Members

		Aslund Anders A. Aslund is a leading specialist on the East European economies, especially Russia and Ukraine. Since 2006, he is a senior fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC. He also teaches at Georgetown University. He served as an economic advisor to the Russian government, 1991-94, to the Ukrainian government, 1994-97, and to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, 1998-2004. Dr. Åslund is the author of eleven books. He has also published widely, including in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, National Interest, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal.

		Bendukidze Kaha Founder of Free University of Tbilisi and the Chairman of Board of Trustees. Free University of Tbilisi is the leading private university in Georgia. He served as a Minister of Economic Development, as a State Minister on Reforms Coordination and as a Head of the State Chancellery of Georgia from mid 2004 till 2009 Feb, being in charge of reforming Georgian economy and public service. Before returning to his native Georgia, he was Chairman and CEO of OMZ – the largest Russian engineering company that he founded, consolidating the sector from early 90’s. Currently Mr. Bendukidze is also serving pro bono as a member of several Government councils and Pardee RAND Graduate School Board of Governors (Santa-Monica, CA, USA).

		Begovic Boris Dr. Boris Begovic is President of Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (CLDS) and a professor of economics at the School of Law, University of Belgrade. He received his education at the University in Belgrade, London School of Economic and JFK School of Government, Harvard University. His field of expertise includes industrial organization, economic analysis of law, economics of regulation/antitrust, economics of public utilities, and urban economics. Dr. Begovic was a chief economic adviser of the Federal Government of FR Yugoslavia 2000-2002, mainly involved in negotiations with IFIs, WTO accession and foreign trade liberalisation, and foreign debt rescheduling. He took an active part in governmental task forces on new legislation on privatisation and telecommunications in Serbia. As a consultant he has been involved in numerous consulting projects in Serbia, the Region and worldwide and in various real sector industries, including public utilities, and in the area of institutional reform. He published numerous articles in international and domestic journals, three books and contributed to numerous edited volumes.

		Dabrowski Мarek Professor of Economics, President of CASE–Center for Social and Economic Research, Member of the Scientific Council of the E.T. Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy in Moscow; Former First Deputy Minister of Finance (1989-1990), Member of Parliament (1991-1993) and Member of the Monetary Policy Council of the National Bank of Poland (1998-2004); Since the end of 1980s he has been involved in policy advising and policy research in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Yemen, as well as in a number of international research projects related to monetary and fiscal policies, currency crises, international financial architecture, EU and EMU enlargement, perspectives of European integration, European Neighborhood Policy and political economy of transition; World Bank and UNDP Consultant; Author of several academic and policy papers, and editor of several book publications.

		Dombrovskis Vyacheslav Economist with the American education, associate professor of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, fellow Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies (BICEPS), Fellow TeliaSonera Institute at SSE-Riga.

		Dubrovskiy Vladimir Senior Economist and the member of the Supervisory Board of CASE Ukraine. Has 14 years extensive experience in policy analysis and drafting including framing of four political programs (in 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006) for several political parties and a Presidential candidate, two Government programs (in 2000 and 2006), and informal policy advices to Ukrainian politicians. Has hands-on experience in Ukrainian business: career in the wholesale at the beginning of 1990th, including 3 years as a CEO and co-owner of a small enterprise, extensive experience in business consulting.

		Frye Timothy PhD (political science), Columbia University, 1997. He is also Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy (Department of Political Science, Columbia University), director of Harriman Institute (Columbia University), director of Center for the Study of Institutions and Development (Higher School of Economics. Moscow, Russia), member of Council on Foreign Relations (New York), Faculty Associate of Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (Columbia University).

		Gurvich Yevsei Head of the Economic Expert Group (EEG) – analysis centre specializing in issues of macroeconomics and public finance. Prior to joining the EEC (1996) worked at the Institute of Economic Forecasting. Professional interests–macroeconomic analysis and forecasting, fiscal policy, tax reform, pension system, public debt management, exchange rate policy, the analysis of financial crises. Member of the Advisory Council of the Bank of Russia Chairman, Advisory Council of the Committee on Budget and Taxes of the State Duma Expert Council of the RSPP. Vice-President of the Association of Independent Centers of Economic Analysis. Deputy Chief Editor of the Journal of the New Economic Association Author of more than 100 publications in leading scientific journals, local and foreign publications. Subjects of research include issues of budget planning and forecasting, oil and gas revenues, the role of oil and gas sector in the Russian economy, pension reform, tax system, and mechanisms of the financial crisis.

