Leadership Team
Meet the dedicated leaders guiding our research and strategic vision
Leadership
Robert Hamilton
President
Dr. Robert (Bob) Hamilton is the President of the Delphi Global Research Center. He served 30 years in the U.S. Army. retiring as a Colonel, and six years as a civilian professor at the U.S. Army War College. In his Army career, he served overseas in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Germany, Belarus, Georgia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Dr. Hamilton received his PhD in International Relations and his MA in Russian Studies from the University of Virginia, and his BS in National Security Affairs from the United States Military Academy. He is also a graduate of the German Armed Forces Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. He is the author of the book China-Russia Relations:The Dance of the Dragon and the Bear (2024, Springer) and of over forty articles and monographs published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and in outlets such as Orbis, Parameters, Forbes, The American Interest, and Defense One. His current book project examines the effectiveness of US military assistance at building capability to deter aggression.
Maia Otarashvili
Vice President
Maia Otarashvili is the Vice President of Delphi Global Research Center. She previously served as the Eurasia Program Director at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Maia is co-editor of a 2017 volume Does Democracy Matter? The United States and Global Democracy Support (FPRI). Her research focuses on geopolitics and security of the Black Sea-Caucasus region, Russian foreign policy, and the post-Soviet conflicts in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Maia holds an MA in War Studies from King’s College, London, and an M.A. in Globalization, Development and Transition from the University of Westminster in London, with emphasis on post-authoritarian transitions. Contact: MaiaO@delphigrc.org
Sean Murray
Director, Imagination in Statecraft Fellowship Program
Sean Murray is the Director of Delphi Global's Statecraft and Imagination Fellowship Program. He has more than 12 years of experience as a diplomat and intelligence analyst focusing primarily on Ukraine, Russia, the Baltics and the Western Balkans. He has been posted in Vilnius, Moscow, the U.K., and Washington, D.C., and is a winner of the State Department's Superior Honor Award and DoD's Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award, as well as a Fulbright research fellowship.
Dan Whitman
Director, International Crisis Management Course
Dan Whitman is the Director of International Crisis Management Course at Delphi Global Research Center. He has served in Copenhagen, Madrid, Pretoria, Port-au-Prince and Yaoundé as Foreign Service Officer, with shorter tours in eight other African capitals. He was planning officer for the White House Africa summits of 2014 and 2022. He has taught foreign relations, African Studies, and international communication at American University and George Washington University in Washington, DC. Dan accompanied francophone visitors on official tours of the U.S. as French interpreter, 1970-82, then was program officer at a Washington-based institute. He lived and taught in Brazzaville, Congo during his Fulbright year of 1980-81. His books and articles range in topics from Haiti, Africa, European stringed instruments and oral history. He holds the PhD from Brown University, 1979.
Darrell Driver
Director, Arctic Initiative
Dr. Darrell Driver is the Director of the Arctic Initiative at Delphi Global Research Center. He is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and the Co-Director of the Advanced Strategic Art Program at the U.S. Army War College. He served previously as the Director of the Army War College’s Regional Studies Program, Director of the European Studies Program, and Deputy Chair of the Department of National Security and Strategy. Other positions Dr. Driver has held include Deputy Director of Strategy for U.S. European Command, Defense Policy Advisor to the U.S. Mission to NATO, and Strategic Planner in the Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army. He was also on the faculty of the U.S. Military Academy and the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. Dr. Driver is the author of the book Sparta in Babylon: Case Studies in the Public Philosophies of Soldiers and Civilians and a number of articles and book chapters on subjects related to civil-military relations and European Security. He was a 2009 Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow and an Academic Year 2015 Army War College Fellow. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters and Doctorate in Political Science from Syracuse University.
