From the student antiwar protests of the ‘60s to her election to Congress in 2012 where she represents South Florida, Congresswoman Lois Frankel has spent her lifetime delivering positive change to her community as a civic leader, state legislator, mayor, and now Member of the United States House of Representatives where she sits on the House Appropriations Committee. A trailblazer in the Florida State Legislature, Lois served as the first woman Democratic minority leader. She became a leading force to improve the economic condition of families and seniors and protect human rights and women’s reproductive freedom - fights she continues today in Congress as co-chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus.   Prior to her election to Congress, Lois served as Mayor of West Palm Beach, raising her city to a new vitality and earning a reputation as an innovative problem solver. On a personal note, Lois is an avid abstract painter and is most proud of her son Ben, a United States Marine war veteran.

Born on 12 July 1979 in Vienna, Austria. After graduating from the University of Vienna with a degree in communication, Lukas Mandl worked as a lecturer, writer and speaker. He is the initiator of ‘Rot-weiß-rot in Europa’ as well as founder and Chairman of the cross-party Austrian-Kosovar Friendship Association. Lukas Mandl started his political career in the student representation Schülerunion in 1998. In 2003, he was Chair of the Austrian Youth Association (Bundesjugendvertretung). From 2008 to 2017, Mr Mandl was a Member of the regional parliament of Lower Austria and Chair of its Committee on European affairs. He was Secretary-General of the Employees' Organisation of the Austrian People's Party from 2010 to 2012. From 2015 to 2017, he was also Deputy Mayor of his hometown Gerasdorf. He has been Vice-President of the Assembly of European Regions since June 2017. Lukas Mandl is married and the father of three children. His mother is Dutch and his father Austrian. MEP since 2017.

Luljeta Demolli is Executive Director in Kosovar Gender Studies Center. Previously, she has been Project Manager and Lead Researcher for the Center’s project on women’s history in politics. She has completed studies in sociology and philosophy at the University of Pristina. She has also graduated from the College for Alternative Humanistic Studies in Prishtina (2000-2001). Luljeta has participated in more than 20 research projects conducted by the Center for Humanistic Studies “Gani Bobi'', including social and commercial research conducted with qualitative and quantitative methods. She also worked for Kosovo Pharmaceutical Corporation as Coordinator of the Central Database (2002-2003). She participated in research conducted by the Department of Sociology at the University of Pristina, upon the Community Development Fund’s request (CDF), which conducted project assessments carried on by this fund in Kosovo (2002-2003). Before joining the Kosovar Gender Studies Centre, Luljeta worked as the Coordinator of the research team for the ORA political party (2004).

Madeleine K. Albright is a professor, author, diplomat, and businesswoman who served as the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. In 1997, she was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a president’s Cabinet. She is a Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Dr. Albright is Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and Chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. She also chairs the National Democratic Institute, serves as the Truman Scholarship Foundation resident and is a member of the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board. In 2012, she was chosen by President Obama to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in recognition of her contributions to international peace and democracy. Dr. Albright is a seven-time New York Times bestselling author. Her most recent book, Hell and Other Destinations, was published in April 2020.

Ms. Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla completed her post-graduate studies In Diplomacy at the University of Oxford, with a focus on International Politics, Public International Law, International Trade and Finance, and Diplomatic Practice, as a recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship, Class of 2011. Her prior education was acquired at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) at the American University in Kosovo in Politics and Public Policy. Ms. Haradinaj-Stublla also established the Kosovo Institute of Diplomacy in 2013, which aimed at advancing Kosovo’s state interests in the international society and as well served as Elected Local Councillor at the Prishtina Municipal Assembly in 2009 - 2013. Recently, Ms. Haradinaj - Stublla served as the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo. Her main responsibilities entailed managing the PM's international agenda, as well as the international coordination with Kosovo’s diplomatic missions abroad. Ms. Haradinaj - Stublla is married with two kids.

Michelle Bekkering is the Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation (DDI), which is the central resource for providing world-class technical assistance to USAID’s field missions. Previously, Ms. Bekkering was the Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment (E3). She also leads the work for the Agency on high-priority Administration initiatives, including One Trillion Trees, the U.S. Government International Basic Education Strategy, and the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP). Ms. Bekkering joined USAID in July 2017, and concurrently served as the E3 Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator and as the Agency’s Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. During Ms. Bekkering’s tenure, she has provided senior leadership during the Agency’s transformation process, while leading the E3 bureau’s efforts to reorient its strategies, partnerships, and programs to achieve the Administrator’s vision of the Journey to Self-Reliance. Under her leadership, USAID's new Private Sector Engagement policy was launched, which included the creation and management of global mechanisms that catalyze partnerships with private sector actors. Ms. Bekkering also supported the White House in the development of W-GDP, the first whole-of-government effort to focus on global women’s economic empowerment, which seeks to reach 50 million women in the developing world by 2025. Ms. Bekkering has represented the U.S. Government in high-level bilateral and multilateral policy fora, including the 2017 G7 Development Ministerial, the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, official delegate to the 2017 and 2018 UN’s Commission on the Status of Women, and head of the USG delegation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)’s Women and the Economy Forum (September 2018). Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Bekkering served from 2005-2017 at the International Republican Institute (IRI), a non-profit, nonpartisan organization committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide. During her tenure at IRI, she provided leadership on democratic rights and governance initiatives in Washington, D.C. and as residential country director based in Indonesia. Ms. Bekkering has also served in numerous positions in the U.S. Government, including the National Security Council, and on Capitol Hill.

