Our Staff

Maheyaar Barron is a Research Assistant with the Food Security program at the Stimson Center. His research focuses on gastrodiplomacy, refugee communities, and the interrelationship between food and conflict.

Nakia Bell is the Associate Director of Finance at the Stimson Center. She is responsible for providing program budget support and analysis. Before joining Stimson, Nakia served as the Compliance Manager for Martha’s Table.

Alex Bollfrass is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs working on a dissertation on intelligence assessments of nuclear weapons programs. 

Heather Byrne is a Research Assistant with the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center. She recently completed a Fulbright Fellowship in New Delhi, where she conducted archival and interview research on India’s China policy.

Kevin Cuddy is the Trade, Technology, and Security Fellow at the Stimson Center focusing on industry’s role in technology transfers and global non-proliferation programs. During his Fellowship at Stimson, Cuddy will continue to work as a Senior Manager for International Trade Compliance with Gene

Brian Finlay is the President and CEO at Stimson. His areas of expertise include nonproliferation, transnational crime, counter-trafficking, supply chain security and private sector engagement.

Lindsay Getschel is a Research Assistant with the Environmental Security program at the Stimson Center. Her research focuses on the global impact of U.S. climate and energy policy. She has also researched the intersection between climate change and conflict and its impact on global security.

Eyal Hanfling is a Research Assistant with the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center. His research interests include strategic culture, India-Pakistan confidence building measures, and domestic politics in South Asia. Hanfling holds a B.A.

Scott A. Jones is a Nonresident Fellow at Stimson with the Trade, Technology, and Security program.  His areas of expertise are WMD nonproliferation, export controls, sanctions, and economics.  Jones is also a principal at TradeSecure, LLC.

Michael Krepon co-founded the Stimson Center in 1989. He served as Stimson’s President and CEO until 2000, and continues to direct Stimson’s programming on nuclear and space issues.

Ellen Laipson is a Distinguished Fellow and President Emeritus of Stimson. Laipson joined Stimson in 2002, after 25 years of government service. Her last post was Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council (1997-2002).

Johanna Mendelson Forman is a Distinguished Fellow with the Managing Across Boundaries Initiative at the Stimson Center, where she works on security and development issues, including regional multilateral engagement, civil-military relations and stabilization and reconstruction.

Polly Nayak is a Distinguished Fellow with the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center. Nayak retired in 2002 as a senior government executive after a wide-ranging intelligence career.

Agnieszka Paczynska is Associate Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University and the Principal Investigator of a United States Institute of Peace-funded project, “Emerging Powers in Post-Conflict and Transitional Settings: the New Politics of Reconstructi

Kathryn Rauhut is an attorney specializing in international security based in Vienna, Austria. She works primarily on nuclear security governance, accountability and liability issues with a focus on cybersecurity.

Sarah Savoy is the Director of Development at the Stimson Center. She has 10 years of non-profit experience in research, government relations, and development.

Audel is a communications officer with the Stimson Center. He received his Masters in Public Policy from The University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a dual Bachelor of Arts in political science and communications from The University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Melanie W. Sisson is Senior Associate with the Stimson Center Defense Strategy and Planning Program.  Her work focuses on the relationship between defense strategic planning processes and the likelihood of achieving foreign policy and national security objectives.

Yun Sun is co-Director of the East Asia Program and Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center. Her expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China relations and China's relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes.

Yuki Tatsumi is Co-Director of the East Asia Program and Director of the Japan Program at the Stimson Center.

Lovely Umayam is a Project Manager with Stimson’s Managing Across Boundaries initiative.

Madeline Vellturo is a Research Associate with Stimson’s Protecting Civilians in Conflict Program. She recently completed a Master’s of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs focusing on International Security Policy and Conflict Resolution.

Willmot is a Nonresident Fellow at the Stimson Center. She worked for the United Nations Secretariat for a number of years, in the U.N. Operations and Crisis Centre and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, including assignments with the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the U.N.