The Team

We take pride in our international staff from Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Roberta Bonazzi, Executive Director, has a long-standing experience as an EU public affairs practitioner. After having worked for some of the major public affairs agencies in Brussels, she founded the European Foundation for Democracy. She works on a broad range of issues relating to foreign relations, democratic reforms, violent radicalisation and terrorism. Fluent in English, Italian, French and German, Roberta holds a degree in Political Sciences and International Relations from the University of Milan and a post graduate degree from the Institute for International Studies. Roberta is also the Co-Director of the Center for Liberty in the Middle East.

Talton Gibson, US Director, is experienced in all phases of strategic communications programme development and implementation. Talton served in the United States as a Democratic campaign manager and strategist and worked in the media and entertainment industries. Talton has managed programmes focused on significant public opinion research, paid and earned media campaigns, training, and substantial work with NGOs in the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Russia. Gibson was educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Additionally, he studied both crisis communications and management and entertainment publicity at UCLA.

Alba Xhixho, Programme Manager, holds a degree in International Business from The Netherlands and France. She has also studied American Politics, Public Policy and Constitutionalism at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Alba Xhixho has worked and studied in Western and Eastern Europe, in the Middle East and in the United States.

Daniel Trautvetter, Programme Manager, is responsible for coordinating EFD’s current activities in Germany and cross-European projects relating to EU relations with Mediterranean countries and Iran. He holds a Masters degree in Security Studies from the University of Birmingham and has studied international politics, economic studies and law at the University of Erfurt in Germany and University of Aberystwyth in the United Kingdom. Before joining EFD, Daniel worked for the Free University Berlin as lecturer for European Studies and International Relations at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in Russia. He is fluent in English, German and Russian.

Giordana Grego, Development Manager, holds a Masters degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a degree in Economics from University College London. Giordana has extensive experience in communications, research, project management and development in both the public and private sectors in Europe, United States and the Middle East.

Irshad Manji, Senior Fellow, the best-selling author of The Trouble With Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith (available in 25 languages, including Arabic, Urdu, Farsi and Malay). As a journalist, her columns are distributed worldwide by the New York Times Syndicate. Recently, Irshad released Faith Without Fear, her acclaimed documentary about reconciling Islam with human rights and freedom. The Jakarta Post in Indonesia - the world’s largest Muslim country - identifies Irshad as one of three Muslim women making a positive change in Islam today.

Alexander Ritzmann, Senior Fellow, former Member of the Berlin State Parliament and now an expert in international and home-grown terrorism and immigration policies in Europe and the USA. Alex received his Masters degree in Political Science from the Freie Universität in Berlin. He was also a Research Fellow with the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C.

Valentina Colombo, Senior Fellow, holds a Degree in Arabic language and literature from Università Cattolica of Milan and a PhD in Islamic Studies from Istituto Orientale, Naples. She is also a research fellow at IMT School of Advanced Studies in Lucca, Italy. Her studies focus on the role of women in democratisation processes and contemporary Arab liberal thinkers.

Ammar Al Shahbander, Fellow, an Iraqi national with extensive project management experience in the Arab world. He has served as the project manager for the Iraq Foundation and as the country director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. A native Arabic speaker, he is also fluent in English, Farsi and Swedish. Ammar Al Shahbander holds a B.A in Sociology from the University of Westminster, London.

Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, Senior Fellow, an Iranian scholar based in Germany, writes regular columns in the top German media addressing the threat of Iran as well as violations of human rights and minority rights. He is also consulted on a regular basis by media and policy-makers.

Walid Phares, Visiting Fellow, is an expert on Middle East history and politics, global terrorist movements, democratisation and human rights. He is the author of nine books. War of Ideas: Jihadism Against Democracy was published in 2007. A frequently consulted expert, Walid Phares has been called upon by European Commissioners, European Parliament members, as well as French, British, Belgian, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, and Cypriot legislators, officials and diplomats. He has served as an expert for the Dutch Government on Terrorism. Walid Phares is based in Washington.

Sargis Ghazaryan, Adjunct Fellow, holds a Ph.D. in Political Geography and Geopolitics from the University of Trieste. Mr. Ghazaryan has been a graduate lecturer of Geopolitics: EU Foreign and Security Policy in International Relations and Diplomacy at University of Trieste, and he is currently a Post-doctorate research fellow at the Department of Political Sciences at the same university. He specialises in the Common Foreign and Security Policy, European Neighbourhood Policy, security sector governance and conflict resolution in the former Soviet Union, and in Southern Caucasus, in particular. He is fluent in English, Italian, French, Armenian and Russian.

Michael Inlander, Adjunct Fellow, specialises in developing and executing public affairs campaigns. Michael has lived in the United States and Europe where he has gained experience working as a UN monitor, foreign policy advisor, media consultant and public health advocate. He has testified before the UN Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Human Rights and Working Group on Minorities and published articles on international politics and the United Nations. Michael holds a BA from Kenyon College where he studied political science and religious studies and is currently completing a MA in Government from Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC where his research focuses on South Asia.