Executive Staff
Alistair Millar is president of the Forum and Director of the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. He teaches graduate-level courses on counterterrorism and U.S. foreign policy at The Johns Hopkins University, where he received the 2010 - 2011 Excellence in Teaching Award for Advanced Academic Programs, and is also a nonresident senior fellow at The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute. Previously, Millar has had lecturing posts at The George Washington University and the Department of Homeland Security’s Center of Excellence on the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland. He has written numerous chapters, articles, and reports on international counterterrorism efforts, sanctions regimes, and nonproliferation. Millar is author, with Eric Rosand, of Allied Against Terrorism: What’s Needed to Strengthen Worldwide Commitment (2006). He has an MA from Leeds University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. Millar is located in the Washington, DC, office and has worked for the Forum since 1998.
Linda Gerber-Stellingwerf is chief operating officer of the Forum, a co-director of the Forum’s Sanctions and Security Research Program, and a senior programs advisor for the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. She oversees all organizational operations and participates in various research projects. These include the Sanctions and Security Research Program, where she has helped research, write, and edit various reports and books, and the Center’s projects on strengthening subregional cooperation and expertise in preventing terrorism in East Africa, and strengthening capacity to counter terrorist financing in the Horn of Africa. She received her undergraduate degree from Goshen College in 1996 and a Masters of Library Science from Indiana University in 2002. Gerber-Stellingwerf is located at the Forum headquarters in Goshen, IN, and has worked for the Forum since 1998.
Program Staff
Jason Ipe is the Deputy Director for the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation and has provided research and written contributions to numerous book chapters and reports on issues of counterterrorism, money laundering, and nuclear nonproliferation. He received his BA in international relations from Connecticut College in New London and his Master of Arts degree in international security policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Ipe is located in the Washington, DC, office and has worked for the Forum since 2004.
Naureen Chowdhury Fink is a Senior Analyst for the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. She focuses on the international and multilateral response to terrorism and related challenges, such violent extremism, armed conflict and political instability, and the role of the United Nations. Before joining the Forum, Chowdhury Fink spent five years at the International Peace Institute, where she developed the counterterrorism portfolio and published on international efforts to promote deradicalization and violent extremism; regional counterterrorism cooperation in South Asia; terrorism and political violence in Bangladesh and the United Nations’ counterterrorism program. She has also worked closely with the UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) on developing their initiatives in South Asia. Prior to that, Chowdhury Fink worked with the Middle East Programme in Chatham House and the World Intellectual Properties Organization and World Trade Organization in Geneva. She holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art, and an MA in War Studies from Kings College, London. Chowdhury Fink is located in the New York Office and has worked for the Forum since 2011.
Liat Shetret is a programs officer for the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. Shetret oversees effectiveness measurement for the Center’s counterterrorism projects in East Africa and the Horn of Africa, manages all logistical aspects of the program, and serves as Center liaison with partners across the United Nations. Shetret is also developing innovative policy thinking on the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes and prevention of violent radicalization. She has previously contributed to the Center’s work as a consultant, overseeing programming in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Djibouti and has conducted research on multilateral responses to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, terrorist financing, and the role of civil society and human rights in countering terrorism. She has expertise in security policy and Middle Eastern affairs and has served as the Harold Rosenthal Fellow in International Affairs to the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security. Shetret holds a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in political science and psychology from the University of Illinois. Shetret is located in the New York office and has worked for the Forum since 2008.
Matthew Schwartz is a programs associate for the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. Schwartz focuses on the Center’s ongoing work in East Africa. Before joining the Forum, Schwartz worked with UN Security Council’s Al-Qaida/Taliban Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team where he conducted independent research and analysis regarding the level of threat posed by, and key personalities and groups affiliated with, Al-Qaida and the Taliban. From 2007 to 2010, he served as a congressional staffer under Representative John J. Hall (D- NY). There he served as liaison to the U.S. Air Force, Army, Naval and Merchant Marine Academies and coordinated Hall’s academy nominations process. Schwartz received an MA in international affairs from the New School University in New York, specializing in political, conflict, and security analysis. He holds a BA from the State University of New York at Albany where he double-majored in international politics and global history. Schwartz is located at the New York office and has worked for the Forum since 2011.
Program Fellows
David Cortright is a senior fellow at the Forum and co-director of the Sanctions and Security Research Program. Cortright is also director of policy studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and chair of the Forum Board of Directors. His research and writing encompasses a wide range of topics including UN sanctions and due process issues, civil society, counterterrorism, human rights, and denuclearization. He is author or editor of 17 books, including Uniting Against Terror: Cooperative Nonmilitary Response to the Global Terrorism Threat (2007), coedited with George A. Lopez. Over the past decade, Cortright has cowritten or coedited a series of major works on multilateral sanctions, including Smart Sanctions (2002), Sanctions and the Search for Security (2002) and The Sanctions Decade (2000). He has provided research services to the foreign ministries of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland and has served as consultant or advisor to agencies of the United Nations, the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, the International Peace Academy, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Cortright received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in history from New York University, and a PhD in political science at the Union Institute in residence at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. Cortright is located at the Forum headquarters in Goshen, IN, and was the Forum president from 1992 to 2009.
Peter Romaniuk is a senior non-resident fellow at the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. He is an associate professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York, where he is also assistant director of the Center on Terrorism. He is author of “Multilateral Counter-terrorism: The Global Politics of Cooperation and Contestation” (2010). His articles have appeared in the Review of International Studies, the International Studies Encyclopedia and The CPA Journal, as well as in leading volumes on terrorism and counterterrorism, terrorist financing, and multilateral sanctions. He holds a BA (Hons.) and LLB (Hons.) from the University of Adelaide, South Australia, and an AM and PhD in political science from Brown University. Peter is located in the Washington, DC, office and has worked for the Forum since 2010.
Administrative Staff
Kim Minier is financial administrator for the Forum and manages the daily finances and provides administrative support to the organization. She also provided administrative support to Howard Brembeck until his death in late 2010. Minier worked in the banking industry from 1985 until she joined the Forum staff. Minier is located at the Forum headquarters in Goshen, IN, and has worked for the Forum since 2005.
Pat Pinnick is chief financial officer for the Forum. Pinnick has worked in the finance and accounting industry since 1977. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in 1977 and his MBA from the University of Notre Dame in 1985. He is a certified public accountant and is a member of the AICPA and Indiana CPA Society. Pinnick is located at the Forum headquarters in Goshen, IN, and has worked for the Forum since 2008.
Patrick Tobin is an administrative assistant for the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. He has provided assistance and research for many projects undertaken by the Center and has helped plan and organize various workshops and seminars throughout Europe, Africa, and South Asia. He graduated with a BA in political science from the School of Public Affairs at American University. Tobin is located in the Washington, DC, office and has worked for the Forum since 2008.
