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 University’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.

Serving as Deputy MIssion Director in Kosovo, Kerry Monaghan-Hogler is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with more than 26 years of international development experience including 19 with USAID. Prior to service in Kosovo, Ms. Monaghan-Hogler was the Director of USAID’s Human Capital and Talent Management Office's Center for Workforce Planning, Policy and Systems Management where she led the Agency’s HR Policy, Strategy, Workforce Planning, HR IT Systems, and FS Performance Management and Promotion Systems. She has also served as Director of Democracy and Governance Offices in Guatemala and Ukraine. Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Monaghan-Hogler worked on democracy and governance programs in Yemen, Kosovo and Iraq. A native of Texas, Ms. Monaghan-Hogler holds a BA in Political Science from Davidson College, an MA in International Studies from the University of South Carolina and an MS in National Security from the National War College.

Beate Katja Elsässer serves as the Head of Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland. Prior to this role, she was Deputy Head of the Division for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) which covered the Swiss development response in twelve countries. She held esteemed positions including First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York and Deputy Head of Mission/Director of Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh. Beate completed her master's studies at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu is the President of the Republic of Kosovo. By vote of the Parliament of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani was elected and sworn in as President of the Republic on 4 April 2021. She graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Prishtina and holds a Master's Degree and a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, USA. From 2006 to 2010 Vjosa Osmani served as Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Fatmir Sejdiu as well as the appointed Senior Advisor on Legal Affairs and International Relations. During this time, Osmani represented the President in the Commission for the drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and was also a member of the Republic of Kosovo’s International Court of Justice legal team successfully defending the international legality of Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence. President Osmani later served as a Republic of Kosovo Member of Parliament having been elected to five consecutive terms. As an M.P she chaired the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on European Integration and was the Deputy Chair of the Committee on Constitutional Reform respectively. She served as the first female Speaker of Parliament from 3 February 2020, and as Acting President from 5 November 2020 – holding both offices until 22 March 2021. It was during her last term in Parliament that she stood as a candidate for President receiving the highest number of votes of any candidate in the history of Kosovo’s Parliament.. Dr. Osmani has lectured at the University of Prishtina, the American University of Kosovo (RIT), and the University of Pittsburgh. In 2017, she received the University of Pittsburgh Sheth International Young Alumni Achievement Award and has served as a Board Member to the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF.

Ambassador Geeta Rao Gupta is the fourth Ambassador-at-Large for the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State. She previously served as Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation and Senior Advisor to Co-impact, a global collaborative philanthropy for systems change. From 2012 to 2016, Ambassador Rao Gupta served as Deputy Executive Director, Programmes at UNICEF and prior to that as a Senior Fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Earlier, Gupta served as President of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) for more than a decade. Ambassador Rao Gupta has also chaired numerous boards including the Global Advisory Board of Women Lift Health, an initiative to promote women’s leadership in global health and served as a member of WHO’s Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for Health Emergencies, the Board of UBS Optimus Foundation and the Advisory Board of Merck for Mothers. She also served as a Commissioner for the Lancet-SIGHT Commission on Health, Gender Equality and Peace. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including InterAction’s Julia Taft Award for Outstanding Leadership, Harvard University’s Anne Roe Award and Washington Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” Award. Ambassador Rao Gupta holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Bangalore University and an M.Phil. and M.A. from the University of Delhi in India.

Gresa Caka-Nimani has been elected President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo on 17 May 2021. She was decreed as a Judge of this Court on 30 December 2015. Until her appointment to the Constitutional Court, she served as a Senior Legal Advisor and a Team Leader for the Democracy and Governance Office at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with the responsibility to manage and implement American strategic priorities in support of Kosovo’s institutions, with an emphasis on the drafting process of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and the strengthening and advancement of the mechanisms of democracy and rule of law in Kosovo. She is educated in the Republic of Kosovo and Austria, including related to the doctoral studies focused on the internationalization of the constitution-making, partially published in “Constitution Makers on Constitution Making” by the Cambridge University Press in 2022; and trained on issues related to democracy, rule of law and leadership by programs of the United States Government in Kosovo and the United States of America, including leadership programs by the Federal Executive Institute. She holds several awards and recognitions, including the "Michael K. White Memorial Award" for contribution to the drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

Jeta Statovci is a Member of the Parliament at the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo from the ranks of Guxo Party, parliamentary group of Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV). Ms. Statovci is the vice-chairperson of the Committee for Economy, Industry, Entrepreneurs and Trade and a member of the Committee for Budgets and Transfers. She holds a Master of Science degree in Health Economics from the London School of Economics.

Blerta Deliu - Kodra is a Member of the Parliament at the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo from the ranks of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). She is a member of the Commission for Legislation, Mandate, Immunities, RoP and the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Commission for European Integration. Ms. Deliu Kodra has represented the PDK in the past four legislatures. She has completed her master's studies in Arts and Political Science, and is currently continuing her doctoral studies at "Saint Cyril and Methodius" University with a focus on Arts and Drama. Before her first political term, she had a long experience in journalism and moderation, working as a journalist and presenter at Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) from 2002 to 2010. In addition, she participated in various theater productions, short films, dramas, radio dramas and series since 2003. Her main focus remains the greater involvement of girls and women in politics and in all decision-making positions.

