Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been at the centre of European and global politics for over three decades as Secretary General of NATO, Prime Minister of Denmark, Danish Minister of Economic Affairs, and, last but not least, as a leading Danish parliamentarian.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen began his political career in 1978, becoming the youngest member of Parliament in Denmark at the age of 25. He was promoted to Minister of Economic Affairs in 1990 and became Prime Minister of Denmark in 2001. He held this position until 2009 when he was appointed Secretary General of NATO. During his tenure, he developed a Strategic Concept which sets the Alliance’s core priorities for the future. In response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, he initiated a “Readiness Action Plan”.

On October 1st 2014 he established Rasmussen Global and in June 2016 he was appointed advisor to the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen holds a M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Aarhus.

Fabrice Pothier has over 15 years of experience in leading international public policy campaigns and strategic communications efforts.

Before joining Rasmussen Global, he served as Head of Policy Planning for two successive NATO Secretary Generals – Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Jens Stoltenberg. During this time, he developed some of the Alliance’s most consequential initiatives and wrote some landmark speeches and articles. Prior to this, Pothier founded Carnegie Europe as part of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which quickly became one of Europe’s leading think-tanks. He was the co-founder of the International Council on Security and Development where he led global advocacy campaigns on public health and security issues. He started his career in London as a senior risk analyst for Japanese energy group Osaka Gas.

Fabrice Pothier holds two Masters degrees in communications and politics from the UK and France, and speaks French, English and Spanish.

Maria Duelund is an experienced professional within the fields of general management and leadership, combining 15 years of experience both in the private sector as well as the military.

Before joining Rasmussen Global, Duelund worked on a range of strategic, operational and organizational projects in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she worked in management consulting, providing international companies with advice regarding process optimization, supply chain management, organizational development and market penetration. Maria Duelund is a trained military interpreter in the Russian and Serbian languages. In 2003/2004, she was deployed to Kosovo as part of NATO’s peace-support operation.

Maria Duelund holds a Bachelor degree in International business from Copenhagen Business School and is 1st Lieutenant in the Danish army.

Dara has unparalleled experience of European public policy and politics as a former Irish Minister for Data Protection, Digital Single Market and European Affairs; the Cabinet expert to a European Commissioner; and Vice-President and 2019 campaign manager of the European People’s Party, the largest pan-European political party.

Dara brings a unique perspective of decision-making at National and European level, high-level contacts across Europe and beyond, and strong experience of coalition-building, campaign management and media relations.

His areas of policy expertise include: Data and Technology, Research & Innovation, Horizon Europe, the Green Deal, Brexit and Education.

Alexander Vershbow is an American diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of NATO.

Mr. Vershbow has had a long career in the State Department. From 2005 to 2008 he was United States Ambassador to South Korea. Prior to this, he was ambassador to Russia from 2001 to 2005 and the ambassador to NATO from 1998 to 2001. In March 2009, Mr. Vershbow was nominated by President Obama as Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs, a position that holds responsibility for US policy towards NATO. He held this position until 2012 when he took the position of Deputy Secretary General of NATO, becoming the first American in this position.

Alexander Vershbow holds a Bachelor’s degree in Russian and East European Studies from Yale and an MA in International Relations from Columbia University. For his work with NATO, he was awarded NATO’s Distinguished Service Medal and the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award.

Toomas Ilves has had a long career in European politics serving as the fourth President of Estonia, between 2006 and 2016.

Mr. Ilves worked as a journalist at Radio Free Europe before being appointed Estonian ambassador to the United States, Canada and Mexico in 1993. In 1996, Mr. Ilves was appointed Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs. He held this position until he resigned in 1998. He was then appointed Foreign Minister again in 1999 serving until 2002. Mr. Ilves supported Estonian membership in the European Union and succeeded in starting the negotiations which led to Estonia joining the European Union in 2004. In 2004, Toomas Ilves became member of the European Parliament and was elected President of Estonia in 2006. He was re-elected in 2011.

