Our Team

Jason Blazakis is a Senior Fellow with the Global Center and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) where he focuses on threat financing, sanctions, violent extremism, and special operations related research. He is also the Director of MIIS’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism where he directs research on domestic terrorism, terrorism finance, recruitment, propaganda, and the use of special operations to counter transnational threats. Jason previously served as the Director of the Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. He previously held positions in the Department of State’s Political-Military Affairs, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Intelligence and Research Bureaus, and at U.S. Embassy Kabul. He holds degrees from the University of Mississippi, Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University.

Mercy Buku is a Senior Fellow at the Global Center and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, and Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public. She is currently a legal consultant on anti–money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism issues in the mobile payments and banking sector and was previously the Senior Manager in the Money Laundering Reporting Office for Safaricom Limited (Kenya) where she was charged with the responsibility for overseeing AML efforts for M-Pesa. She has extensive experience as a trainer, consultant, and author in compliance and AML issues in the mobile payments and banking sector and has made presentations at various domestic and international AML workshops and conferences. She is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (UK). She holds a bachelor of laws honors degree from the University of Nairobi and an LLM in banking and financial law from the University of London.

Michele Cesari is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center. He provides consultancy services to government departments and international and national agencies on strategy design, proposal development, and evaluation of complex programs. With 17 years of international programming and research experience in fragile contexts, including eight years in East Africa, he has designed, managed, and evaluated projects and research initiatives investigating the modus operandi of al-Shabaab and other Islamist militant organizations and their impact on stability, as well as programs engaging multiple armed groups and private sector investment streams. Published in several books and journals, he has an LLB and LLM from Università degli Studi di Urbino ‘Carlo Bo,’ is completing an MBA at Heriot-Watt University, and is a Certified Sustainability Practitioner.

Eugene Chen is a Senior Fellow at the Global Center. He is an expert on international public administration whose research focuses on the interplay of substantive policy, intergovernmental politics, and bureaucratic processes at the United Nations. Eugene has served in various positions in the UN Secretariat including in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General and in peacekeeping operations. Earlier in his career, Eugene served as lead negotiator for the U.S. Government at the United Nations on subjects including peacekeeping financing and cross-cutting policy issues, the scales of assessments, and institutional reform. Eugene is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds both a BA in Government and an MPA from Cornell University.

Christopher Dean is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center, a chartered and registered forensic psychologist, and director of Identify Psychological Services Ltd., providing specialist psychological services to counter violent extremism. From 2008 to 2015, he was a member and then head of a specialist team in the Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service of England and Wales, which has pioneered the development of innovative, evidence-based assessments and interventions to counter violent extremism. He has provided consultancy and training for government departments, agencies, correctional services and academia internationally, including the Global Center’s Countering Violent Extremism in Prisons program. He has authored various publications, including the Council of Europe’s Handbook for Prison and Probation Services Regarding Radicalization and Violent Extremism. He continues to complete face-to-face assessments and interventions with individuals convicted of terrorist-related offences. He is an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, a chartered scientist, and psychologist member of the Parole Board for England and Wales.

Gavin Durbin is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center, working on the Global Center’s anti–money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programming. He has 14 years of experience in senior roles in the field of financial intelligence and AML/CFT. At the Australian financial intelligence unit (AUSTRAC), he developed law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ capacities on the operations and ML/TF vulnerabilities for money value transfer operators, and was in charge of outreach to Australia’s 15,000 reporting entities and the implementation of Australia’s 2006 AML/CFT Act. In 2009, he was appointed Senior Manager of AUSTRAC’s International Technical Assistance and Training team, which collaborates with bodies such as the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti Money Laundering Group, the East African Community, and the United Nations to provide technical assistance on topics such as the Financial Action Task Force’s risk based approach, anti-corruption and asset seizure, and the operational development of financial intelligence units. Since leaving AUSTRAC, Gavin has continued providing capacity building support in sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and the Middle-East as Executive Director of AML Solutions International.

Willibroad Dze-Ngwa is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center and an associate professor at the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon. He is the founding President of the Heritage Higher Institute of Peace and Development Studies, and the Vice President for African Affairs in the Peace and Security Department of the Civic Commission for Africa. He is also the founding Executive Director of the African Network against Illiteracy, Conflicts and Human Rights Abuses, whose work enables vulnerable underprivileged children, women and ethnic minorities in areas of conflict to realize increased access to education, healthcare, and sustainable growth.

Todd Harland is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center, working on the Global Center’s anti–money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programming. His career spans across multiple areas, including AML/CFT compliance, capacity building and training, law enforcement, intelligence, counterterrorism, and foreign government assistance. A graduate of the Queensland Police Academy in Australia, he served with distinction for 15 years before fulfilling various counterterrorism roles with the Australian Government. Among them, he oversaw counterterrorism security networks for Australian airlines, airports, and seaports before moving to the Australian financial intelligence unit (AUSTRAC), where he managed organized crime intelligence operations across the country as Manager of the Tactical Analysis and Support Team. In addition to Australian-based compliance work, Todd has provided AML/CFT technical assistance and training throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern and Southern Africa for the past four years in his role as Chief Executive Officer of AML Solutions International.

