Ariana Berengaut served in President Obama's administration from 2011-2017. Most recently, she was Speechwriter and Counselor to Deputy Secretary Antony Blinken at the U.S. Department of State, where she advised on the planning of critical public policy initiatives including the U.S. response to the global refugee crisis.
Spencer P. Boyer is a Senior Fellow at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. He is also the Director of the Washington Office of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and an Adjunct Professor in the BMW Center for German and European Studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Michael Carpenter served in the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense with responsibility for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, the Balkans, and Conventional Arms Control. He also served in the White House as a foreign policy advisor to Vice President Joe Biden as well as on the National Security Council as Director for Russia.
Daniel P. Erikson is an award-winning author and policymaker with deep experience throughout the Americas. He previously served as special advisor to Vice President Biden and senior advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Garrity comes to the Penn Biden Center as a member of the University of Penn family, most recently serving as the Finance Administrative Coordinator with the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI).
Juan S. Gonzalez leads the Latin America practice at The Cohen Group, and served previously as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He served in the White House from 2011-2015 as Special Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden and National Security Council Director for the Western Hemisphere.
Michael Jaeger supports the Penn Biden Center team as an IT/AV Specialist managing and developing web content and supporting back-end processes. Jaeger brings years of experience working with tech and in academic institutions.
Colin Kahl is the Steven C. Hazy Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. From October 2014 to January 2017, he was Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President.
Mahlet Mesfin is a visiting scholar at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Most recently, she was the director of the Center for Science Diplomacy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Jeff Prescott served as Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf States on the National Security Council. He joined the Obama Administration in 2010 as a White House Fellow, serving as Vice President Biden's Deputy National Security Advisor and senior Asia advisor.
Caroline Tess served in a number of positions in the Obama Administration at the National Security Council and State Department from 2010-2017. Prior to joining the Administration, Caroline worked on Capitol Hill on the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Senator Harry Reid’s leadership staff, and in the office of Senator Bill Nelson.
Mr. Mark Voyger is a Visiting Scholar with the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. In 2018-2019 he was the Senior Lecturer in Russian and Eastern European Studies at the Baltic Defence College in Tartu, Estonia where he taught Russian and Eastern European politics and security studies.
