Greg Starr is a retired senior United States Foreign Service Officer with a specialized career in the field of diplomatic security.  He served primarily at the US Department of State (33 years), ultimately serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security (2013-2017).  In this position he was the senior officer in the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service, and advisor for security and law enforcement matters to the Secretary of State. He testified multiple times before Senate and Congressional Committees on the Benghazi incident and developed policy and procedures to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

From 2009 to 2013 Mr. Starr served as Under Secretary General for Safety and Security at the United Nations, reporting to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. He was the senior official of the UN Security Management System, overseeing the formulation of security policies and the implementation of programs to ensure the operations of UN political, humanitarian, and relief activities were conducted in as secure an environment as possible around the globe.

During his career he also served as DS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Countermeasure, and then Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of the Diplomatic Security Service, leading a force of Special Agents, Diplomatic Couriers, Security Engineering Officers, Security Technical Specialists, General Service staff, and other specialists. (March 2007 – May 2009)

Mr. Starr served in multiple domestic and foreign assignments, including tours abroad as a Regional Security Officer in Israel, Tunisia, Senegal, and Kinshasa, Zaire (presently the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Katherine Hadda is Senior Fellow at the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she advances U.S.-India sub-national understanding and cooperation.  She also serves as advisor to the Safe Water Network.  A prior FSO, Katherine was U.S. Consul General in Hyderabad U.S. from 2016-19, overseeing one of the busiest U.S. visa operations in the world and supporting over 130 U.S. companies based in the region. Earlier postings during Katherine’s three-decade diplomatic career include Italy, Afghanistan, New Zealand, the UK, Taiwan and China, as well as the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, and U.S. Congress.

After 34 years as a career Foreign Service and Senior Foreign Service officer, Krishna R. Urs retired in 2021.  Mr. Urs served as the United States Ambassador to Peru from 2017 until 2020. He also served overseas as Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassies in Spain, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic: other tours include Nicaragua, Bangladesh, and Mexico.  In Washington, D.C. at the Department of State, Mr. Urs served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Affairs and Chief U.S. Government Aviation Negotiator in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs and as Director of the Office of Economic Policy and Summit Coordination in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.  Since retiring, Mr. Urs has taught as an Adjunct Lecturer at American University.  Mr. Urs is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he studied Latin American politics and economics. He earned a master’s degree in economics at the University of Texas.  He speaks Spanish and Hindi.

After a distinguished career of 37 years in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State, Ambassador Gail Dennise Mathieu continues to use her executive leadership, program and resource management, and policy acumen to focus on international diplomacy.  Most recently she was the former President and CEO of The Bridges Institute, a non-governmental organization.  Prior to retirement, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands (2013-2015); Foreign Policy Advisor to the U.S. Transportation Command (2010-2013); and Ambassador to Namibia (2007-2010) and to Niger (2002-2005).

Ms. Mathieu is a graduate of Antioch College and Rutgers University School of Law.  She speaks French and Spanish and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Meritorious Service Award.

Roxanne Cabral is the Senior Vice President at the National Defense University. Before that, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands from February 2020 to March 2023. Her most recent Washington assignment was as the Director of the Office of Policy, Planning and Resources for the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs from 2015-2017. Previous overseas assignments include Panama, China, Taiwan, Albania, Mexico City, and Ukraine. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Jeffrey Feltman, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation, was the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs (2012-2018).  Previously, in the U.S. Foreign Service, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and ambassador to Lebanon.  Other assignments included Baghdad, Erbil, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Tunis, Amman, Budapest, and Port-au-Prince.  He is on the governing boards of the Middle East Institute, American Academy of Diplomacy, and International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and on the advisory boards of the European Institute of Peace, Dialogue Advisory Group, and Berghof Foundation.

Ms. Smith-Wilson is currently the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.  Previously she was the Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute.  Other assignments include Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Deputy Director of the State Department’s Operations Center, and Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassies in Madrid and Panama.  She holds master’s degrees from the National War College and The George Washington University, and a B.A. in Political Science from Duke University.