NTI - Key Persons
Alex Bednarek is currently on an assignment to the U.S. Department of Defense. Until his departure in February 2021, he served as program officer with the International Fuel Cycle Strategies team.
Job Titles:
- Ambassador
- Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali / Ambassador Alexa Wesner
Ambassador Alexa Wesner began her career in technology by moving to Austin, Texas to join Trilogy Software. Three years later, she founded HireTECH, a recruiting and consulting company focused on high-tech start-ups, also serving as President and CEO. In 2000, she started Recruiting Labs, a web-based recruiting venture.
In 2009, Wesner founded Be One Texas, The Texas Civic Engagement Table, Engage Texas, Progress Texas, and the Texas Research Institute, all designed to build lasting progressive infrastructure in Texas. The spectrum of activities spanned civic engagement, organizational collaboration, voter empowerment, voter turn-out, primary research and both direct and collaborative messaging. Her ambitious efforts earned support from various national foundations and unions, among others.
Wesner was also the founder of Blue Texas, a general purpose PAC to help restore a Democratic majority to the Texas State Legislature.
Wesner was an early supporter of Barack Obama's Senate campaign and later joined his National Finance Committee for President. She was appointed to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 2009. In 2013, President Obama appointed Wesner as the U.S. Ambassador to Austria and she served in that capacity until 2017. At the end of her term, the Austrian government awarded her the "Grand Decoration in Gold with Sash," the highest decoration for services to the country a non-national can receive.
Wesner has served on the boards of Lifeworks, Breakthrough, Arthouse, The Blanton Museum of Art, GenAustin, and the Austin Film Society. She has also served on the board of advisors of the Austin Museum of Art, and the Downtown Austin Alliance's Parks Committee. She currently serves on the board of the Salzburg Global Seminar, a think tank; is Chairperson of the Friends of the Salzburg Festival Society; and is a limited partner in several start-ups.
Wesner graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Biology.
Job Titles:
- Board Members
- Head, Center for International Security at the Primakov National Research Institute
Alexey Arbatov is one of Russia's most important scholars and intellectual leaders in the fields of international relations and international security. He is the head of the Center for International Security at the Primakov National Research Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic Research.
In 2011 Arbatov was elected as a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In Russia he is the member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, member of the Russian International Affairs Council and of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.
Arbatov has played a leading role in the politics of post-Soviet Russia, as a member of the Soviet delegation at START-1 negotiations, a member of the Russian Parliament (Duma) from 1994 to 2003 and as a member of the YABLOKO party Political Committee from 2008 to present. While in Parliament, he was deputy chairman of the Duma Defense Committee.
The author of numerous books and articles on global security, disarmament and Russian military reform, Arbatov was a member of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission. Presently, he's vice president of the Luxembourg Forum (an international organization on nuclear arms control) and serves on the board of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
NTI Board members Alexey Arbatov and Igor Ivanov warn that a new cycle of the nuclear and conventional arms race is gaining momentum-and describe steps to avoid it.
Job Titles:
- Economist
- Emeritus Board Member
- Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics
Sen is Lamont University Professor and professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University. Until recently, he was master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Earlier, he was the Drummond professor of political economy at Oxford University and a fellow of All Souls College. Prior to that, he was professor of economics at Delhi University and at the London School of Economics.
Job Titles:
- Ambassador
- President, Pivotal Ventures
Job Titles:
- Executive Secretary of the Argentine Chemical Weapons Convention
- Executive Secretary, Argentine Chemical Weapons Convention National Authority Former Deputy Foreign Minister of Argentina
Bio
Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen serves as Executive Secretary of the Argentine Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) National Authority. He is also a member of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons (IGEP). From 2020-2022, he was President of the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT Review Conference). He also previously served as Deputy Foreign Minister (2019) and Undersecretary for Foreign Policy (2016-2018) of Argentina.
