Vice Admiral Keith E. Blount, CB OBE is the Commander of NATO's Allied Maritime Command. He is NATO's principal maritime adviser and has operational Command of NATO's Standing Naval Forces.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1984 as a helicopter pilot. He received his wings in 1986 and was a front line aviator at the age of 20. Through a varied flying career, he qualified as an instructor and flew in the Royal Navy Helicopter Display Team.

Blount has blended his aviation experience with a broad span of time at sea and in Command. He has sailed in NATO Task Groups during Operation Sharpguard and Operation Active Endeavour and worked together with NATO during periods with the Combined Maritime Forces and EUNAVFOR. He has commanded three warships, including the helicopter carrier HMS OCEAN and was the Iraqi Maritime Task Group Commander during Operation TELIC. More recently, he was the United Kingdom's Maritime Component Commander, based in Bahrain, spanning Operations in Syria and Iraq.

His staff appointments have included three periods in the Ministry of Defence and his last London assignment was as Military Assistant to the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Defence Studies, was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2012, Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2018 and is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He is the President of the Royal Navy Winter Sports Association.

Following almost four years as the Head of the Fleet Air Arm and the officer accountable for the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, he was appointed as the Commander of NATO’s Maritime Command in May 2019.

Ruxandra-Laura Boşilcă holds a Ph.D in Political Science from the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in co-supervision with the ARENA Centre for European Studies. Her thesis examined the origins and trajectory of maritime security cooperation in the European Union, and focused on a comparative analysis of operations EUNAVFOR Atalanta countering piracy off the coasts of Somalia and EUNAVFOR Med Sophia disrupting migrant smuggling networks in the Mediterranean. Previously, she was a research fellow at the University of Bologna, Cardiff University, and Institut Barcelona d`Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). Her main areas of research include European Union foreign and security policy, NATO and transatlantic relations, and maritime security. She has recently contributed a chapter on the EU-NATO inter-organizational relations in counter-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa to the edited volume Multinational Rapid Response Mechanisms: From Institutional Proliferation to Institutional Exploitation, with Marianne Riddervold (Routledge, 2019). For two consecutive years (2018-2019), Dr. Boşilcă has co-chaired the Maritime Security section of the Pan-European Conference on International Relations organised by the European International Studies Association (EISA). She is currently working on a book project which explores the emerging discourses and practices of maritime security and ocean governance in different regional settings. 

Dr. Sebastian Bruns directs the Center for Maritime Strategy & Security (CMSS) at the ISPK. His professional interests include on seapower, naval strategy, and the German and United States navies. Sebastian holds a PhD in Political Science (U of Kiel 2014) and an MA in North American Studies (U of Bonn 2007). His most recent, critically acclaimed book “US Naval Strategy and National Security. The Evolution of American Maritime Power” (Routledge: London 2018) follows American naval strategy from the Cold War into the 21st century. He is also one of the editors of the Routledge Handbook of Naval Strategy and Security (Routledge: London 2016). Before coming to Schleswig-Holstein, Sebastian served Rep. Todd Young (R-IN) as legislative aide in the 112th U.S. Congress (2010-2011) in Washington, D.C., handling defense and military policy affairs for the Congressman. Sebastian is an avid fan of soccer, photography, the sea, “The Simpsons”, and the epic music of Dire Straits.

General Sir James Everard was born on 23 September 1962 in Leicestershire. He commissioned into the 17th/21st Lancers in 1983 and spent his formative years in the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR), on the Chieftain & Challenger Main Battle Tank (MBT), and the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Tracked (CVR(T)) Scorpion. He served as a Captain at the US National Training Centre (NTC) and Ministry of Defence (MOD) before attending the Army Command and Staff Course in 1992. He returned to Germany as the Chief of Staff of the 4th Armoured Brigade in 1994. In this role he deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), and subsequently in 1996 with the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR). After two-years as a Squadron Leader in Germany and Canada he become the Military Assistant to the Commander, Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC). He deployed to Kosovo as part of Kosovo Force (KFOR) for the implementation of Operation JOINT GUARDIAN. From 2000-2002 he commanded the Queen’s Royal Lancers in Germany, deploying with the Regiment as Commanding Officer (CO), Sector 2, of the United Nation Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and then to Kosovo, as CO UK Battle-group North (KFOR). 

After two-years at the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters as Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff J5, responsible for Iraq and Afghanistan, he attended the UK Higher Command & Staff Course. This was followed in 2005 by a six-month deployment to the Pentagon as the UK Chief of Defence Staff Liaison Officer to the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. He then commanded the 20th Armoured Brigade in Paderborn, Germany, taking the Brigade to Iraq in 2006. After a period as the Assistant Chief of Staff (Commitments) at Headquarters Land Forces he moved to command the UK 3rd Division between 2009-2011 responsible for the preparation of UK brigades deploying to Afghanistan. He then served between 2011 – 2013 as the Assistant Chief of the General Staff in the Ministry of Defence, before promoting to Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Military Strategy and Operations). In 2014 he left the MOD to become Commander Field Army. He moved to the post of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe in March 2017. 

