Hank Allen  
Doug Brooks  
Ambassador Herman Cohen (Ret.)
Patricia Taft
Chris Taylor
 

Hank Allen

Hank Allen works in International Business Development for MPRI in Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Allen is also currently the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the International Peace Operations Association.

Doug Brooks

Doug Brooks is a specialist in African security issues and has written extensively on the regulation and constructive utilization of the private sector for international stabilization, peacekeeping, and humanitarian missions. Mr. Brooks has testified before Congress, appeared on a range of national and international news programs, and has lectured at numerous universities and colleges. Previously, he has been an Adjunct Faculty member at American University and an Academic Fellow and Research Associate with the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Johannesburg.

A retired career diplomat and specialist in African and European affairs, Ambassador Herman J. Cohen is president of Cohen and Woods International. Established in 1994, the firm provides strategic planning services to African and Middle Eastern governments and multinational corporations doing business in Africa and the Middle East. The firm is a member of the United States Corporate Council on Africa. Cohen’s consulting activities include the development of energy-intensive industries in the Republic of the Congo, the mining of bitumen from oil sands in Nigeria, and the promotion of private investment in the Republic of Mauritania. Cohen retired from the U.S. Department of State in 1993. His last position was assistant secretary of state for African affairs under President George H.W. Bush (1989–1993). During his 38-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service, he served in five African countries and twice in France. He was the ambassador to Senegal, with dual accreditation to the Gambia, from 1977 to 1980. During assignments in Washington, he also served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan (1987–1989), principal deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and research, and principal deputy assistant secretary for personnel. From 1994 to 1998, under contract to the World Bank, Cohen was a senior advisor to the Global Coalition for Africa, an intergovernmental policy forum that works to achieve consensus between donor and African governments on economic policy. Cohen is a member of the boards of directors of the Council for a Community of Democracies and the Constituency for Africa. He has been a professorial lecturer in foreign policy studies at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies since 1998. He is a member of the panel on Transatlantic Relations of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. He is the author of a book on conflict resolution in Africa entitled Intervening in Africa: Superpower Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent (2000). This book won the award for distinguished writing on diplomatic practice for the year 2000 from the American Academy of Diplomacy. Cohen received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the City College of New York (1953) and a master’s degree in international relations from the American University (1962). Cohen’s honors and awards include the French Legion of Honor, the Belgian Order of Leopold II, the U.S. Foreign Service rank of Career Ambassador, and the Townsend Harris Distinguished Alumni Award of the City College of New York. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Patricia L. Taft is a Senior Associate in the Peace and Stability Operations and Foreign Policy programs at the Fund for Peace. Since joining the Fund in 2003, she has co-led field missions to more than thirty countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe conducting research on the political will and military capacities of regional organizations to respond to humanitarian emergencies. Currently, Ms. Taft directs the Threat Convergence project and is an analyst for the Fund's annual Failed States Index, published in partnership with Foreign Policy Magazine. She also leads several projects aimed at developing metrics to measure stabilization and reconstruction efforts in weak and failing states. Prior to joining the Fund, she worked for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on projects examining the role of stability police in peacekeeping operations, the rule of law and transitional justice in post-conflict societies, and the rise of the Al Qaeda network. She was also a Senior Associate with the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG) where she was the lead US-based coordinator of a legal team to the Somalia peace talks. Ms. Taft has advised clients in the Balkans, the Caucasus, Asia and Africa on security sector reform and transitional justice. She earned her BA in History with distinction from Temple University and was a Dean's Fellow at American University where she earned an MA in International Relations. She has also lived and worked as a consultant in Central and Southeastern Europe. She has published editorials, journal articles, and book chapters on the topics of international law, humanitarian intervention, regional cooperation, civil society empowerment, and international military trends in contributions to peace and stability operations. Ms. Taft recently co-taught a course on diagnosing state failure at American University's School of International Service and serves on the Special Advisory Council for PILPG, which was nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for its worldwide pro bono legal work. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Peace Operations Institute.

Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor is the Senior Vice President for Global Strategy at Mission Essential Personnel, a veteran-owned, service-disabled global professional services firm. He is responsible for assisting with corporate strategy, developing domestic and international new business, managing government affairs and strategic communication, and leading marketing and advertising. He graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Master of Public Administration degree in political economy and international security. While at Harvard, Chris was also the Director of the Harvard Defense & Security Initiative and a member of the Defense Leadership Project at the Center for Public Leadership. Chris spent 14 years in the US Marine Corps as an enlisted infantryman and Force Recon Team Marine. He finished his undergraduate degree while serving on active duty and left the Marine Corps in 1999 to attend graduate school at the College of William & Mary, earning his MBA in 2002. He frequently speaks at professional forums and has testified before Congress on private sector contributions to national and international security, and humanitarian, reconstruction, and stabilization operations. He has appeared on MSNBC and CNN offering commentary on global security challenges. Chris is the founding Chairman of the International Peace Operations Association, a board member at the Peace Operations Institute, a member of Business Executives for National Security, and has attended Harvard University’s Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security.