During his career in the diplomatic service, Ambassador Zlauvinen served as a delegate and representative of Argentina to a number of disarmament, nuclear energy and arms control conferences and meetings, including the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors and General Conference; the United Nations General Assembly's First Committee; the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review process; the Conference on the adoption of the Nuclear Safety Convention; and the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
From 2001-2009, he was the Permanent Representative of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the United Nations. From 2005 to 2009, he was the Chairman of the Working Group on Preventing and Responding to Weapons of Mass Destruction Attacks of the United Nations Counterterrorism Implementation Task Force in New York. He also served as Chief of Staff of the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission for the Disarmament of Iraq (UNSCOM) in New York.
He was Professor of Management of Public and Private Organizations at the Universidad de Belgrano (2019-2021), Professor of Argentine Foreign Policy at the Universidad Católica Argentina (1989-1990), and an Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (1988-1990).
He is a graduate of the National Foreign Service Institute of Argentine Republic and has a degree in International Relations from the National University of Rosario.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Treasurer
- Vice President
- Certified Public Accountant in the State of Maryland
Amy Hargrett serves as NTI's Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. In this role, she manages, plans, and oversees NTI's accounting and financial reporting, budgeting, treasury and administrative operations, information technology, contract management and grant management.
Hargrett joined NTI as chief financial officer and treasurer in 2017. She has served more than 20 years in the public and private sectors with a focus on financial reporting, auditing, risk management, and internal controls. Prior to NTI, she worked as a consultant to Grant Thornton, where she focused on governance, organization, operations, and audit procedures. Hargrett also served as CFO of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and was associate chief accountant in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant.
Hargrett began her career as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she spent a decade leading and managing high quality assurance engagements, including audits of public and private companies.
Hargrett is a certified public accountant in the state of Maryland and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Florida A&M University.
Job Titles:
- Director for Grants and Contracts
Angela Kane is a Senior Advisor to NTI and served as the NTI Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow between 2021 and 2022, supporting NTI's work on global threat reduction. Her particular focus is on NTI | bio's initiatives to reduce global catastrophic biological risks by strengthening international coordination in preventing and responding to these devastating events.
Angela Kane spent over 35 years working for the United Nations, both in New York and in the field. Her last positions were Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Under-Secretary-General for Management, and High Representative for Disarmament. Prior to taking up the Fellowship, she resided in Vienna and was Vice President of the International Institute for Peace in Vienna and Senior Fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
Ms. Kane has taught at the Paris School of International Affairs/Sciences Po and at Tsinghua University/Schwarzman Scholars in Beijing. She is the Chair of the United Nations University Council in Tokyo and the Co-Chair of the Regional Council on the Korean Peninsula of the World Economic Forum. She is a member of the Group of Eminent Persons, Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, as well as a Member of the Group of Eminent Persons for Substantive Advancement for Nuclear Disarmament (Japan). She is also a Member of the European Leadership Network; and chairs and serves on NGO Boards in Europe, United States, and Asia.
In an op-ed for The Hill, NTI Senior Advisor Angela Kane and Vice President for Global Biological Policy and Programs Jaime Yassif acknowledge the importance of the ongoing investigation into the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Job Titles:
- Scientist
- Member of American Biological Safety International
- Senior Program Officer for NTI 's Global Biological Policy
Aparupa Sengupta serves as a Senior Program Officer for NTI's Global Biological Policy and Programs team (NTI | bio). In this role, she supports the Biosecurity Innovation and Risk Reduction Initiative (BIRRI) to reduce risks of biotechnology catastrophe. This includes efforts to advance the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS), a new international entity NTI is launching to safeguard science and reduce the risk of catastrophic events that could result from deliberate abuse or accidental misuse of bioscience and biotechnology.
Sengupta is an accomplished scientist and global health security practitioner with more than 15 years of research, regulatory, and training experience across the fields of infectious disease containment, biosafety and biosecurity, and global biological risk reduction. Prior to joining NTI in 2022, she served at the University of California (Merced campus), where she initiated and led their biosafety and biosecurity programs, first, as the campus biosafety-biosecurity officer since May 2018 and then as the Assistant Director for Environmental Health and Safety and Director of High Containment Research Laboratories. From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as the COVID-19 response subject matter expert at the institution's Emergency Operation Center. Prior to 2018, Sengupta was a Biosafety Officer at Rutgers University, where she managed an Institutional Biosafety Committee that reviews biological risks related to infectious disease and recombinant DNA research, and she led multiple projects related to CRISPR/Cas9 and other emerging technologies and their potential implications in the biosafety-biosecurity realm.