Toomas Ilves holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Columbia University and a master’s degree in the same subject from University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Ilves speaks fluently English, German, Latvian and Spanish besides his native Estonian.

Olaf Böhnke has more than 15 years of experience as a foreign and European policy expert with a research focus on European foreign policy and Germany’s role in Europe.

Before joining Rasmussen Global, he was director of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). During this time, he established ECFR as one of the leading think tanks in Berlin. Prior to this, he worked as Director of the Middle East program of the Aspen Institute Germany and served in total for almost ten years as chief of staff and senior foreign policy advisor to several members of the German Bundestag. Recently, Mr. Böhnke was the founding Managing Director of the European Policy Unit at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) initiating a high-level dialogue with European decision makers on the need for a more coherent China policy of the EU. Mr. Böhnke is an associate fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and a visiting professor for political sciences at the Free University of Berlin.

Olaf Böhnke holds an MA in Political Science, International Relations and Economics from Freie Unversität Berlin, and speaks German and English.

Jonas Parello-Plesner brings on board over 15 years of experience from the three power centres of Washington DC, Brussels, and Beijing from the fields of diplomacy, think tanks, development aid and business advisory. This unique combination can assist organizations in navigating the increasingly complex world where international politics and business overlap. Jonas can bring together diverse groups of people to foster innovative ideas and to create added value.

EU-China relations and investments flows are one of his expertise. He has contributed with numerous briefs on EU-China trade and investment relations and the significance for business, including provided testimony both to the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission and to the European Parliament.

He has co-authored a ground-breaking book on China’s protection of nationals and assets in fragile states and what increasing its Global Risk Map abroad for its companies entails for China’s strategic thinking.

Jonas Parello-Plesner has worked on risks for business from foreign policy decisions including US sanctions and in Washington provided business monitoring of the Iran-nuclear agreement.

Jonas speaks fluent French, English and Danish as well as good knowledge of German, some Spanish and basic Chinese. He holds a Msc in Government from London School of Economics (LSE), a diploma from Ecole nationale d’administration (ENA) with the grade ‘tres bien’ and a Msc in Political Science from University of Copenhagen.

He has contributed with op-eds for The Financial Times, and has been quoted in numerous respected media.

Harry Nedelcu has over a decade of experience in public policy with international institutions in Canada and in Europe, including NATO, Rasmussen Global, and the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity.

At Rasmussen Global, he has been leading much of the geopolitical work on European security, transatlantic relations, investment screening, supply chains and anti-coercion, European enlargement, Eastern Neighbourhood Policy and Russia.

Before joining Rasmussen Global, Harry worked for the Policy Planning Unit at NATO, within the Private Office of the Secretary General. Prior to this he was a lecturer at Carleton University in Ottawa and Concordia University in Montreal where for four years he taught on subjects related to comparative politics, security, and defence. His work has been published in various international news media outlets as well as a number of peer-reviewed journals and he has had more than twenty international conference appearances.

Harry Nedelcu holds a PhD from Carleton University, Ottawa in international relations and comparative politics and a B.A. from McGill. He speaks English, French, German and Romanian and has a basic knowledge of Russian.

Tim Allan has ten years of experience managing international press and media campaigns, working with leading politicians and international organisations.

Directly before joining Rasmussen Global, he was Press and Communications Advisor to the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli. In this role, he provided strategic communication advice, wrote articles and speeches, and managed relations with European press. Allan spent four years working as a spokesperson for the centre-left S&D Group in the European Parliament. Here he managed international communication campaigns on a wide range of topics, from Brexit to the Digital Single Market. Before joining the European Parliament, he worked in press and media at the European Defence Agency and in the private sector.

Tim Allan holds degrees in History and Law from the University of Sussex and the University of Law, London. He speaks English and French.

Rasmus Grand Berthelsen is a professional in international affairs, political and business strategy, managing projects for sovereign and business clients.

Before joining Rasmussen Global, Grand Berthelsen worked with data and policy development in the Danish central administration, and later with sustainable finance in an independent state investment fund. Besides his professional experience, Grand Berthelsen has represented his university in international case competitions and headed the partnership division of a student-driven aid organisation.