Mimoza Kusari-Lila is the leader of Alternativa and a Member of Parliament in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. She is the Chair of Green Caucus and a member of the Budget Committee, Parliamentary Inquiry Committee regarding the management of the "COVID-19" pandemic and Committee on Economy, Employment, Trade, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Investments. She served as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo and Minister of Trade and Industry from 2011 to 2013 and as the Mayor of Gjakova from November 2013 to 2017. Mimoza Kusari-Lila was first exposed to politics and public service in 2003 when she was offered the position of spokesperson and political adviser to then-Prime Minister of Kosovo Bajram Rexhepi. She was the face and voice of the Kosovo government for more than a year at a time when Kosovo’s past returned in the March 2004 riots. She became the first woman mayor in the history of Kosovo. Mimoza Kusari-Lila holds an MBA from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kusari-Lila graduated in June, 1999, after she won a scholarship through the U.S. State Department’s Ron Brown Scholarship Program.

Ambassador Soderberg serves as NDI’s Senior Resident Director for Kosovo. She joined NDI with three decades of experience promoting democracy in the U.S. Congress, the White House, at the United Nations, and leading non-profit organizations. She also has significant experience supporting U.S. presidential campaigns, working in state and local politics, and running for elected office. She is an expert in conflict resolution, peacekeeping, and advancing the role of women in democracy. Ambassador Soderberg was appointed in 1995 as the first woman Deputy National Security Advisor and later in 1997 as the Alternate Representative for the United States to the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador. From 2011 – 2014, she served as Chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board. She has also served as President of Connect U.S. Fund, a foundation initiative to promote U.S. engagement in national security challenges, and as Vice President of the International Crisis Group, a global conflict-prevention organization. Ambassador Soderberg serves as Vice-Chair of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She ran Congress for Florida’s 6th Congressional District in 2018. She also teaches at the University of North Florida. Soderberg earned her Masters of Science in Development Economics from Georgetown’s Master of Science in Foreign Service program and her Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University. She is a regular commentator on national and international television and radio as well as the author of several books and numerous articles on American foreign policy. She speaks English and French.

Ambassador Soderberg serves as NDI’s Senior Resident Director for Kosovo. She joined NDI with three decades of experience promoting democracy in the U.S. Congress, the White House, at the United Nations, and leading non-profit organizations. She also has significant experience supporting U.S. presidential campaigns, working in state and local politics, and running for elected office. She is an expert in conflict resolution, peacekeeping, and advancing the role of women in democracy. Ambassador Soderberg was appointed in 1995 as the first woman Deputy National Security Advisor and later in 1997 as the Alternate Representative for the United States to the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador. From 2011 – 2014, she served as Chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board. She has also served as President of Connect U.S. Fund, a foundation initiative to promote U.S. engagement in national security challenges, and as Vice President of the International Crisis Group, a global conflict-prevention organization. Ambassador Soderberg serves as Vice-Chair of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She ran for Congress for Florida’s 6th Congressional District in 2018. She also teaches at the University of North Florida. Soderberg earned her Masters of Science in Development Economics from Georgetown’s Master of Science in Foreign Service program and her Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University. She is a regular commentator on national and international television and radio as well as the author of several books and numerous articles on American foreign policy. She speaks English and French.

Nazlie Bala is the Head of the Secretariat of Women Activists of LVV and an assembly member in the Municipal Assembly of Prishtina from the ranks of LVV. She graduated in Political Science from the University of Prishtina. She then continued her postgraduate studies at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna and is currently pursuing a master's degree in international criminal law at the South East European University in Tetovo. She has been a member of the Central Election Commission of Kosovo from the VETEVENDOSJE Movement for one term. She has completed specialization in the areas of human rights and gender issues in Norway and Israel. She is a member of the General Council of the VETEVENDOSJE Movement! She has served as an advisor to the Government of Kosovo and has held senior positions in international agencies such as the United Nations Development Program and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. She was one of the first activists in the Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Kosovo, in 1989. During the Government of Albin Kurti, she was a political advisor to the Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu.