Nadine Machikou is a Senior Fellow at the Global Center. She is the Director of the Center for Studies and Research in International and Community Law at University of Yaounde II, and Director of Seminars at the International War School in Cameroon. Her research focuses on political violence and community management of security issues, particularly in the struggle against Boko Haram and in the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. She also focuses on the political economy of public reforms and the governance of health and environmental policies.

Shaun McLeary is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center, working on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and criminal justice and the rule of law programming. For 37 years he served with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) as a detective investigating serious and organized crime, and as a financial investigator. In 2005 Shaun joined the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit at New Scotland Yard, where he was responsible for financial investigations in support of all major counterterrorism investigations in the UK. He was later posted to Pakistan as the Police Counter-Terrorism and -Extremism Liaison Officer, followed by a secondment to the UK Foreign u0026amp; Commonwealth Office during which he delivered terrorism financing investigation training to Gulf State government officials. Following his retirement from the MPS in 2012, Shaun founded Dorwood Consultancy Ltd., where he has designed and delivered AML/CFT trainings for law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and prosecutors from 37 countries on behalf of national governments and the UN.

Phyllis Muema is a Senior Fellow at the Global Center and the Executive Director of Kenya Community Support Centre. She is a social development expert and local practitioner on countering violent extremism (CVE) issues in Kenya with experience designing projects that respond to violent extremism drivers, building local capacities for community groups and civil society and policy dialogues. She participated in the development of the draft Kenyan National Policy on Peacebuilding and Conflict Management and the draft Kenyan National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism and is a member of the Global Counterterrorism Forum, where she provided community perspectives on CVE. She is a guest speaker on the role of civil society in confronting terrorism at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and was a member of the steering committee for the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. She holds a postgraduate diploma in human and natural resources and in peace-building and conflict management from Danida Fellowship Centre and a senior management certificate from the Kenya School of Government.

Christina Nemr is a Senior Fellow to the Global Center. She works on countering violent extremism (CVE) issues including rehabilitation and reintegration, the role of women in CVE, youth empowerment, counter-narratives, and the nexus between development and CVE. She spent five years with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism where she was a founding member of the CVE Program with a portfolio of policy and program development, research, and multilateral initiatives. Previously, she worked in the State Department’s U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative office. She holds a BA in foreign affairs and history from the University of Virginia and an MA in forensic psychology from Marymount University, where she focused on motivations to commit violence.

Mike Pannek is a Senior Fellow at the Global Center, where he contributes to the implementation of programs on counterterrorism and countering violent extremism. From 2004 to 2015, he was a senior corrections adviser with the U.S. Department of Justice’s International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program. In this capacity, he directed correctional development projects with a focus on preventing and countering violent extremism in prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Kosovo. Previously, he was a prison warden in Washington state and a career military officer. He graduated from the U.S. Naval War College in 1982.

Eleonore Pauwels is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center. She conducts in-depth research on security, governance, and ethical implications generated by the convergence of artificial intelligence with other dual-use technologies, including cybersecurity, genomics, and genome-editing. She provides expertise to the World Bank and the United Nations, as well as to governments and private sector actors, on AI-cyber prevention, the changing nature of conflict, foresight, and global security and counterterrorism. In 2018 and 2019, She served as Research Fellow on Emerging Cybertechnologies for the United Nations University’s Centre for Policy Research. At the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, she spent ten years within the Science and Technology Innovation Program, leading the Anticipatory Intelligence Lab. She is a former official of the European Commission’s Directorate on Science, Economy and Society. She is the author of a landmark report for the United Nations University, titled The New Geopolitics of Converging Risks: The UN and Prevention in the Era of AI.

Maji Peterx is a Senior Fellow at the Global Center and an Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Lead Facilitator and Coordinator at Carefronting – Nigeria. His work focuses on integrating restorative justice into preventing and countering violent extremism approaches and training lay counselors and civil society actors as first responders to traumatized persons who are victims and survivors of the Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria. He has facilitated more than 250 AVP, trauma consciousness and resilience, and peace-building workshops internationally, including in Kenya, Jordan, Nigeria, and South Africa. He is a Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience practitioner and is trained in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy.

Peter Romaniuk is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center. 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 the 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, terrorism 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.

Laila Shareef is a Senior Fellow to the Global Center. She works on security and preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) research and programs in South and Southeast Asia, including the Global Center’s community-oriented policing program in the Maldives. She spent five years with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives, where as a diplomat, she has engaged in multilateral foras including United Nations Human Rights Council, United Nations General Assembly, and the United Nations Security Council. Previously Laila worked with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Maldives and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Maldives, and has experience in project management, disaster management, peace and security, peacekeeping, counterterrorism, and disarmament. She holds BA in Business and Commerce and MA in International Relations from Monash University, Australia.

Stephen White is a Senior Fellow for the Global Center (UK) and a freelance security sector consultant providing training, research, and consultancy since 2010 for numerous governmental and nongovernmental organizations on a range of subjects, including countering violent extremism, community engagement, conflict resolution, leadership, and security sector reform. Formerly a UK Chief Police Officer with 26 years of experience, primarily in Northern Ireland and with the EU Head of Mission (Iraq) for five years, he has authored and coauthored a number of papers in these areas, including “Police Primacy” (2014) and “Countering Violent Extremism: Community Engagement Programmes in Europe” (2012). He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and sits on the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law Police Experts Council. He holds an MSc from Queens University Belfast and a master of studies in criminology from Cambridge University. In 2004 he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to policing – domestic and international.