NATO’s fragile future under the spotlight: a preview of the upcoming Ankara Summit

Myroslava Gongadze is a journalist and foreign policy expert specialising in Eastern European security, democratic resilience and strategic communications. As the first Eastern Europe Bureau chief for Voice of America (VOA), she directed coverage across frontline states and oversaw multimedia reporting on Russia’s war against Ukraine and its global consequences. Previously, as chief of VOA’s Ukrainian service in Washington, she transformed the service into a leading source of US news and policy analysis for millions of Ukrainian viewers.

Rose Gottemoeller is the Steven C. Házy Lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and its Center for International Security and Cooperation. Before joining Stanford, Gottemoeller was the deputy secretary-general of NATO. Prior to NATO, she served for nearly five years as the under secretary for arms control and international security at the United States Department of State, advising the Secretary of State on arms control, nonproliferation and political-military affairs. While assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, she was the chief US negotiator of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the Russian Federation.

Retiring from NATO in September 2018 after 38 years at the organisation, Jamie Shea has occupied a number of senior positions at NATO across a wide range of areas, including external relations, press and media, and policy planning. As NATO’s spokesperson, he was the face of the alliance during the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts. He later worked as the director of policy planning in the private office of former secretary general Rasmussen during the preparation of NATO’s 2010 Strategic Concept. Shea is also a regular lecturer and conference speaker on NATO and European security affairs.

Thomas Van Vynckt is Head of Peace, Security and Defence at Friends of Europe, where he leads the organisation’s work on European security, defence industrial policy, the war in Ukraine and Europe’s strategic preparedness. He has over nine years of experience across the private, public and civil society sectors, combining policy analysis, advocacy, stakeholder engagement and complex programme management. Before joining Friends of Europe, Thomas worked at NATO Headquarters in both the Operations and Political Affairs divisions. He previously produced international defence and security conferences at SAE Media in London. Thomas holds degrees from King’s College London, the University of Aberdeen and Leiden University, and is fluent in French, Dutch, and English.