Letter from the President  Mission and Strategy  Executives  Advisory Board  Contact Us

Executives

Dr. Hoffmann has worked as advisor in the European Parliament (Office of Prof. Hans-Gert Poettering), the German Bundestag (Parl. State Secretary of Defense Peter Kurt Wuerzbach MP) and the U.S. Senate (Sam Nunn, Gary Hart) in defense affairs for many years. He was Research Fellow at CSIS, Georgetown University. He worked as a journalist in the White House Press Corps, as Editor in ZDF, the largest TV station in Europe, and managing director of large German media companies. Dr. Hoffmann holds a PH.D in Political Science with "summa cum laude" (Prof. Karl Dietrich Bracher, University of Bonn, Germany) and is lawyer as well. Dr. Hoffmann is reserve officer in the German Army (Field Artillery).

Dr. Hoffmann has from 1979 to 1983 supported NATO’s Two Track Decision to deploy medium range nuclear weapons in Europe combined with mutal arms reductions (SS-20) on the Russian side which put him on the target list of RAF, the German terrorist organization. He supported the Mudahedin from 1985-1990 against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, visiting them in the mountains in 1985 and writing the Afghanistan report for the European Parliament. In 1992 he was Chairman of the Eesti Committee Report (asked by its President Tunne Kelam) about the Future of the "Baltic Hanseatic Region" (Oblast Kaliningrad; Lithuenia; Latvia, Estonia) which helped to create stable democratic states in the Baltics.

He is now a successful independent investor in many companies, including General Capital Group specialized in MBO/I, and OBOs in Germany.

In 1981 his home town Goslar/Harz awarded him its "Förderpreis" for journalistic merits (Laudatio: General Johannes Steinhoff).

In October 2000 he was awarded the "Federal Cross of Merit" for "innovative business ideas" by German President Johannes Rau in Schloss Bellevue (Berlin). In 2002 Fürst Ferdinand von Bismarck awarded Dr. Hoffmann the "Bismarck Medal with Golden Oak Leaves" in Friedrichsruh.

Dr. Hoffmann is author of two standard books about nuclear weapons ("Atomkrieg- Atomfrieden, Technik, Strategie, Abrüstung" 1980; "Die Atompartner. Washington – Bonn und die Modernisierung der taktischen Kernwaffen", 1986).

Member of YPO (Rhine Chapter) and IISS (London).
Young Atlantic Leader 1992 (Atlantik-Brücke).

Dieter Farwick
Global Editor-in-Chief
Former Director of Germany’s "Federal Armed Forces Intelligence Office"

Mr. Farwirk is retired Brig. General of the German Army. He was a close aid to former German Defense Minister Manfred Woerner, the later NATO Secretary General and is author of five books about defense policy.

Military Life

1. 39 years of service in the German army – from a conscript to DepDivCdr.
2. Education and Training as General Staff Officer
3. Most demanding and inspiring jobs outside a “normal” career
4. Student at the Royal College of Defence Studies, London
5. Advisor to then Minister of Defence, Dr. Manfred Wörner, later Secretary General of NATO
6. Director of Federal Armed Forces Intelligence Office
7. Assistant Chief of Staff Operations at NATO-HQ AFCENT in the Netherlands

1. born 1940
2. married to my wife Hanna with two children
3. author/editor of five books on Security Policy
4. numerous publication in newspapers, journals and magazines
5. numerous entrances in electronic media
6. member of the IISS, London

Rado Petkov
Vice President U.S.A.
Director of the Southeast Europe Finance Consortium

Rado Petkov’s professional experience encompasses the fields of policy analysis, business development, and emerging markets investment.

As Deputy Director of the Economic and Regional Development Program of the EastWest Institute, an international think-tank specializing in the problems of post-socialist transition, Mr. Petkov led a number of economic research and policy advisory projects in Central and Eastern Europe. He worked closely with the World Bank, the European Commission and governments in the region to strengthen the institutional capacity for economic and political reform and develop the region’s human capital and high-tech potential. In 1999, Mr. Petkov led an international Economic Task Force for Southeast Europe, which designed policy recommendations for the post-war reconstruction and economic development of the region. The Task Force recommendations became an integral part of the EU-sponsored Stability Pact for Southeast Europe.

Mr. Petkov professional experience includes also business development work for Lehman Brothers Eurasia Group, an emerging markets political risk consulting firm and Rila Solutions, an international information technology consulting company. He has advised a number of institutional and private equity investors on the political and economic environment in Central and Eastern Europe and currently serves as Director of the Southeast Europe Finance Consortium.

Mr. Petkov’s education includes BA in Political Economy and MA in International Finance from the New School University in New York and MBA training from the New York University Stern School of Business. He has published a number of articles and research papers on the problems of economic and political transition in emerging markets.

Klaus Becher
Correspondent UK

Klaus Becher is an analyst of international security, defence and technology policy based in Bonn and London. He is currently Associate Research Fellow at the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris where he covers space policy issues and is writing a Chaillot Paper on space and European security. He has established himself as an independent consultant as Managing Partner of Knowledge & Analysis LLP, Richmond, Surrey (UK). Between 1999 and 2003, he was Helmut Schmidt Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London where he was responsible for rebuilding and expanding the institute's European security programme and co-founded the IISS/CEPS European Security Forum in Brussels. From 1997 to 1999, he worked at the German Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) as deputy head of the research group on strategic developments, arms control and technological trends. During the same period, he also served as secretary-treasurer of the German group of the Trilateral Commission. From 1988 to 1997, he was a research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a master's degree in political science and international law from the University of Bonn (1983).

Fabio S. Spada
Correspondent Italy

Editor of the IPD news agency (Defence Info of the Italian Parliament).
Adviser Foreign Affairs Committe, Chamber of Deputies, Rom.
Researcher and Contributor to Italian Defence Institutes and Magazines Produces TV Documentaries and News reports.

Udo Philipp.
Correspondent France

A long time journalist with German TV stations ZDF and SAT 1 and Deutschlandradio in Germany and France, specialist in defense affairs, he now lives in France.

Philip Schmitz
Chief Technology Officer

Mr. Schmitz is Founder and CTO of Millenium Technology Group in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, a web consulting and web hosting company in the U.S.