Kira Chernenko
Operations Coordinator
Kira Chernenko is the Operations Coordinator at Delphi Global Research Center. Her experience includes leading high-profile initiatives across nonprofit, government, and corporate sectors. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, she is known for her organizational precision and solutions-oriented approach, she is passionate about strengthening partnerships and advancing meaningful organizational impact. Over the past three years, Kira has played an active role in advocating for Ukraine through her work supporting advocacy initiatives, diplomatic engagement, and mission-driven events. Prior to her work in advocacy, she built extensive experience in finance and operations, including roles in private investment fund administration specializing in banking and loans. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing Strategy from the National University of Food Technologies in Kyiv, Ukraine, and a Marketing Certificate from Baruch College in New York.
Nukri Otarashvili
Director, Web Development
Nukri Otarashvili is the Director of Web Development at Delphi Global Research Center.
Naia Begashvili
Research Fellow for Policy, Data, and Communications
Naia Begashvili is a Research Fellow for Policy, Data, and Communications at Delphi Global Research Center, where she works at the intersection of security, governance, democratic resilience, information integrity, and strategic communications. Her work translates complex political and security developments into clear analysis, public-facing narratives, and actionable policy insight for decision-makers, institutions, and wider audiences. Over the past decade, Naia has worked on some of the core challenges facing democratic societies: how institutions build trust, how citizens shape policy, how governments remain accountable, and how information can strengthen or weaken public life. Her experience spans election integrity, government oversight, parliamentary strengthening, coalition-building, inclusive governance, public advocacy, and strategic communications in highly contested political environments. Before joining Delphi, Naia spent eight years at the National Democratic Institute, where she worked across government, parliament, political parties, civil society, media, and international donors to advance democratic reform and inclusive political participation. Her work helped strengthen parliamentary tools and practices, support evidence-based policymaking, and bring legislative institutions closer to the standards and commitments envisioned under Georgia’s EU Association Agreement. She also designed and led national advocacy campaigns, built broad-based coalitions, and contributed to significant policy reforms, including measures that expanded women’s political representation. Her campaigns helped shift public opinion on contested issues by double digits and reached audiences in the millions. Naia later served as a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Specialist on a major USAID governance program, where she worked on rights-based governance, disability rights, institutional capacity-building, and more inclusive public policy processes. As a Muskie Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, she focused on democratic resilience, disinformation, and the evolving information ecosystem. A Fulbright Scholar, Naia holds a Master of Public Policy and Policy Analytics from Georgia State University and a postgraduate certificate in Strategic Communications from King’s College London. Her expertise spans disinformation and election integrity, democratic resilience, legislative and institutional reform, campaign and coalition strategy, data-informed policy analysis, and the translation of complex policy challenges into clear, persuasive, and publicly resonant communication.
Lisa Noskova
Research Assistant
Lisa Noskova serves as the Research Assistant to Dr. Robert Hamilton at Delphi Global. She worked with Dr. Bob Hamilton on research and data collection for his recent book China–Russia Relations: The Dance of the Dragon and the Bear (Springer, 2024), and she is currently supporting his new book project examining the effectiveness of U.S. military assistance in deterring aggression.
Board of Trustees
John M Gillette
Board of Trustees
John M. Gillette is the Chairman of the Delphi Global Board of Trustees. Mr. Gillette has experience as a Vietnam era infantry officer, business owner and ministerial advisor in Afghanistan, all coupled with twelve years serving as the Senior Executive Mentor of the Minister of Defense Advisor program. As an advisor in Afghanistan his efforts were marked by a unique ability to forge relationships with senior members of the ANSF and engage with them to solve many of the most contentious issues impeding a successful transition In business his track record included a reputation for creating growth strategies, managing P&L, CRM, Process Improvements, Team Building, Cost Reduction, turning around under-performing units and impacting bottom. His focus on internal growth coupled with selected acquisitions increased consolidated sales by over $70M in less than five years. He is highly regarded as a team builder, public speaker and a leader with a reputation of driving change.