Rasmus Grand Berthelsen holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in International Business and Politics from Copenhagen Business School, where he graduated top of his class, and took semesters in Vienna and Boston. He also holds the internationally acclaimed joint CEMS Master in International Management from Copenhagen Business School and Vienna University of Economics and Business. He speaks Danish, English and German.

Arthur de Liedekerke is a professional with significant experience in the geopolitics of cybersecurity, international relations and managing strategic partnerships.

Before joining Rasmussen Global, he served as a Strategy Officer in the French Ministry for the Armed Forces, advising the leadership of its Cyber Command. Prior to this, he worked for CERT-EU, the cybersecurity entity tasked with protecting the EU institutions, bodies and agencies, managing its communications and external relations. He started his career as a parliamentary assistant, successively supporting two MEPs, including a vice-chair of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament.

He has collaborated with a number of respected publications and think tanks – notably the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK) – and was a Visiting Policy Fellow at the University of Copenhagen to study the nexus between cybersecurity and disinformation.

Arthur speaks fluent French, English, some Czech and Spanish.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Maastricht University College, an MA in European Studies from Maastricht University and an MA in Geopolitics, Territory, and Security from King’s College London.

Phillip Kjær Luscombe brings insight on defence and security issues as well as experience from the Danish political arena. Besides a previous tenure as Junior Advisor with Rasmussen Global, he has worked for several politicians in both the Danish parliament and on the campaign trail for Danish and European elections. In addition, he has worked in the public affairs department of the lawyers’ and economists’ trade union DJØF.

He holds an M. Sc. in Security Risk Management from the University of Copenhagen. While writing his master’s thesis, Phillip stayed with the Strategy Section at the Royal Danish Defence College where he wrote his thesis on Danish strategic culture and foreign policy tradition. In addition, he holds a B. Sc. in International Business and Politics from the Copenhagen Business School and has experience from the Danish Defence. His academic experience also includes a semester at Sciences Po in Paris and courses from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Anja Jung Nielsen is the Personal Assistant to Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Office Manager at the Copenhagen Office.

Before joining Rasmussen Global, Anja Jung Nielsen worked in the hospitality industry for more than 17 years. She has worked mainly at 4- and 5-stars hotels in Copenhagen and obtained experience with coordination, event planning, service, and customer care.

Anja Jung Nielsen went to Copenhagen Hospitality College and was a Hotel Receptionist Trainee at First Hotel Skt. Petri. After finishing her education in 2008, she moved on to 71 Nyhavn Hotel as Booking Coordinator and latest she was the Assistant Conference Manager at Copenhagen Island Hotel.

Anja speaks Danish and English.

Thomas Strømstad brings knowledge on issues from international relations and geopolitics to European social- and labour market policy. He holds a MA in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh, where he wrote his honours dissertation on China’s coercive trade policy vis-a-vis Norway. Research interests include Russian security policy, British politics and comparative welfare politics.

Currently, Thomas is studying a MSc in Security Risk Management at the University of Copenhagen. He is especially interested in how different types of knowledge inform risk analysis and subsequent mitigation strategies. He is also member of the SRM Study Board. Previous experience includes paid lectures on British political issues, as well as teaching and mentoring in the Oslo public school system.

He speaks English and Norwegian fluently, and has educational experience from Norway, Denmark, UK, US and Malaysia.

Frederikke brings insight in Danish and international politics, international security, and political communication. Her interest in International Relations and security issues is reflected in the projects she has engaged in during her bachelor’s degree where she wrote papers on security issues in Iran, Afghanistan, Mali, Myanmar, and Venezuela.

Prior to joining Rasmussen Global as Junior Advisor, Frederikke has several years of professional experience from the private sector focusing on project management, risk mitigation and communications.

Frederikke is undertaking her master’s degree in Political Science at the University of Copenhagen where she is specializing in foreign policy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Roskilde University.