vice President of the European Long-Term Investors Association (ELTI) and Board Member of the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB).
Previously, Paweł held senior roles at ING, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deloitte, NM Rothschild, and ERSTE Bank Group, managing major IPOs, M&A, and privatization projects. He has provided strategic advisory to governments and multinational corporations.

An MBA graduate from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management and holder of a Master’s in Finance and Banking from the Warsaw School of Economics, Paweł regularly contributes to international financial forums and media as an expert commentator on economic strategy and capital markets.

An economist, diplomat, and international business executive, she previously served as Hungary’s Ambassador-at-Large for Energy Security. She later held senior leadership positions in the international energy and telecommunications sectors, building extensive experience at the intersection of business, policy, and global markets. She studied in Hungary and the United States, earning her doctoral degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Over the course of her career, she has developed deep expertise in diplomacy, energy security, and international affairs.

Lesia Orobets is a Ukrainian politician and reform advocate, a former Member of Parliament who has long championed democratic reform in Ukraine. 

She was an outspoken defender of democracy during the Yanukovych presidency—fighting authoritarian moves and Russian encroachments.  One of the leaders of 2014 Revolution of Dignity. 
With the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ms. Orobets refocused her career on security and defense advocacy. She leads the Sky Shield initiative for Ukraine as founding director of the Price of Freedom NGO, mobilizing international support to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense.  

Through diplomacy and public advocacy, Ms. Orobets helped turn Sky Shield into an actionable proposal discussed at the E5 summit in Paris and covered by major media like The Guardian and Deutsche Welle.  

Endorsed by lawmakers and military experts across NATO, the plan envisions a Western-backed Integrated Air Protection Zone (IAPZ) with 120 fighter jets shielding key Ukrainian regions while operating separately from NATO. By securing Ukrainian airspace, SkyShield would ease pressure on Ukraine’s defenses, strengthen its military industry, and allow it to negotiate armistice from position of strength.

Jacob Parakilas is a research leader at RAND Europe and leads the Defence Strategy and Policy and Capabilities group. Prior to RAND, he worked on the U.S.-UK defense relationship as part of the State Department's Political-Military team at Embassy London, and was the deputy head of the U.S. program at Chatham House. He holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the London School of Economics and a Master's in Middle East and Central Asian security issues from the University of St. Andrews.

Tomáš Petříček is a geopolitical and geoeconomic expert and analyst working at the intersection of international security and global political economy. He is the foreign policy advisor to the President of the Czech Republic.

In academia, he is a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague and he was an Associate Researcher at Sciences Po Paris (CEE). 

He advises on European and global strategic trends and policy challenges. He is the Founder and CEO of Eunoia Horizons, a Prague-based geopolitical and geoeconomic think-tank/consultancy, and a Senior Advisor at Brussels-based NC+ Public Affairs Consultancy.

He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (2018–2021), as well as in other public administration roles.

Marko Primorac is Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), overseeing energy-related policy priorities and EIB Global operations in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as managing institutional relations with Croatia, Hungary, and Poland. Before joining the EIB, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Croatia, and is an associate professor at the University of Zagreb. At the EIB, he is also serving on the InvestEU Advisory Board, cooperating with the OECD, the Islamic Development Bank, and overseeing the work of the EIB Institute.

András Radnóti is managing partner of Millennium Strategy, a London-based strategic advisory firm that helps clients navigate political, regulatory and reputational risk across Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Russia. His work spans risk intelligence and strategic positioning, often in competitive or contentious settings. He previously worked at The Economist Intelligence Unit and Oxford Analytica and led the regional practice at Sastre Consulting. He holds a PhD from Central European University and an MSc from the London School of Economics.

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Aanjhan Ranganathan is an Associate Professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, USA, where he leads the Signal Intelligence Lab. He is currently on sabbatical at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on wireless security, cyber-physical systems, and autonomous swarms, emphasizing both the analysis of adversarial conditions in navigation and communication infrastructures and the development of robust, secure systems to enhance real-world autonomy. He is a recipient of several awards, including the outstanding dissertation award from ETH Zurich, regional winner of the European Space Agency's Satellite Navigation competition, and NSF CAREER awards. His research has been generously funded by the NSF, Office of Naval Research, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, Armasuisse, Google, and Amazon.