Matt Brand
Board of Trustees
Brigadier General, USA (Retired) Matt Brand is a Member of the Delphi Global Board of Trustees. He is a specialist in foreign and national security policy, working for the last fifteen years in senior policy positions with DOD, most recently as the lead of Strategic Plans and Policy for NATO’s Allied Command-Transformation. One of the Army’s most accomplished Foreign Area Officers, General Brand led America’s military activities in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Pakistan, often in competition with Russia’s national objectives. He was DOD’s eyes on the ground during the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. He was awarded the Sliver Star for gallantry in Operation Desert Storm, and has a Masters in Russian from Stanford University.
Janet Smalley
Board of Trustees
Janet Smalley is a Member of the Delphi Global Board of Trustees. She is a retired senior marketing research and strategy executive with corporate experience in the hospitality, retail, and healthcare sectors. Janet retired in 2016 after eighteen years with Marriott International (MI) where she led projects to inform the strategic and operational direction of MI’s full service and luxury brands around the world. Since retirement, Janet has focused on philanthropic and volunteer activities for various refugee, sexual assault, STEM education, and humanitarian nonprofits and NGOs. Janet recently returned from living in the Republic of Georgia where she was the co-Ambassador of Georgia’s chapter of Technovation Girls, an international program designed to develop entrepreneurial and technology skills among teenaged girls. She is also a Co-Founder and former Board Member of დაეხმარე და გაახარე / Help for Happiness, a registered Georgian NGO that provides humanitarian, education, and training resources to Georgian and refugee families, youth, and women. Janet Smalley holds an MS in Marketing from Pennsylvania State University.
Hillard (Bob) Torgerson
Board of Trustees
Hillard R. Torgerson is a member of the Delphi Global Board of Trustees. He recently retired from Boeing, where he worked as the Senior Manager in the Vertical Lift System’s Chinook Program. In that role, he handled domestic and international business development for Boeing’s Defense Security Systems, in Philadelphia, PA. Mr. Torgerson has a broad academic background in communications, finance and international relations. His business background is in sales and market development, media and public affairs. Bob’s extensive Boeing Business Development experience includes having leadership of both Boeing’s V-22 Osprey and CH-47 domestic and international market development activities. He was the V-22 Program’s Business Development Senior manager for eight years for Boeing and Bell Boeing. He has a long and successful track recording in international sales, previously leading the company’s domestic Chinook business development activities as well as Chinook sales campaigns in Canada and most recently with the UK for 14 new Chinook helicopters. His recent Boeing campaign experience was to lead the company’s initial market efforts with the Japanese Army for the V-22 Osprey. He is now doing same also for the Japanese Chinook program on behalf of the JDCDF and JASDF. Previously he served as Boeing Mobility Rotorcraft’s UK and Europe market lead. For 14 years he was the lead press spokesman and advertising manager, as well as Pennsylvania state and local government affairs manager for Boeing. Prior to joining Boeing, Bob served as spokesman for Fairfax County, Virginia, the largest suburban county in Washington, DC.
Board of Advisors
Chris Miller
Board of Advisors
Dr. Chris Miller is a Member of the Delphi Global Board of Advisors. Chris Miller's research focuses on Russian foreign policy, politics, and economics; Russia and Ukraine; Russian-European relations; and Eurasia. He also focuses on semiconductors and the geopolitics of technology. His latest book Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology (Scribner, 2022) reveals the geopolitical history of the computer chip. It is a New York Times bestseller and a winner of the 2022 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award and won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award. It was featured on many “Best of 2022” book lists, including in the New Yorker and the Economist. Dr. Miller is professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Before joining Fletcher, Dr. Miller did research at the Hoover Institution and Brookings Institution. Earlier he spent time in Russia at the Carnegie Moscow Center and the well-known New Economic School in Moscow. In addition to Chip War, Dr. Miller’s books include We Shall Be Masters: Russian Pivots to Asia from Peter the Great to Putin (Harvard University Press, 2021), Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), and The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR (University of North Carolina Press, 2016). Dr. Miller’s work has also been published in scholarly publications such as History of Political Economy, the International History Review, and the Soviet and Post-Soviet Review. In the popular press, his commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Moscow Times, and South China Morning Post, among others. He has an MA and PhD in history from Yale University and a BA in history from Harvard University.