		Haran Aleksey Graduated in 1981 Kiev University with a degree in international relations. Doctor of historical sciences. In 1991-1992 Dean-organizer of the Faculty of Social Sciences, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA). In 2002 he founded the School for Policy Analysis at NaUKMA, today–its scientific director. Since 1989–advising election campaigns, media, international companies and organizations. Repeatedly lectured abroad (Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Randy, The Brookings Institution, etc.). Commented to The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Economist, Gazeta Wyborcza, The Baltimore Sun and many others. A member of the US-Russia program for new approaches to security in Eurasia» (PONARS-Eurasia) and the Advisory Board of Demokratizatsiya. The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization (Washington). Author publication "Ukraine in Europe: Questions and Answers" (2009), "Killed a dragon: W іstorії Ruhu that novih partіy Ukraine" (1993), "Transatlantic debate: Turning to Western Europe, detente and the U.S. position" (1990). Co-editor of The Ukrainian lіvі: mіzh lenіnіzmom i sotsіal-demokratієyu "(2000)," Political and economic reforms in Russia and Ukraine "(Moscow, 2003).

		Kilis Roberts Since 1994 he has worked as an Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga where he teaches Economic Anthropology and Research Methods courses. In 2003 he acted as a member of the Government’s Management group to prepare the EU accession referendum in Latvia. His research Creative industries potential in Latvia (2006) was the first major research on creative industries and cultural consumption in Latvia. He is the co-author of the methodology of Latvia 100 most respectable companies top (together with PorterNovelli, 2005). He has been the Editor in Chief of the Latvia’s Long term Development Strategy Latvia 2030 (2007-2008). In 2008 he acted as the expert on human capital and demography for the EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy impact assessment. Currently he is the Chair of the Strategic Analysis Commission at the President’s Office and Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.

		Klyamkin Igor Ph.D., Professor, Vice-president of the Liberal Mission Foundation. He graduated from the journalism faculty of Moscow State University. Author of 6 books and over 300 other scientific and nonfiction works published in Russia and abroad. For a long time he worked at research centers in Germany, France, USA and Japan as a guest researcher.

		Krastev Ivan Political scientist. He is chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria, a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, and Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Edition of Foreign Policy. He is also one of the founders and a trustee of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London. His books include: The Anti-American Century (co-edited, 2007), and Shifting Obsessions: Three Essays on the Politics of Anticorruption (2004).

		Liik Kadri Director of the International center for defense research upon its founding in spring 2006. Prior to that Kadri worked as the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Diplomaatia (Diplomacy–now a publication of the ICDS) and also hosted the current affairs talk show Välismääraja at radio Kuku. From 2002-2004, Kadri worked as the foreign news editor of Estonia’s largest daily paper, Postimees, having returned home in the summer of 2002 from Moscow where, since 1998, she had served as Postimees’ Moscow correspondent. Before that, from 1996-1997, she was the Moscow correspondent of the daily Eesti Päevaleht and the information agency Baltic News Service – a job she won after having worked for a year as the media assistant with the Estonian Embassy in Moscow. She started her career at the Estonian daily Hommikuleht, where she served as the culture editor from 1993-1995. Kadri has a Master’s degree in Diplomacy from Lancaster University in the UK, where she studied as a Chevening scholar from 1997-1998. Her BA comes from Tartu University in Estonia, from where she graduated in journalism in 1993.

		Medalinskas Alvidas Since 2008 at Vilnius Mykolas Riomeris University (MRU) he has two courses of lectures: European Neighborhood Policy and Post Soviet Studies. Since 2004 he is a head of International Policy Centre in Vilnius. Before he was a Head of the Foreign Policy Advisers Group to the President of Lithuania, Member of the Parliament (Seimas) of Lithuania, Member of Lithuanian Delegation to European Constitution Assembly, Deputy Chairman, Committee of European Affairs, Seimas, Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Seimas and etc. Graduated Industrial Economics Faculty in Vilnius University and received Master Degree International Relations following studies at London School of Economics. Main professional interest within last decade has been directed to Ukraine, Moldova and South Caucasus, EU, NATO and Russian policy toward this region.

		Mencinger Joze Visiting professor with the University of Zagreb, Croatia; University of Maribor, Slovenia; and University of Pittsburgh, USA; visiting scholar with the International Centre for Economic Research, Torino, Italy; IDM Vienna, Austria; author of a number of articles and publications on the Yugoslav and Slovene economic system and policy, labour market, exchange rate, transition, privatisation etc. published home and abroad; author or co-author of a number of econometric models; author of a number of invited papers and presentations to international conferences. Deputy prime minister and minister for economic affairs: Republic of Slovenia (1990–1991); member of the Board, Bank of Slovenia (1991–1997); director of Economic Institute of the Law School (1993–2001); adviser to UNDP for Bosnia (1996–1997); rector of the University of Ljubljana (1998–2005); member of the State Council, Republic of Slovenia (2002–); editor of a monthly: Gospodarska Gibanja dealing with current macroeconomic issues and short run predictions (1987–); member of the European Academy of Arts and Sciences (1995- ).

