David J. Kramer serves as the Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute. Prior to joining the Bush Institute, he taught at Florida International University’s Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, where he also was Senior Fellow in the Václav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy and Director for European and Eurasian Affairs.

Arman Mahmoudian is a Ph.D. student in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies and also a Graduate Assistant in USF World Strategic and Diplomatic Studies. Arman earned his Master’s degree in International Relations and Global Security from Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (Moscow). During his Master studies he collaborated with Russian Media and think tanks on the Middle East. Arman was a researcher in IRAS (IRANIAN and RUSSIAN Studies), and worked on some issues like “Russia’s Role in the Middle East” or the “Consequences of Rise of Terrorism in the Middle East.”

General (Ret) Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie, Jr. became the Executive Director of the University of South Florida’s Global and National Security Institute in May 2022. In July 2022, he also became the Executive Director of the Florida Center for Cybersecurity, also known as Cyber Florida.

He is the former Commander of United States Central Command, retiring from that post in April 2022, capping off a 42-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is currently the President of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Applied Engineering at the University of South Florida, a Distinguished Senior Fellow on National Security at the Middle East Institute, a Member of the International Advisory Committee of the National Council on U.S. Arab relations, and a Member of the National Security Advisory Council, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.

Lt. Gen. Kirk Smith is Deputy Commander, United States Africa Command, Stuttgart, Germany. He is responsible to the Commander to help direct and enable operations, activities and investments for the command as they promote the national security interests for the U.S. in the 11.2 million-square-mile USAFRICOM area of responsibility, consisting of 53 African countries. USAFRICOM works with partners to counter transnational threats and malign actors, strengthen security forces and respond to crisis in order to advance US national interests and promote regional security, stability and prosperity. 

Nadwa Al-Dawsari is a veteran researcher, conflict analyst, and policy advisor with 20 years of field experience in Yemen and the broader Middle East. Currently, she serves as an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI) and a fellow at the Center on Armed Groups. She has provided advisory services to policymakers, US and European donors, regional actors, UN agencies, and humanitarian organizations. Nadwa is regularly featured as a guest speaker on panel discussions about Yemen and the broader Middle East and her work has been widely published by the top think tanks in the United States and Europe.

Richard Kerbaj is a BAFTA-winning and twice Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, and journalist specializing in crime and national security. Born in Melbourne, Australia, he moved to Lebanon in 1980 before returning to Melbourne, where his family ran a milk bar. He began his journalism career in Australia before relocating to the UK, where he worked for The Times, focusing on intelligence and counter-terrorism. ​

Kerbaj's notable works include the BAFTA-winning documentary My Son the Jihadi, which tells the story of a mother's struggle with her son's radicalization, and Hunting the KGB Killers, detailing the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko. In 2022, he published The Secret History of the Five Eyes: The Untold Story of the International Spy Network, offering an in-depth look into the intelligence alliance between the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. ​

Dr. Tad Schnaufer II is the Strategy and Research Manager at USF's Global and National Security Institute (GNSI). In this position, he oversees the planning and execution of GNSI conferences and events. Additionally, he manages the institute’s internal research and publication programs. He is the host of the “What’s Really Happening” Podcast with General (Ret) Frank McKenzie (USMC), and he has hosted several GNSI speaker series interviews.

Dr. Schnaufer earned his Ph.D. in Security Studies from the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs (SPSIA) at UCF. He earned a master’s in Global Affairs from NYU. 

Dr. Schnaufer has published a book chapter in “The Challenge to NATO: Global Security and the Atlantic Alliance” titled, NATO Burden Sharing in the Age of Hybrid Warfare. He has published articles in journals, including the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs and the Journal of Strategic Security.

Zachary Selden focuses on US national security and alliances with an emphasis on the transatlantic relationship. His first book, Economic Sanctions as Instruments of American Foreign Policy (Praeger,1999) examines the use of sanctions and provides a framework for understanding when and why they succeed or fail in furthering American national interests. In Alignment, Alliance, and American Grand Strategy (University of Michigan Press, 2016), he examines the different forms of alliance relations that the United States maintains, and how these alliances can be leveraged to ensure American security interests at a relatively low cost. His current research focuses on the development of the intelligence community and how specific events led to the growth of its size and power