Ambassador Philip Reeker served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe in the Trump and Biden administrations (2019-21).  His 31-years in the Foreign Service included two postings in Hungary:  as Press Attache 1993-96 and as Deputy Chief of Mission 2004-07. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central and South Central Europe 2011-13, and retired as the Secretary’s Senior Advisor for Caucasus negotiations. He is now the Distinguished Fellow for Europe at the non-partisan, Congressionally-charted Wilson Center in Washington, and Senior Advisor with the Albright Stonebridge Group.

Robert leads the SGE’s effort to develop a fleet of small modular nuclear reactors  
in Europe and beyond. 

Previously, Robert served at the U.S. Department of Energy as a Foreign Affairs Specialist and Diplomat. While at the DOE he advocated for civil nuclear programs using U.S. technology to delivered carbon free energy security and ensure economic competitiveness. He was also assigned to the National Nuclear Security Administration where he cooperated with partners to implement nuclear and radiological security programs in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. 

Robert has over 25 years of military service including deployments to Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Kazakhstan. He completed multiple assignments with U.S. Army Special Forces and conducted rescue operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Robert is a proud alumnus of the University of Denver where he earned both a master’s degree  
in international security and a bachelor’s degree in international studies. 

A Lieutenant General and holder of a Doctorate in Military Science, he is the former Commander of the Hungarian Defence Forces. Throughout his distinguished military career, he gained extensive international operational experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, while also serving in senior leadership roles within NATO missions. He earned a Master’s degree in Strategic Studies in the United States. His professional focus has been on modernizing the armed forces, enhancing the standing of military personnel, and strengthening Hungary’s national defence capabilities.

Prof. Dr. Susanne Schmeier is a Professor of Water Cooperation, Law and Diplomacy at IHE Delft and Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She is also affiliated with the Fletcher School at Tufts University and Oregon State University in the United States. Her research and advisory work focus on conflict and cooperation dynamics over shared natural resources and the environment, with a particular interest in freshwater and marine waters. Her work spans across the diplomacy, development, environment and defense sectors, with a particular interest in interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral work. She has published widely on these topics, focusing specifically on legal and institutional dynamics that mitigate conflict and foster cooperation. She also advises governments and international organizations on conflict resolution and environmental cooperation. Prior to (re-)joining academia, she worked for the World Bank, the German Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Mekong River Commission, among others.  

Howard J. Shatz is a senior economist at RAND and a professor at the RAND School of Public Policy. He specializes in international economics, international development, and economics and national security. His RAND research has included international economic competition, the U.S. and allied defense industrial bases, Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, and economic issues related to Russia’s war on Ukraine. From 2007 to 2008, he was on leave from RAND, serving as a senior economist at the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He holds a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University.

Adam Sikorski is the co-founder and, since 2018, the President of the Management Board of UNIMOT S.A., the largest multi-energy group in Poland, where he previously served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

In 2012, he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board and a major shareholder of PZL Sędziszów S.A., a leading domestic manufacturer of automotive filters, and from 2015 to 2018, he served as President of the Management Board of the company.

He is a graduate of International Economic Relations at the Polonia Academy in Częstochowa. He completed an Executive MBA and an EDBA program at the Institute of Economic Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2023, he obtained a PhD in social sciences in the field of management and quality sciences at Częstochowa University of Technology.

dr Adam Sikorski
Prezes Zarządu UNIMOT S.A.

Adam Sikorski jest współzałożycielem oraz od 2018 roku prezesem zarządu UNIMOT S.A., największej grupy multienergetycznej w Polsce, gdzie wcześniej pełnił funkcję przewodniczącego rady nadzorczej.

W 2012 r. Został przewodniczącym Rady Nadzorczej oraz głównym udziałowcem PZL Sędziszów S.A. – wiodącego krajowego producenta filtrów dla motoryzacji, a w latach 2015–2018 pełnił funkcję prezesa zarządu spółki.

Jest absolwentem kierunku Międzynarodowe Stosunki Gospodarcze w Akademii Polonijnej w Częstochowie. Ukończył Executive MBA oraz program EDBA w Instytucie Nauk Ekonomicznych PAN. W 2023 r. Uzyskał tytuł doktora nauk społecznych w dyscyplinie nauki o zarządzaniu i jakości na Politechnice Częstochowskiej.