		Schwarz Jiri Dean of the School of Economics and Public Administration. He is the founder and the president of the Liberalni Institut. From 1993 to 1997 he was a board member of an investment company and the Czech representative in the European Federation of Investment Funds and Companies in Brussels (1996–1997). He was the extraordinary member of the Ministerial Expert Committee for Relation between the State and Churches (2000–2002). His research is focused on industrial organization, economic transition to market economics and history of economic thought. Dr. Schwarz has been a member of the Mont Pelerin Society since 1994.

		Sheshelidze Paata President of New Economic School of Georgia, part time financial management advisor of Millennium Worx LLC and SAMT LLC. To 2001 he was an observer on Economics and Politics of Analytical Newspaper "Resonance”, to 2000–head of information and analysis division of road fund of Georgia, to 1999 Head of Monetary Indicators and Consumer Prices Forecasting Division in Ministry of Finance. He also worked as editor in chief of the series of publications in the Library of Liberty since 2004; member of the Board of Director of Economic Section (Club of Young Scientists of Georgia, 1993-1996), member of Business Council of Prime Minister of Georgia (2005-2007).

		Shushkevich Stanislav Stanislaw Shushkevich was born on 1934. After graduating of Belarusian State University in 1956, he went on to a distinguished career in physics and academia, teaching in Belarus and prominent foreign universities. Shushkevich entered the political arena after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In 1989, he was elected deputy to the USSR parliament. He joined the Inter-regional Deputies’ Group, co-chaired by Boris Yeltsin and Andrei Sakharov. In 1990, Shushkevich was elected deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR and then the First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR. In September 1991, the Belarusian parliament elected Shushkevich to the highest position in the country – Chairman of the Supreme Soviet. At the beginning of December 1991, Shushkevich hosted the leaders of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian Soviet republics and key members of their governments and experts at a Belovezha Forest retreat. There they wrote and signed the Belovezha Accords establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. There, too, Shushkevich made a commitment to withdraw from Belarus all strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, and by 1995 the country was nuclear-free. In January 1994, Shushkevich was removed him from the post of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet by Communist Party revanchists. However, in 1995 he was once again elected deputy of the Supreme Soviet in the first round of voting. Today Shushkevich lectures abroad, primarily on political science. He has been awarded doctorate degrees honoris causa from four foreign universities. In Belarus he remains politically active. He is the Chairman of the Central Rada of the party Belarusian Social Democratic Gramada. Dr.of science, proffessor Stanislaw Shushkevich has been awarded many prestigious international awards for his work to promote democracy and human rights, including the Ukrainian International Pylyp Orlyk Award, the Jan Nowak-Jezioranski award, and the highest order of the Lithuanian Republic for contributing to democratic transformation of Lithuania 1989-1994.

		Smolar Alexander Professor of Political Science, Senior Researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, President of the Stefan Batory Foundation, Warsaw. Former advisor to Poland's first non-Communist prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki.

		Stanchev Krassen Executive Director of the Institute for Market Economics, former member of parliament, one of the most quoted Bulgarian observers, best individual country analyst award for 1996 by Euromoney and a nominee for Bulgaria’s Mr. Ekonomika 2004. He was, in 1995, an initiator of the Balkan Network and the European Emerging Economies Network, and has a rich experience in the region (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro), Central Europe and the FSU. Mr. Stanchev is a former member of parliament (1990-1991, head of the environment committee). He promoted IME, the first Bulgaria’s independent economic think thank, as one of the most respected public policy institute in the emerging European democracies. The area of his personal expertise is key economic and regulatory policies are as follows: cost-benefit analysis of regulations, business environment and administrative barriers, competitiveness, law making (environment policy act, mortgage bonds, special purpose investment vehicles, business registration, etc.) and think tank management. He led or was involved projects / services in other countries. Last seven years, more than hundred and fifty articles and interviews in the local and foreign press and media on issues related to the Bulgarian and Central-East European transition to market economy and democracy.

		Sutela Pekka Mr. Pekka Sutela is PhD (econ), University of Helsinki 1984. After a career in Finnish academia and the Bank of Finland, he currently holds various positions in research, think tanks and elsewhere, including The Aalto University School of Economics, Helsinki (Adjunct Professor), Sciences Po, Paris (Visiting Professor). Sutela has published widely on Soviet, Russian and European economics. He has been a consultant to various public and private bodies. He lives in Helsinki, Finland. Personal website: www.pekkasutela.fi

		Tamas Pal Professor of Sociology, director of the Societal Research Center, Corvinus University, Budapest, Senior Fellow, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, honorary doctor of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 1996-2010 director Institute of Sociology, HAS, Budapest. Visiting professor and researcher in German, American, Austrian, Canadian, British, Polish, Ukrainean, Georgian, Belorussian, Kazakh and Russian universities and institutes. Advisor to Hungarian Prime ministers in Social Democratic governments. Expertise: Post/Soviet Comparative Studies, political sociology, science and religious policy studies, cultural studies, art education.