Hykmete Bajrami is an Albanian politician from Kosovo. In the fourth legislature in 2011, she was elected a member of the Assembly of Kosovo from the ranks of the LDK. On July 17, 2014, she was appointed Minister of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Kosovo and served until 2017. On February 3, 2020, she began serving as Minister of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Ms. Arbërie Nagavci is a distinguished Kosovo politician and education expert. Her professional career encompasses all the stages of the education system, as a teacher, school principal, municipal education director and member of parliament. Her political career started over a decade ago, with her serving both at local level and now at central level as Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, since March 2021. Mrs. Nagavci has also worked as trainer, consultant and advisor in education leadership and children’s rights. Ms. Nagavci provided excellent contributions to the political sphere in Kosovo during her mandate as Member of Parliament and member of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Budget, and Finance. In 2020, she was voted as the first woman Deputy Chair of Parliament in Kosovo. Ms. Nagavci holds two titles of Bachelor in Albanian Language & Literature and Law, as well as the title of Master in International Law.

Saxhide Mustafa has been part of the Riinvest Institute since 2003 and currently holds the position of Senior Associate. Since 2019, also Coordinator of the Women's Economic Forum. He graduated from the Faculty of Law - University of Prishtina (2004), then completed her Master's studies at Riinvest College with the topic "Corporate Governance and Transparency in Public Companies at the Local Level - Case Study Termokos Sh.A." (2011). In 2019, she successfully completed her doctoral studies at the Public University of Tirana - Faculty of Economics, on the topic "Corporate Governance and Company Performance in Kosovo". She is a lecturer at Riinvest College in the subjects: “Management” and “Ethics and Business Law”. She attended several trainings in the field of Corporate Governance, Risk Management; Women in Leadership - the program attended in Kosovo and Washington; Innovation Management; in the field of entrepreneurship and green transition and in the field of higher education within the TEMPUS, CONSUS and ERASMUS projects, followed in the United States of America, Germany, Austria, Italy, Albania, Kosovo. She also has over 15 years of experience in research projects in the field of corporate governance, local economic development, women's economic empowerment.

Mr. Isak Skenderi is the executive director and one of the founders of the organization “Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians which aims to increase inclusivity of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian citizens and other marginalized communities. Mr. Skenderi completed his university studies at the Faculty of Economics, in the field of "Management and Entrepreneurship". He also studied English language and literature at the Cambridge School of Foreign Language in Pristina. What led him to start the "Voice of Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians organization was his passion for social justice, equality, and his desire to contribute to a multiethnic and democratic society.

Lumir Abdixhiku is the chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo from March 14, 2021. In 2020 he served as a Minister of Infrastructure and Environment and he was also the chairman of the Committee for Budget and Finance in the Republic of Kosovo from 2017 to 2017 in 2019. Abdixhiku studied at the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Pristina, where he then continued his postgraduate studies in Great Britain, receiving the title of MSc in Economics for Business Analysis from Staffordshire University. He received his doctorate after four research studies in the field of 'Determinants of business tax evasion in transition economies'.

Graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Pristina, where she is currently pursuing her master's studies. She started working at Klan Kosova in January 2015. For seven years she worked on the portal of Klan Kosova, first as a journalist and then as an editor. For almost two years now, she has been working as an editor in Central News in Klan Kosova, while at the same time she is engaged as a moderator in the news show "Special Edition".

Laura Nichols is a political parties and women empowerment program expert who most recently served as Resident Senior Director for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Armenia. Her international experience spans four countries over 14 years building on a career in leadership roles in Canadian politics. Ms. Nichols has also previously served as resident country director for NDI’s field offices in Liberia, Yemen and Kosovo to support elections, strengthen political parties, work with parliament and increase citizen engagement to enhance the transparency and integrity of electoral and constitutional reform processes. Prior to joining NDI, Ms. Nichols worked in politics in Canada for 20 years, serving at provincial and national levels of the New Democratic Party (NDP). In additional to working as Party Secretary and Executive Director for both the BC and Alberta sections, she served as Chief of Staff for three NDP opposition leaders in provincial legislatures and Chief of Staff for former NDI leader Alexa McDonough in Canada’s national parliament. In these roles, Ms. Nichols managed numerous political and issue advocacy campaigns, served as a key member of party leadership committees and developed grassroots organizing and fundraising initiatives for the party. Ms. Nichols government experience includes serving as Chief of Staff for the Minister of Finance and policy analyst in the office of the Premier of British Columbia. Ms. Nichols currently resides in Belfast, Northern Ireland and works as a consultant and practitioner for international development and democracy strengthening programs.

Teresa Crawford is the Chair of the Board of IPKO Foundation. She brings over 20 years of experience working in international nonprofits and social enterprises and currently also serves as a Program Design & Organizational Strengthening Consultant for Summit Foundation. Notably, Teresa played a leading role in the launch of IPKO in 1999 - the first post war Internet Service Provider in Kosovo, as well as the founding of IPKO Foundation - the first locally endowed foundation in the Balkans. Since then she has built successful foundations and strong nonprofits, working with leaders in over 50 countries. During her career, she has worked around the world on issues ranging from health equity to violence against women in war to citizen engagement in oversight and accountability of security forces. Teresa is a skilled leader, sought after facilitator and solution creator. She holds a BA in Politics, Peace and Justice Studies from the University of San Francisco, as well as a MA in Nonprofit Management and Policy from New York University.