Anita Simon is Deputy CEO for Sustainability and Circular Economy at ALTEO Group and a member of its Executive Board. With over 15 years’ experience, she is a recognized expert in waste management, circular economy and circular business models. At ALTEO, she embeds ESG principles into corporate decision-making and leads circular economy initiatives. She is the only Hungarian invitee to the EIB Group’s EU Women Climate Leaders Network, bringing together sustainability experts from all 27 EU Member States to support competitive solutions for the green transition. She is also a board member of the Biogas-Biomethan Association as well as Hungarian Waste Management Federation. She considers mentoring and strong professional networks among women essential, and participates in the Seed Aspiring Women Leaders Program to support women’s leadership development.

László Szabó has been the head of REKK since 2018 at the Corvinus University of Budapest. He is an energy economist specializing in energy sector regulation, renewable technologies and their diffusion, climate change policy, and energy infrastructure development, with a PhD in economics. He previously held several positions in the Hungarian public administration and worked at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (IPTS). He has been coordinating REKK's regional and European research projects for more than fifteen years.
 

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Alexander Szalay is Bloomberg Professor at the Johns Hopkins University, the Director of the Institute for Data Intensive Science. He is a cosmologist, working on Big Data. He architected the archive of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. He is a Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, member of the US National Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the ACM. He received the IEEE Fernbach Award and the Microsoft Jim Gray Prize for his work on Computing, and the Ambartsumyan Prize for Physical Cosmology. 

Dr. Szeligowski's research primarily focuses on Ukraine's political and economic developments, foreign and security policy, the prospects for post-war reconstruction, Polish-Ukrainian relations, and Ukraine's integration with the EU and NATO. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he became a member of international working groups analysing future scenarios in Ukraine and Russia. Daniel holds a PhD in political science and administration, and is an economist and political scientist.
 

Réka Szemerkényi is the former Ambassador of Hungary to Washington and a leading geopolitical expert in transatlantic security with over 20 years of experience in a variety of government, academic, and private sector capacities. She is the former Executive Vice President of the Washington think-tank CEPA, the Center for European Policy Analysis. Her government roles include her mission as Ambassador of Hungary to the United States and being National Security Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Hungary. Her business experience includes being Senior Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of MOL Group, the Hungarian Oil and Gas Company, and Consultant of the World Bank.

Education:

1978-1984: ELTE University, Budapest, sociology-anthropology

1982-1983: University of Vienna, visiting student, sociology

1990: ELTE University, Budapest, university doctoral degree in historical anthropology

Career:

In the 1980s dissident and activist of the Democratic Opposition

1986-1990: research fellow, Institute for Ethnography, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

1988: Founding member of the Alliance of Free Democrats (Hungarian liberal party)

1990-2004: Member of Parliament, holding different senior positions (Group Leader, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Chair of the European Integration Committee)

1994-1997: State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2004-2009: Member of the European Parliament, AFET and BUDG Committee, Vice-President of the Korean Peninsula Delegation

2010-2015: Ambassador of Hungary, to Ljubljana, Slovenia

2015- 2022: foreign policy expert and analyst at freelance, lecturer on foreign and European policy at the Universities of Budapest: University King Sigismund (today Milton Friedman University) Budapest, University of Public Services, Budapest, Milton Friedman University, Budapest and Kodolányi János University, Budapest

2021- 2022 Chief of Foreign and European Policy Cabinet of the “Egységben Magyarországért” (United for Hungary) party alliance

2023. Febr.-Aug. - : Head of Department of International Relations and European Studies, Kodolányi János University, Budapest

2023. Since August: Senior Fellow of Department of International Relations and History, Kodolányi János University, Budapest

Social:

2009- : Vice-Chair of the Hungarian Atlantic Council

2024- President of ConnectEurope Association, NGO

Books:

Quo vadis Hungaria? Merre tartasz Magyarország?, Kalligram Kiadó, Budapest, 2018

Quo vadis Hungaria? Where is Hungary heading?, Republikon Institute, Budapest, 2020

Publications:

Several publications, articles, essays in foreign policy and European policy issues in Hungarian and international journals, magazines, newspapers.