Sengupta is an active member of American Biological Safety International (ABSA Int.), where she plays key leadership roles in multiple committees; to highlight- Chair, Publications Committee and Co-Chair, International Engagement Committee. She also teaches pre-conference courses in the field of gene editing and related to other emerging technologies, and she has been invited to give many talks in the U.S. and internationally, advocating for the safe and secure use of emerging recombinant technologies in the evolving field of biosciences.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant and Events Coordinator, Communications
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Executive Assistant & Conference Coordinator
Catherine Crary is the executive assistant & conference coordinator for NTI's Scientific and Technical Affairs program and the Global Nuclear Policy Program. In that role, she supports the teams through virtual and in-person event planning and execution, scheduling, and records management. She also monitors and processes the teams' financial commitments to consultants, and vendors.
Job Titles:
- Media Contact
- Senior Director of Communications
Cathy Gwin is the senior director of communications at NTI. A founding NTI staff member, she is the primary media liaison for NTI and also serves as the coordinator of NTI's Seminar Series. Since 2001, Gwin has supported all of the organization's signature initiatives, including the production and release of the film Last Best Chance, a fictional account of al Qaeda operatives obtaining nuclear weapons and weapons material.
Gwin served as the primary film liaison for Nuclear Tipping Point, a documentary with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and former Senator Sam Nunn describing their efforts to galvanize global action to reduce urgent nuclear dangers and build support for reducing reliance on nuclear weapons, ultimately ending them as a threat to the world.
Gwin came to NTI from the law firm of King & Spalding, where she served as former Senator Sam Nunn's director of communications and public policy. She previously served as Senator Nunn's press secretary in the U.S. Senate and the spokesperson for the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Auburn University.
Job Titles:
- President
- President Emeritus and Emeritus Board Member
Curtis served as under secretary, deputy secretary and acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. He was chief operating officer of the Department and among other duties, had direct programmatic responsibility for all of the Department's energy, science, technology and national security programs. Before his nine years of service at NTI, Curtis served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the United Nations Foundation and was a partner in Hogan & Hartson, a Washington DC based law firm with domestic and international offices.
Curtis is a lawyer with more than 15 years' practice experience and more than 18 years in government service. He was a founding partner of the Washington law firm Van Ness Feldman. Curtis served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 1977 to 1981 and has held positions on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is a current member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Charles B. Curtis is NTI president emeritus, an emeritus board member and senior adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In his remarks celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, NTI President Charles Curtis outlined the important role foundations, NGOs, and the media can play in educating the public about nuclear dangers.
NTI's Charles Curtis and Corey Hinderstein welcome the announcement that the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan will set up a mechanism for participating in the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS).
Job Titles:
- Director of Human Resources
- Human Resources Director
Cheryl Nathan is the human resources director for NTI. In this role, she is responsible for the design, development, and administrative leadership of NTI's HR programs and services, including employment, compensation, benefits, training, and employee relations. She also serves as the co-chair of NTI's DEI Taskforce.
Nathan is an accomplished HR practitioner with expertise and experience working with small to mid-size companies in a variety of industries.
Prior to joining NTI, she served as VPHR for a2z, Inc. (now part of Personify). Previously, she served as Senior HR Consultant with FosterThomas, HR Business Partner for First Annapolis Consulting (now part of Accenture), VPHR for NMS Healthcare, and Director of HR for TownePark. These HR leadership roles have allowed her to partner with company executives to translate business vision into results-oriented HR initiatives and processes.
Nathan holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Delaware and a Master of Science degree in Human Resources Management from the University of Maryland, Global Campus. She is a member of the national chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.