		Tamm Sascha Sasсha Tamm was born in 1965 in East Berlin. After graduating from Leipzig University where he majored in Philosophy and Political Sciences, he worked as a freelance coach, author and ghost-writer. In 2001 he joined the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation for Freedom. After working for Liberal Institute, the foundations research division, for more than 6 years he joined the international division in 2007. Since 2009 he is head of the Moscow office of Naumann Foundation Sasсha Tamm has conducted analysis in various fields of politics, written speeches, articles and papers, and edited books. For example, among his publications are readers on “Liberal Social Policy” and “Liberal Education Policy” as well as a study on “Property”, which is also available in Russian. He is a regular contributor to liberal and libertarian blogs and publications.

		Titze Mirko PhD (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany, 2004), MSc in Industrial Enginerring, Senior Economist at the Halle Institute for Economic Research. Researcher at the Department of Structural Economics at the Halle Institute for Economic Research, Halle (Saale), Germany (since july 2006). Researcher at the Chair of Economics–Macroeconomics (Professor Dr. Wolfgang Cezanne) at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus (2000-2006). He teaches at Campus Leipzig; lectures in 'Microeconomics' (since 2009) and 'Economic Policy' (since 2010). Research activities: convergence of regional economic development, efficiency and effectiveness of regional policy, identification of industrial clusters.

		Vainiene Ruta President of Lithuanian Free Market Institute, private non-profit non-partisan organization established in 1990 to promote the ideas of individual freedom and responsibility, free market, and limited government. Rūta worked at LFMI since 1990. From 1999 until 2004, she led LFMI‘s research team. LFMI owes to her expertise and efforts major achievements in economic and monetary policy, tax policy and state finance reforms. Rūta is a member of the governmental Commission for the Improvement of Business Environment (Sunrise Commission), the Commission for the Improvement of State Administration (Sunset Commission), and several working groups at Health Care and Social Security and Labour ministries. She teaches fundamentals of public sector economy in Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius since 2005. Rūta was a member of the Board at the Bank of Lithuania (The Central Bank) and served as an economic advisor to the Mayor of Vilnius. She holds a diploma in economics from Vilnius University. Author of the Dictionary of Economics, numerous publications in Lithuanian newspapers and magazines. Speaker at international and local conferences.

		Yasin Evgeny Academic Supervisor of the National research University Higher School of Economics; Head of the Scientific Foundation for Theoretical and Applied Research ‘The Liberal Mission". From 1973 to 1989 he was Head of a laboratory at the Central Institute of Economics and Mathematics of the Academy of Science of the USSR. In 1989 he was appointed head of a department at the State Commission on Economic Reform at the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In November 1991 he founded the Expert Institute. In 1993 he was appointed head of the task force of the Chair of the Government of the Russian Federation, took an active part in developing economic programs. In November 1994 Evgeny Yasin was appointed the RF Minister of Economy, and in 1997 the Minister of the Russian Federation. Having resigned from the ranking governmental positions, Evgeny Yasin remains the most popular expert on domestic and foreign affairs and enjoys the trust of a widest audience. His main focus of research is the adaptation of industrial enterprises to market economy. He has been awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland of 4th class and the decoration of the Presidential Program on Training Managers and Executives for the Enterprises of National Economy of the Russian Federation. He is the author of over 500 works and publications.

		Zlotnikov Leonid Associate Professor (economic theory). Associate Professor of Private Women's Institute “ZNVILA”, worked Associate Professor of Economic Theory, Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus, a consultant in economics IFC (IFC), the deputy of director of the Association to promote economic development, the chief specialist of the Commission on Economic Policy and Reforms Sun 13th Legislature (1996 to 1997), director of consulting company "Amkodor Systems" (1994-1997). For a long time working in scientific institutions, including the Institute of Economics of NAS of Belarus (st.n. Officer, 1981-1989 he.). Economic commentator analytical weekly "Belarusians and Market", "BR" (outside the state since 1990. for now) Main interests–macroeconomics, transitive economy, the national economy of Belarus. Participated in the development and implementation of SME development in Belarus, studied the problems of specialization and cooperation in the industry with the development of small businesses. More than 40 scientific papers and hundreds of analytical articles.