A management and IT consultant with more than twenty-five years of experience in public administration, information security, and technology development. Throughout his career, he has worked on major national and international projects across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He has advised organizations on digital transformation, governance, and the adoption of emerging technologies. His professional focus is on innovation, digitalization, and the practical application of artificial intelligence.

Director of Research at the John Lukacs Institute for Strategy and Politics at Ludovika University of Public Service; Deputy Head of the Training Programme on National Minorities at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary.

He obtained his J.D., LL.M., and PhD from the Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest. He is Vice President of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN). He was born and raised in Slovakia.

Velina currently serves on the European Security Forum Network, Finland, the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forum Alpbach, Austria, and the Advisory Board of Eastern Circles, a Paris-based geoeconomics think tank focused on Eastern Europe and Ukraine. She holds a visiting fellowship at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India’s premier independent global think tank. 

She is a board member of the Strategic and Security Policy Advisory Board of the Science Commission at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defense, participates as a board member in the Vienna Economic Forum, and serves on the peer review board of the Defence Horizon Journal. 

Jay is the CEO of TDI, a global leader in strategic advisory and risk intelligence, delivering insight, due diligence, investigations, and enterprise risk management software solutions. He leads the firm in helping clients navigate geopolitical, regulatory, and market risks worldwide.

Before joining TDI, Jay was CEO of Veracity Worldwide, a risk advisory firm, and earlier worked at McKinsey & Company, advising clients on strategy and risk management across five continents and multiple industries. 

As a career Foreign Service Officer, Jay served as Chief of Staff at the US Embassy in Pakistan and as Special Assistant to two Deputy Secretaries of State, with additional diplomatic postings in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, and at the U.S. Mission to the OSCE. He is also a Navy Reserve Foreign Area Officer, specializing in Europe and Africa.   

Jay is a former Fulbright Scholar, Boren Fellow, and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and holds degrees from Stanford, Harvard, and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. 

Konstantin Eggert MBE (Hon) is an international correspondent and Russia analyst for DW (Deutsche Welle) since 2014. He is also a columnust for Euractiv.com. Previously Mr Eggert was Moscow bureau chief for the BBC Russian Service. Born in Moscow, he and his family live in Lithuania since 2014. Russian governmentdesignated Mr Eggert “foreign agent”. Queen Elizabeth created Mr Eggert Honorary member of the Order of the British Empire. He is also a Commander of the LithuanianOrder of Merit. 

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Viktor VAJDA, JD, LL.M., specializes in AI and TMT regulation and holds a master of laws degree in international and EU law. He serves as Secretary-General of the Hungarian Artificial Intelligence Council, established by Act LXXV of 2025. Mr. VAJDA is an expert on the legal framework governing AI in Hungary. He is also a university lecturer, and a member of the AI Committee organized by the EU AI Board. (W: https://mmit.hu/ E: fotitkar@mmit.hu L: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktor-vajda-attorney-at-law/)

A SPEAKER AT THE SIDE EVENT: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

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Andras Varfi is an cybersecurity expert and founder of the award-winner 4tress Ltd., specializing in AI security, cybersecurity strategy, and enterprise risk management. 

He advises organizations on securing AI-driven systems and critical digital assets while helping them build resilient security programs. 

A frequent speaker at industry events, Andras is passionate about bridging the gap between innovation and security, making complex cybersecurity challenges practical and actionable for both technical and executive audiences.

Mr. Mark Voyger is the President and Founder of KINGS, the Kyiv Institute for National and Global Security. Previously he served as Director of the Master’s Program in Global Management and Associate Professor of Global Security at the American University Kyiv. Mr. Voyger holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University with a focus on Russia-NATO relations, and a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and he has read for a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge University, UK.Mr. Voyger is fluent in English, Ukrainian Russian, Bulgarian, Arabic, Turkish, French, Spanish and Italian, and conversant in a number of other languages.