Amb. John F. Teft
Board of Advisors
Amb. John F Teft is a Member of the Delphi Global Board of Advisors. He is a retired United States diplomat, and holds a Distinguished Chair in Diplomacy and Security at the RAND Corporation. He was a career Foreign Service Officer for more than 45 years, completing his service as the United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2014 to 2017. Tefft earlier served as the United States Ambassador to Lithuania from 2000 to 2003, Ambassador to Georgia from 2005 to 2009, and Ambassador to Ukraine from 2009 to 2013. He worked from 2004 to 2005 as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs responsible for U.S. relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. Tefft originally retired from the Foreign Service in September 2013 and served as Executive Director of the RAND Corporation’s U.S.-Russia Business Leaders Forum from October 2013 to August 2014 until his recall to duty and confirmation as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation. From 2003-2004 Tefft was the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College in Washington, D.C. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 1996 to 1999, and was Chargé d’Affaires from November 1996 to September 1997. His other Foreign Service assignments include Jerusalem, Budapest, and Rome, and numerous positions at the State Department in Washington. Tefft holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a Master’s Degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Among the awards he has received are the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award in 2017, the American Foreign Service Association’s Lifetime Contributions to Diplomacy Award in 2023, the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award in 1992, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Year Award for his service in Moscow in 1999 and the Diplomacy for Human Rights Award in 2013. He received Presidential Meritorious Service Awards in 2001 and 2005.
Amb. William Courtney
Board of Advisors
Amb. William Courtney is a Member of the Delphi Global Board of Advisors. William Courtney is an adjunct senior fellow at the nonpartisan, nonprofit RAND research organization, and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. In 2014, Ambassador Courtney joined RAND from Computer Sciences Corporation, where he was senior principal for federal policy strategy. From 1972 through 1999 he was a foreign service officer in the U.S. Department of State. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the U.S.-Soviet Commission to implement the Threshold Test Ban Treaty. He was senior advisor to the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), advisor on the integration of foreign affairs agencies, special assistant to the president for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, deputy negotiator in U.S.-Soviet Defense and Space Talks, deputy executive secretary of the NSC staff, and special assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He served abroad in Brasilia, Moscow, Geneva, Almaty, and Tbilisi. He received the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service. Ambassador Courtney co-chaired the international advisory council of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission from 2021 through 2024. He is chair-emeritus of the board of trustees of Eurasia Foundation. He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Council on Foreign Relations, where in 1977–78 he was an international affairs fellow. He holds a B.A. from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University.