He was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in 1996 and 2007, appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000, Commander (CBE) in 2005, and was Knighted in 2015. He is a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, and remains a strong advocate for diversity having served as the Patron of the Army LGBT Forum from 2010-2016. 

An avid reader of military history, he also has a keen interest in military symbology and collects badges from around the world. He enjoys walking with his dogs, swimming, skiing, and shooting. He is married with three children.

Captain James E. Fanell concluded a near 30-year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Pacific security affairs, with an emphasis on China's navy and operations. His most recent assignment was the Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He served in an unprecedented series of afloat and ashore assignments focused on China, as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge as well as the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier strike group both forward deployed to Japan. Ashore he was the U.S. Navy's China Senior Intelligence Officer at the Office of Naval Intelligence. In addition to these assignments in the Navy, he was a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and is currently a Government Fellow with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy in Switzerland. He is an accomplished international public speaker most notably at AFCEA West / U.S. Naval Institute China Panels in 2013 and 2014, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in 2017, as well as before the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2018. He has an extensive list of published works regarding China ranging from the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval Intelligence Professionals Quarterly, Fox News, Switzerland’s Military Power Review, Liechtenstein's Geopolitical Intelligence Service and the Hoover Digest. He is also the creator and manager of the Indo-Pacific Security forum Red Star Rising since 2005.

Currently, Dr Viktoriya Fedorchak holds the position of Lecturer of Military History at the Department of History, Maynooth University. Here, she teaches various courses for the Military College of the Irish Defence Forces. Dr Fedorchak received her PhD from the University of Hull, exploring the subject of ‘The Development of RAF Air Power Doctrine, 1999-2013.’ She has taught multiple courses in Politics, International Relations, Global Security, Air Power and Russian Foreign Policy at the University of Nottingham, the University of Hull and Kyiv International University. Her research interests include defence and strategic studies, air power, and military doctrine. Her monograph ‘British Air Power: The Doctrinal Path to Jointery’ (2018) explores the shift from single-service to joint authorship of environmental doctrine and various stages of institutionalisation of jointery in the British Armed Forces.

Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti is a native of Rochester, New York. She received her commission in 1985 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Program at Northwestern University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. She also attended the Naval War College and holds a master’s in organizational management from the University of Phoenix.

Her operational tours include auxiliaries officer and first division officer on USS Shenandoah (AD 44); navigator and jumboization coordinator on USS Monongahela (AO 178); operations officer on USS Moosbrugger (DD 980); combat systems officer and chief staff officer for Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2;
executive officer of USS Stout (DDG 55); and assistant surface operations officer on USS George Washington Strike Group. She commanded USS Ross (DDG 71) and DESRON-21, embarked on USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). She also served as commander of Pacific Partnership 2010, embarked on USNS Mercy (T-AH 19).

Ashore, Franchetti’s assignments include commander, Naval Reserve Center Central Point, Oregon; aide to the vice chief of naval operations; protocol officer for the Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; 4th Battalion officer at the U.S. Naval Academy; division chief, Joint Concept Development and Experimentation, on the Joint Staff, J7; deputy director of International Engagement and executive assistant to N3/N5 on the Navy staff; and military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy.

Her flag assignments include commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea; commander Carrier Strike Group 9; commander, Carrier Strike Group 15; and chief of staff, Joint Staff, J-5, Strategy, Plans and Policy.

Franchetti assumed duties as commander, U.S. 6th Fleet, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO; deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe; deputy commander U.S. Naval Forces Africa; and Joint Force Maritime Component Commander March 1, 2018.

Her personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), Legion of Merit (five awards), Meritorious Service Medal (five awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), and the Navy and Marine CorpsAchievement Medal (two awards).

Dr. Jerry Hendrix is a retired Navy officer with experience in strategy, force structure planning, carrier strike group operations, and anti-submarine warfare. Outside of his military experience, Dr. Hendrix has held posts with senior staffs including the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, the Secretary of Defense's Office of Force Development, and the Office of Net Assessment where he served as the Senior Military Assistant to its Director.

Prior to joining the Telemus Group, Dr. Hendrix served as the Director of the defense program at the bi-partisan Center for a New American Security where he authored a number of cutting-edge studies on the need for a larger Navy, the evolution of the carrier air wing, the long range heavy bomber, and the growing gap in anti-submarine capabilities in the North Atlantic.

While on active duty he served as an instructor naval flight officer in the P-3C Orion aircraft as well as a Tactical Action Officer and an Air Operations Officer on nuclear and light amphibious aircraft carriers. He supported combat operations in operations Desert Storm, Allied Force, Deliberate Forge, and Iraqi Freedom. In addition, he served as the Director of the Secretary of the Navy’s Advisory Panel and as Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Dr. Hendrix holds graduate degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and Harvard University as well as a doctorate from King’s College, London.

Vice Admiral Andreas Krause is the Chief of the German Navy since November 2014.