Job Titles:
- Program Officer, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair
- Ambassador Hamad Alkaabi
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor to the President
Job Titles:
- Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali / Ambassador Alexa Wesner
Job Titles:
- Strategic Communications Consultant
Job Titles:
- CEO and Co - Founder of Twist Bioscience
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant, Nuclear Materials Security
Job Titles:
- Deputy Vice President, Nuclear Materials Security
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Co - Chair
Job Titles:
- Rector of the College of Europe Former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission
Job Titles:
- Program Officer, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Job Titles:
- Member of the Whitehead Institute Professor of Genetics, MIT
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant and Conference Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair
- Ambassador Hamad Alkaabi
Job Titles:
- Deputy Vice President, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Board Member / Ambassador Hisashi Owada / Emeritus Board Member
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Global Nuclear Policy Program
Job Titles:
- Program Officer, Nuclear Materials Security
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Officer, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Global Biological Policy and Programs
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- Senior Fellow, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Officer, Global Nuclear Policy Program
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Kiswe Mobile Inc
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Officer, Nuclear Materials Security
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Board Member / Ambassador Hisashi Owada / Emeritus Board Member
Job Titles:
- Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- President
Job Titles:
- Chief Innovation Officer, Boston Children 's Hospital
Job Titles:
- Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Job Titles:
- Director of the Denmark Centre for Biosecurity and Biopreparedness / Science & Technology Advisory Group
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- Co - President, InterAcademy Partnership / Ambassador Jon M. Huntsman
Job Titles:
- Iran 's Nuclear Industry, " Middle East and North Africa, January 2006
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Captain Planet Foundation and Director of Turner Foundation
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- President, Bright Horizon Foundation
Job Titles:
- Venture Partner at ARCH Venture Partners Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Global Nuclear Policy Program
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant & Travel Administrator
Job Titles:
- Co - President, InterAcademy Partnership / Ambassador Jon M. Huntsman
Job Titles:
- Vice President for Research and E. a. Griswold Professor of Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Job Titles:
- Deputy Vice President, Global Nuclear Policy Program
Job Titles:
- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Job Titles:
- Program Officer, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Communications
Job Titles:
- Special Assistant to the President and the Vice - Chairman, Board Liaison
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Nuclear Materials Security
Job Titles:
- Program Officer, Global Nuclear Policy Program
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Development
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, International Biosecurity & Biosafety Initiative for Science ( IBBIS )
Job Titles:
- Deputy Vice President, Communications
Job Titles:
- Strategic Communications Consultant
Job Titles:
- Executive Chairman RedSeal, Inc. and Partner Emeritus, Venrock
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- Co - Founder, Ginkgo Bioworks
Job Titles:
- Chairman Emeritus of the Board, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Job Titles:
- Partner, Los Angeles Office of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Nuclear Materials Security
Job Titles:
- Digital Communications Director
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Co - Chair
- Education Center
- Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Nuclear Materials Security
Job Titles:
- President Emerita of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Job Titles:
- Co - Director, Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation
Job Titles:
- Administrative Operations Assistant
- National Security Consultant
Job Titles:
- Human Resources Administrator
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Co - Chair
Job Titles:
- Special Advisor on Global Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
Job Titles:
- Representative
- Representative of the UAE
Job Titles:
- Director, Office of the Honorable Sam Nunn
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc
- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Berkshire Hathaway
- Director of the Washington Post Company
Buffett is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holding company owning subsidiaries engaged in a number of diverse business activities and controlled by him since 1965. Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s business activities include the underwriting of property and casualty insurance and a wide variety of manufacturing, retailing and service companies.
Buffett started out as an investment salesman and securities analyst, and early in his career, he created his own investment partnership.
Buffett also serves as a director of The Washington Post Company and is a life trustee of Grinnell College and The Urban Institute. Buffett attended the Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, DC, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1950 received his BS from the University of Nebraska. He earned his MS in Economics from Columbia University in 1951.
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Fellow
- Emeritus Board Member