Donn H. Hill
Board of Advisors
Major General (Ret) Donn H. Hill is a Member of the Delphi Global Board of Advisors. He commissioned as an Infantry officer through ROTC in 1990. Maj. Gen. Hill (Ret) has served in Light, Air Assault, Airborne Ranger, Stryker, and Mechanized units. His service includes leadership and staff positions from the platoon to combatant command level at duty stations in the United States, Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In support of the Global War on Terror, Maj. Gen. Hill (Ret) deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan eleven times for a cumulative 62 months. From 2002-2005 he deployed with the 3d Ranger Battalion as the Battalion Liaison Officer and then Operations Officer. Then in November 2007, he deployed to Baghdad, Iraq as the Deputy Commanding Officer for the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (L). In June 2009 Maj. Gen. Hill (Ret) assumed command of 2d Battalion, 506th IN (AASLT) and deployed to Afghanistan along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. Following command, Maj. Gen. Hill (Ret) returned to Fort Benning, Georgia to serve as the Deputy Commanding Officer of the 75th Ranger Regiment, where he would return to Afghanistan twice between 2012 and 2013. Maj, Gen. Hill (Ret) assumed command of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team ‘Artic Wolves’ in 2014 at Fort Wainwright, Alaska before becoming the 3rd Infantry Division Chief of Staff in 2016. In June 2017, Maj. Gen. Hill (Ret) transitioned to Fort Bragg, NC to serve as the XVIII Airborne Corps and OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE G3/5/7 prior to assuming command of the 2d Security Force Assistance Brigade in January 2018. Maj. Gen. Hill stood 2SFAB up and then deployed them one year later across all of Afghanistan and portions of Iraq, while simultaneously assuming the role as the Commander, Train Advise Assist Command – East advising the Afghan Army 201st ‘Selab’ (Flood) Corps. Following his command, Maj. Gen. Hill (Ret) was selected to serve as the Deputy Commanding General-Education, Combined Arms Center; Provost Army University and Deputy Commandant, Command and General Staff College in July 2020. He returned to Fort Bragg and became the Security Force Assistance Command Commanding General on 16 May 2022. Maj. Gen. Hill retired after 34 years of active service in September of 2024. Maj. Gen. Hill (Ret) is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. His awards and decorations include the Combat Infantryman's Badge, Expert Infantryman's Badge, Ranger Tab, Master Parachutist Badge and Air Assault Badge.
Sarah Wolf
Board of Advisors
Member, Delphi Global Board of Advisors Ms. Wolf is a foreign policy and strategic communications practitioner currently serving at RAND Corporation, where she contributes her extensive experience in defense, diplomacy, and development to research and policy analysis. Prior to joining RAND, she concluded a distinguished 21-year civil service career, holding leadership roles such as advisor to Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on national resilience, NATO liaison in Georgia, and Deputy Director at U.S. European Command’s Russia Strategic Initiative. Her tenure also included directing strategic communication efforts at U.S. Southern Command, addressing issues like disaster relief, migration crises, and Ebola preparedness. Earlier in her career, Ms. Wolf served at the Department of State, focusing on arms control, regional security, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism.
Anthony Wanis-St. John
Board of Advisors
Dr. Anthony Wanis-St. John is a Member of the Delphi Global Board of Advisors. He is a conflict resolution professional who specializes in negotiations in hostile environments, particularly ceasefires and peace processes. He is an Associate Professor at American University’s School of International Service. He’s the author of Back Channel Negotiation: Secrecy in Middle East Peacemaking (Syracuse University Press 2011). With Roger Mac Ginty, he co-edited the 3rd edition of Contemporary Peacemaking (Palgrave Macmillan 2022). Anthony has worked with the Department of Defense’s Defense Security Cooperation University to train civilian and combat advisors, including for the U.S. Army’s Security Force Assistance Command. In the field he advised Darfur military commanders on the need for operational and strategic unity and later supported the Syrian Opposition Council’s efforts to negotiate with the Syrian government. In 2016 he co-facilitated the strategic review of USAID/OTI’s countering violent extremism portfolio in Abuja, Nigeria. He has facilitated Track II workshops for Palestinian and Israeli official negotiation staff. With the United States Institute of Peace he conducted electoral violence prevention work in Haiti, negotiation trainings for the US Military Observer Group, and trained Ugandan military deploying to Mogadishu as part of AMISOM. In Myanmar he supported efforts to build the preventive diplomacy capabilities of ASEAN and did the same for the Arab League in Cairo. He supported World Bank judicial modernization projects in Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela and El Salvador. He has provided negotiation instruction at the U.S. Joint Special Operations University, U.S. Army 352nd Civil Affairs Command and the 450th Civil Affairs Battalion as well as Marine Corps University’s Command and Staff College, the Department of Labor’s International Labor Affairs Bureau, the Department of State’s Conflict and Stabilization Operations Bureau and others. He earned his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School, Tufts University and was a Doctoral Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation and a Non Resident Fellow at Joint Special Operations University.