Robin Shepherd
Director of International Affairs, Henry Jackson Society, Bratislava
Robin Shepherd, Director of International Affairs, has held senior fellowships at some of the world's most prestigious public policy institutes. Shepherd entered the think tank world in 2003 with a public policy fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Institute for Scholars in Washington D.C. where he focused his attention on the dual expansions of NATO and the EU and their impact on transatlantic relations. Subsequently he became an adjunct fellow of the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies. In 2006 he was appointed as a senior transatlantic fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), also based in Central Europe.
Gerald Howarth
Minister for International Security Strategy, Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom, London
Gerald Howarth was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Ministry of Defence with the title of Minister for International Security Strategy. From 1971 – 1983 he worked in international banking with his last appointment as manager of syndicated lending at Standard Chartered Bank. From 1983 – 1992 he served as Conservative Member of Parliament for Cannock & Burntwood during which time he was PPS to Michael Spicer at the Department of Energy and from 1991 – 92 PPS to Mrs Margaret Thatcher. In 1997 he was elected MP for Aldershot and served on the Home Affairs Select Committee and the Defence Select Committee. From 2002 – 2010 he served as a Shadow Defence Minister with responsibility for defence procurement and the Royal Air Force. Mr Howarth has been married to Elizabeth since 1973 and they have three children and two grandchildren. He has held a pilot's licence since 1965 and is a church warden at the Royal Garrison Church in Aldershot. He is president of the Air Display Association, a Trustee of the British Forces Foundation and of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, and he and his wife are joint patrons of Aerobility, the British Disabled Flying Association.
Róbert Ondrejcsák
State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic
State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence Mr. Róbert Ondrejcsák assumed the office after the elections in July last year. Prior to his appointment, from 2007, he worked as the Executive Director in the Center for European and North Atlantic Affairs (CENAA) – think tank focused on international relations and security policy. Before joining CENAA he served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Slovak Embassy to Hungary (2005 – 2007). From 2003 to 2005, he held the position of the Director of the Security and Defence Studies Institute at the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic. He also worked as foreign and security policy advisor to the Vice-President of the National Council of the Slovak Republic in 2002 – 2003.
Jiří Šedivý
State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic
Between 1999 and 2004, Ambassador Šedivý was Director of the Institute of International Relations in Prague, Assistant Professor of International Relations at Charles University, Prague, and Professor of European Security at New York University, Prague Centre. As an expert, he played an important role in the Czech Republic’s accession to NATO. It was during this period that he also served as external adviser to President Václav Havel. He has been a member of a number of international expert teams and task forces preparing policy recommendations and security analyses, including for NATO, the EU and the US government.
John Barter
Director, Slovak Republic, BAE Systems, Bratislava