Nerimane Ferizi is working at Community Building Mitrovica since 2018 where she serves as a program officer. She is coordinating all the activities related to different projects, reporting to the supervisor, and initiating different initiatives to raise awareness about different issues and political problems in Mitrovica and Kosovo. Ms. Nerimane Ferizi – studied “Environment and Agriculture Management” IBC- Mitrovica. She became a devoted civic activist in 2007. She was most active in the region of Mitrovica, but not only as her activism spread beyond. Being part of different networks within Kosovo but in the region as well, she actively contributed and participated in several workshops, debates, round tables, and conferences in the region and further. Her contribution at ATRC-KIPRED where she served for almost a year with the main focus to coordinate election debates. Four years in the row she was coordinating the citizen activism regarding preserving nature named “Let’s Do It Kosovo”, with its activities and civic activism. She was also involved as soon after took a lead in International Film Festival “Bridge Film Fest”. Being out loud and present in the media her opinion and debating around feminism, Ms. Ferizi, became a known personality not only in Mitrovica but throughout Kosovo. She initiated and organized many debates, conferences (“GeoAlb” – conference about science) protests about raising different difficult issues such as women and girl’s rights, undertook several cleaning environment campaigns, while she was able to gather a lot of citizens consisted of different age groups and ethnicities, protesting and demanding the rights for her Mitrovica citizens.

Ass. Prof. Nita Luci (PhD Anthropology - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) is a feminist scholar and activist. She teaches at the departments of Anthropology, Sociology, and Contemporary Art at the University of Prishtina, as well as RIT-Kosovo. Her scholarship has focused on the intersection of nationalist cultural politics, manhood, violence and political movements. In 2013 she co-founded the University Program for Gender Studies and Research, Faculty of Philosophy. She has received numerous research grants and fellowships and led teaching and research project at UP. She was also selected as Fellow at the Gender Research Institute at Dartmouth College in 2013. She is currently Co-I of the Kosovo strand on the UK AHRC (Global Challenges) project ‘Changing the Story’ which explores the ways in which artists, arts-based civil society organizations, and institutions work with and through arts and young people on civic education and dealing with the past in Kosovo. She is currently engaged in a research project that looks at the development of new energy policies in Kosovo and the ways in which energy development engenders access, management and distribution of resources and reproductive labor.

Philip Scott Kosnett is an American diplomat. He was sworn in as the fifth U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo on November 27, 2018. Ambassador Kosnett’s most recent prior assignment was as Deputy Chief of Mission and subsequently Chargé d’Affaires in Ankara, Turkey, from 2016-2018. Ambassador Kosnett’s career has been focused on international security cooperation and political reconciliation. He has served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Uzbekistan and Iceland political, political-military, and economic-commercial positions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Netherlands, Japan, and Turkey. In Washington, Kosnett served in the State Department's bureaus of European, Counter-terrorism, Political-Military, and Intelligence & Research affairs. Ambassador Kosnett is a multiple recipient of the State Department Superior Honor and Meritorious Honor Awards and a recipient of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service and the Department of the Army Medal for Outstanding Civilian Service. He has studied Turkish, Japanese, Dutch, and Russian. Kosnett holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University in 1982.

Rob Oliphant was elected as the Member of Parliament for Don Valley West in 2015. He previously served as Member of Parliament for the riding from 2008 to 2011. From 2011 to 2015, Mr. Oliphant served as President and CEO of the Asthma Society of Canada. An ordained minister in the United Church of Canada, Mr. Oliphant has also served congregations in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, and Yukon, and was the Senior Minister at Eglinton St. George's United Church in North Toronto. He earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto, a Master of Divinity from the Vancouver School of Theology, and a Doctorate from the Chicago Theological Seminary located at the University of Chicago.

Ambassador Samantha Power is the Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the William D. Zabel Professor of Practice in Human Rights at Harvard Law School. From 2013 to 2017 Power served as the 28th U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, as well as a member of President Obama’s cabinet. From 2009 to 2013, Power served on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. She has been a strong advocate on atrocity prevention, UN reform, LGBT and women’s rights, the protection of religious minorities, and the prevention of human trafficking. Before joining the U.S. government, Power was the founding executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School. Her numerous books have won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and have been on the the New York Times bestseller list. Ambassador Power earned a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She immigrated to the United States from Ireland at the age of 9 and today lives in Concord, Massachusetts with her husband Cass Sunstein and their two young children.

Shkëmb Manaj is a Member of the Assembly of Kosovo from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) party. He is the chair of the Committee on Legislation, Mandates, Immunities, Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, and the Anti-Corruption Agencies Oversight. He started his career in the civil service in October 2007 in the Ministry of Public Administration, respectively, in the Department of Civil Service Administration in the position of Senior Officer for Management and Coordination of Public Administration Reform in Kosovo. In 2009, Mr.Manaj was elected as a Director of the Central Administration Department in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. From 2010 until 2011, he was the Secretary-General of the MCYS. In 2012, he was entitled as the Director of the Legal Department in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, a position he held until 2013.He has completed basic studies and postgraduate studies at the master’s level at the Faculty of Law of the University of Prishtina. He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Law of the European University of Tirana, Department of Public Law.