Born in 1956, Vice Admiral Krause joined the German Navy in 1976 and received a Diploma in Education from the Bundeswehr University in 1980. After starting his service as a Watch Officer aboard submarines, he finished the 32nd Admiral Staff Officer Course in 1992 and became an Operational Planning Officer for the Submarine Flotilla (A31) and later on the Commander of the Submarine Training Centre. From 2006 - 2008, Krause was Commander of Flotilla 1 in Kiel, Deputy Commander of the German Fleet in Gluecksburg (2008 - 2009) and the Director of Joint Operations Staff at the Ministry of Defense in Berlin (2009 - 2012). He served also as the Deputy Commander of the Allied Maritime Command in Naples (2012 - 2013) and was Vice Chief of the German Navy (2013 - 2014) before taking his current position in 2014.

Professor Dr. Joachim Krause is the director of the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK), and Chairman of both the Foundation Wissenschaft und Demokratie and the scientific council of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). He was previously an executive board member at Aspen Institute Germany (2009–15); Deputy Director of the research institute at DGAP; and Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Ebenhausen. Until summer 2016, Joachim Krause was a professor for international politics and the director at the Institute of Social Sciences (Department of Political Sciences) at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel.

Brigadier General (ret.) Rainer Meyer zum Felde is currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK). From July 2013 to September 2017, he was the Senior Defence Advisor at the Permanent Delegation of Germany to NATO in Brussels and the German Representative in NATO’s Defence Policy and Planning Committee. Prior to this, he served for two years as Vice President of the Federal Academy for Security Studies in Berlin. He worked in various national assignments related to security policy in the Ministry of Defence, including twice on the Minister’s Policy Planning and Advisory Staff (1996–98; 2006–09) and in the Politico-Military Department (1989–1991). He has gathered extensive experience at NATO through integrated assignments at both Strategic Command Headquarters in Mons and Norfolk VA, as well as through national assignments at NATO HQ in Brussels, at military as well as political. Brigadier General Meyer zum Felde studied educational science at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich (1974–1977) and holds an MA equivalent (1996) in Security Policy and International Relations from the University of Geneva and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).

Dr Ian Speller is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Director of the Centre for Military History and Strategic Studies at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. At Maynooth he teaches topics relating to military history, maritime strategy and war studies for undergraduate and postgraduate students. He also teaches a number of modules in defence studies, strategic studies and maritime strategy at the Irish Defence Forces Military College and for the Irish Naval Service. Prior to moving to Ireland, he was a Senior Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King's College London and the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College where, amongst other duties, he was director of the Advanced Amphibious Warfare Course. His research interests centre on naval history, maritime strategy and amphibious/expeditionary warfare and he has lectured on these topics at a wide range of institutions, including the US Army Command and General Staff College, the Brazilian Naval War College, NATO Joint Warfare Centre Stavanger, Allied Joint Forces Command Naples, UK Joint Forces Command, UK COMATG and many different universities. He has published numerous books, articles and scholarly papers on maritime strategy and amphibious operations; including, most recently, Understanding Naval Warfare 2^nd ed. (Routledge, 2018) and the forthcoming Europe, Small Navies and Maritime Security, (Routledge, 2019) co-edited with Robert McCabe and Deborah Sanders.

Constanze Stelzenmüller, an expert on German, European, and transatlantic foreign and security policy and strategy, is the inaugural Robert Bosch senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings. Prior to working at Brookings, she was a senior transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), where she directed the influential Transatlantic Trends survey program. Her areas of expertise include: transatlantic relations; German foreign policy; NATO; the European Union’s foreign, security, and defense policy; international law; and human rights.

She is the former director of GMF’s Berlin office. From 1994 to 2005, she was an editor for the political section of the German weekly DIE ZEIT, where she had also served as defense and international security editor and covered human rights issues and humanitarian crises. From 1988 to 1989, she was a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School. She has also been a GMF campus fellow at Grinnell College in Iowa, a Woodrow Wilson Center public policy scholar in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Remarque Forum—a conference series of the Remarque Institute at New York University.

Stelzenmüller’s essays and articles, in both German and English, have appeared in a wide range of publications, including Foreign Affairs, Internationale Politik, the Financial Times, the International New York Times and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Her dissertation, "Direkte Demokratie in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika," was published in 1994 by Nomos. She is also a frequent commentator on American and European radio and television, including Presseclub (ARD), National Public Radio, and the BBC.

Stelzenmüller is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation and a fellow of the Royal Swedish Society for War Sciences. She has worked in Germany and the United States, and speaks English, French, German, and Spanish.

Stelzenmüller holds a doctorate in law from the University of Bonn (1992), a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1988), and a law degree from the University of Bonn (1985).

Sarah Tarry became the Director of Defence Policy and Capabilities Directorate in NATO's Defence Policy and Planning Division in November 2018. Previously, she was Head of the Operational Preparedness Section within the Operations Division of NATO's International Staff. Further, Ms. Tarry held a variety of positions in the Canadian Ministry of Defence, including as the Deputy Director for Peacekeeping Policy, and the Deputy Director of NATO Policy. Her most recent position, prior to returning to Brussels in 2016, was in Canada's Privy Council Office, where she worked in the Secretariat responsible for providing foreign and defence policy advice to Canada's Prime Minister. Between 2009 and 2012, Ms. Tarry had already worked in the Defence Policy and Planning Division of the NATO International Staff.