Kimberly Abbott brings more than 20 years of experience in global strategic communications, marketing, media relations and foreign policy to PACE Global Strategies. She is currently vice president of Marketing and Communications at World Learning and previously worked at International Crisis Group, where she was responsible for developing new strategic approaches for communicating ICG’s policy prescriptions to multiple audiences, creating partnerships and producing multimedia. She has worked at InterAction, an alliance of international development and humanitarian NGOs, where she brought attention to under-reported stories and published dozens of articles. Ms. Abbott spent over a decade as a journalist, including seven years with CNN. Additionally, she has worked on Capitol Hill, in U.S. presidential politics, and as an envoy and translator for the Centennial Olympic Games. She holds a Bachelor of science in broadcast journalism from Boston University and studied French media at the Ecole Française des Attachés de Presse in Paris.

Jens Aerts is an Urban Planning Specialist, who brings to PACE Global Strategies more than 20 years of experience working on the cross-section of urban planning practice, policy and research, including in developing and fragile contexts. He currently supports the Division of Data, Research and Policy at UNICEF with the development and implementation of its Global Urban Strategy. He is the author of Shaping Urbanization for Children: A Handbook on Child-Responsive Urban Planning (2018) and a partner at BUUR — Bureau for Urbanism — leading city development plans and stakeholder engagement processes towards sustainable urban transformation of cities in Belgium and the Netherlands. Prior to that, he assisted both the Governments of the Flemish and the Brussels Regions to build urban planning capacity in public agencies and to direct community-led neighborhood plans, urban mobility programs and key public space interventions. He trained as a civil engineer and architect at the University of Leuven and as an urban planner at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Weston Konishi is a specialist in U.S.-Japan and Asia policy-related issues, with over 15 years of leadership experience in the think tank and non-profit arena on both sides of the Pacific. He currently serves as director of partnerships and development at the U.S.-Japan Council in Washington, DC and is a senior fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. He has authored numerous reports on political and strategic developments in the Asia-Pacific region and is a frequent media commentator on those issues. As the former Chief operating Officer of Peace Winds America, Weston was involved in promoting humanitarian assistance/disaster relief cooperation among civil society groups and governments in the Asia-Pacific. He has served as director of Asia-Pacific studies at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis in Cambridge, MA, an analyst in Asian affairs at the Congressional Research Service and was a Hitachi/Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Japan. He has lectured on Asia policy at The George Washington University and The Johns Hopkins University. Weston holds a B.A. and M.A. from the International Christian University in Mitaka, Japan.

Ida Manton is a researcher and trainer with 18 years of experience training diplomats, government officials, businesspeople, military staff and students in the fields of diplomacy, international negotiation processes, mediation and conflict resolution. She regularly teaches courses at diplomatic academies, institutes, organizations and universities across Europe. Ms. Manton has also worked closely with NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Peace Corps to provide public relations, effective communication and community development trainings on issues such as human and minority rights, local governance and decentralization. As Diplomacy Dialogue’s Representative to the OSCE Academic Network, Ms. Manton has worked on protracted conflicts and designing economic and environmental confidence building measures. She is a member of the Programme of International Negotiation Trainers (POINT) and an associate with Processes of International Negotiations (PIN). Ms. Manton has previously worked for the OSCE in Skopje and Kosovo and holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje and an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

John Poirier is a veteran journalist, strategic communicator, and spokesperson who brings extensive experience with financial regulatory policy and government media relations to PACE Global Strategies. His work as spokesperson for the U.S. Office of Financial Research (OFR) within the Treasury Department focused on engaging journalists regarding potential risks to the U.S. financial system. Before that, he worked for 20 years as a journalist, including with Reuters, The Associated Press, trade publications and radio. At Reuters, his coverage of the 2008-9 financial crisis tracked fast-moving developments in the Executive branch and Congress.  His beats also included the agencies and congressional committees regulating Wall Street and other financial services firms, as well as technology, media and telecommunications companies with stakes in domestic and international Internet regulation, mobile payments.  He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and Colby College.

Lawrence Sheets concentrates on analysis of the countries of the former Soviet Union. He brings to PACE Global Strategies almost 30 years of working across the region, first as a journalist and later as an analyst.  From 1991-92 he worked in Moscow for NBC news, and from 1992 to 2000 as the Bureau Chief for the Caucasus region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and areas of Russia’s North Caucasus including Chechnya). From 2000-2001 he was a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. From 2001-2005 he worked for National Public Radio as Moscow Bureau Chief, working in all areas of the former USSR in addition to stints in Iran and Afghanistan. He continued as an international correspondent for NPR from 2005-2008. He was the Caucasus region director for the International Crisis Group from 2008-2014 and also worked in Ukraine during 2014-2015. During most of 2016 was Senior Political officer at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Moldova. He has also worked for various organizations such as the International War and Peace Report and was a Writer in Residence/International Fellow at Michigan State University during 2006-2007. He is the author of 8 Pieces of Empire: A 20 Year Journey Through the Soviet Collapse (Crown/Random House, 2011/2012). He holds a Bachelor of Arts degrees in both International Relations and Russian Language from Michigan State University.

Deirdre Tynan is a Europe and Central Asia affairs specialist with in-depth knowledge of Russian, Chinese and U.S. policies in the region. With a background in award winning investigative journalism and an ability to devise and communicate strategic policy positions, Ms. Tynan brings a deep understanding of how to achieve influence and impact in politically complex environments to PACE Global Strategies. Building on a career in journalism that began in Northern Ireland during the peace process, she led International Crisis Group’s work in Central Asia for six years, conducting extensive field research, leading the organization’s political and security research and analysis, devising policy prescriptions and assisting advocacy efforts. She also helped inform European, U.S. and UN policies as well as local actors including governments, security services, and opposition parties in Central Asia. She holds an M.A. in Journalism from New York University and a B.A in Fine Art and Design from the University of Ulster, Belfast.

Alina Dalbaeva is an expert on the political, economic and social dynamics at work in South and Central Asia and the Middle East, where she has conducted extensive research, analysis, and project implementation for international non-profit organizations and private commercial entities. Ms. Dalbaeva worked for five years as a conflict analyst with International Crisis Group, conducting field-based research, analysis, and evaluations of  conflict prevention, peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance and sustainable development efforts in crisis-affected and fragile environments throughout Central Asia.  She has also worked on various  initiatives for the Open Society Institute New York (OSI) in Kyrgyzstan, conducted field-based project assessments, and managed projects for private companies in Afghanistan and the Middle East. She holds a degree from Kyrgyz State National University and also studied International and Comparative Politics at the American University in Kyrgyzstan.