Mr. Mark Voyger is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), Washington, D.C., a board member of the Forum for Foreign Relations, UK, a consultant for RAND Europeand the Strategic Initiatives Head for the European-American Security Workshop (EASW), Leipzig.In 2021 hetaught International Security and Politics at the US Army College, Carlisle, PA. Previously he was the Vice President for Strategic Studies and Multi-National Programs with TheTacNet.com online training company, Virginia, US. In 2019 –2020, he was a Senior Scholar at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C. In 2018 –2019 he taught Russian and Eastern European politics and security as the Senior Lecturer at the Baltic Defence College in Tartu, Estonia. Prior to his academic career, in the period 2013 –2018, he served as the Special Advisor for Russian and Eurasian Affairs to LTG Ben Hodges, the Commanding General of US Army Europe in Wiesbaden, Germany, and as the Cultural Advisor and Senior Russia Expert at NATO’s Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey. In the period 2009 –2013 he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as an advisor and social scientist with the US Army. He also worked for Senator Mitt Romney's Presidential campaigns as a member of the ExecutiveDepartment (2007 –2008) and the Russia Advisory Group (2011 –2012). Mr. Voyger’s areas of academic and professional expertise include Eastern European, Balkan and Middle Eastern politics and security issues, Russian foreign and security policy, Russian military strategies and doctrine, hybrid warfare, as well as trans-national Islamist ideologies and movements. He has published articles on the above topics at journals in Ukraine, the Baltics States, Poland and elsewhere, and he gives regular TV interviews and talks across thinktanks, universities, and military commands in the United States and Europe. Mr. Voyger is the editor of a book on NATO, Russia and the Baltic States published by the Baltic Defence College, Tartu, Estonia, in 2019.He has also written a chapter on the Russian annexation of Crimea in a Cambridge-edited book on the Maydanand the Baltics,to bepublished by Hurst & Co (June2026).

Today, Michelle is Executive Director of Corporate Relations at the Institute of World Politics in Washington D.C. She is also CSO for risk management consulting firm Graymont Partners, and an adjunct teacher for US Special Operations Command, JSOU. 

Previously, Michelle held positions at Deloitte, Cyber Intelligent Partners and British Telecom. 

Michelle is currently completing an AI Professional Leadership certification from Google.   

Michelle Watson is also a speaker at the side event: Budapest AI and Security Symposium 2026

Amb. Miroslav Wlachovský is a Slovak diplomat and an expert on foreign policy. He served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic between May-October 2023.  

He is a Distinguished Fellow in Think Tank Globsec. Since December 2023 he has been author and host of weekly Podcast Okno do sveta (Window to the World) in cooperation with an independent, private press agency SITA. 

Following his leading positions at the Slovak Institute for International Affairs and the Research Center of the Slovak Society for Foreign Policy, he joined the Slovak foreign service in 1998. He held several managerial positions since. 

Miroslav Wlachovský represented Slovakia as its Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2011-2015), and to the Kingdom of Denmark (2018-2022). During his rich career he was an advisor for foreign policy to the Prime Minister(s) of the Slovak Republic (to PM Mikuláš Dzurinda in 2001-2003, respectively to PM Eduard Heger in 2022-2023).  

Miroslav Wlachovský is a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Comenius University in Bratislava, and has been an unwavering believer in a strong EU and NATO, as well as a committed supporter of transatlantic relations. 

Mihály Zala is EY Hungary’s Cyber Security Leader. He has extensive experience in the technological development and cyber security management of critical infrastructures and government systems. He established, for example, the Cyber Defense Management Authority within the National Security Authority, and for almost 10 years he was in charge of reviewing the IT systems of the Hungarian State Treasury as a Ministerial Commissioner.    

Mónika Zsigri works for the European Commission as Head of Unit of Energy Security and Safety in the Energy Security and International Relations Directorate (DG ENERGY). Previously, she was Head of Unit responsible for joint purchasing of gas and international outreach in support of the EU’s diversification strategy. She has over 15 years of experience on different aspects of EU energy policy, including the reduction of methane emissions, LNG and storage, as well as energy security, energy infrastructure and regional cooperation. In the past, she has worked in the area of cohesion policy in support of the twin transition to a green and digital economy. Before joining the Commission, as management consultant, she worked on different assignments in the energy and telecommunications sectors helping clients optimizing their business processes or developing successful business strategies. Ms Zsigri holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration.