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George Friedman

Founder and Chairman

George Friedman is an internationally recognized geopolitical forecaster and strategist on international affairs and the founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures.

Dr. Friedman is a New York Times bestselling author. His most recent book, THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM: America’s Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond, published February 25, describes how “the United States periodically reaches a point of crisis in which it appears to be at war with itself, yet after an extended period it reinvents itself, in a form both faithful to its founding and radically different from what it had been.” The decade 2020-2030 is such a period which will bring dramatic upheaval and reshaping of American government, foreign policy, economics, and culture.



His most popular book, The Next 100 Years, is kept alive by the prescience of its predictions. Other best-selling books include Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, The Next Decade, America’s Secret War, The Future of War and The Intelligence Edge. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Dr. Friedman has briefed numerous military and government organizations in the United States and overseas and appears regularly as an expert on international affairs, foreign policy and intelligence in major media.

For almost 20 years before resigning in May 2015, Dr. Friedman was CEO and then chairman of Stratfor, a company he founded in 1996. Friedman received his bachelor’s degree from the City College of the City University of New York and holds a doctorate in government from Cornell University. See articles by George Friedman

Meredith Friedman

Co-Founder and Vice President, Communications

Meredith Friedman is Co-Founder and Vice President, Communications at Geopolitical Futures. Ms. Friedman is responsible for publicity and media relations, partnerships and engagements at various international conferences and speaking events. 
Prior to Geopolitical Futures, Ms. Friedman spent almost twenty years at Stratfor as Chief International Officer and Director of Public Relations.  In these roles she built the company’s media relations, developed the international partners program and oversaw international source networks to support the analyst team.
Ms. Friedman has co-authored several books including The Future of War (St. Martin's Griffin, 1997), and The Intelligence Edge: How to Profit in the Information Age (Crown, 1997). She has a BA in History and a Master’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Sydney, Australia.

Antonia Colibasanu, PhD.

Senior Geopolitical Analyst

Antonia Colibasanu is Senior Geopolitical Analyst at Geopolitical Futures and Senior Fellow for Eurasia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. She has published several works on geopolitics and geoeconomics, including "Geopolitics, Geoeconomics and Borderlands: A Study of a Changing Eurasia and Its Implications for Europe" and "Contemporary Geopolitics and Geoeconomics". She is also lecturer on international relations at the Romanian National University of Political Studies and Public Administration. She is a senior expert associate with the Romanian New Strategy Center think tank and a member of the Scientific Council of Real Elcano Institute. Prior to Geopolitical Futures, Dr. Colibasanu spent more than 10 years with Stratfor in various positions, including as partner for Europe and vice president for international marketing. Prior to joining Stratfor in 2006, Dr. Colibasanu held a variety of roles with the World Trade Center Association in Bucharest. Dr. Colibasanu holds a master’s degree in International Project Management, and she is an alumna of the International Institute on Politics and Economics at Georgetown University. Her doctorate is in International Business and Economics from Bucharest’s Academy of Economic Studies, and her thesis focused on country-level risk analysis and investment decision-making processes by transnational companies.
See articles by Antonia Colibasanu

Allison Fedirka

Director of Analysis

Allison Fedirka is the director of analysis for Geopolitical Futures. In addition to analyzing and writing about global geopolitical issues, she helps train new analysts, oversees the intellectual quality of analyst work and helps guide the forecasting process.
Prior to joining Geopolitical Futures, Ms. Fedirka worked for Stratfor as a Latin America specialist and subsequently as the Latin America regional director. She lived in South America – primarily Argentina and Brazil – for more than seven years and, in addition to English, fluently speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
Ms. Fedirka has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and international studies from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s degree in international relations and affairs from the University of Belgrano, Argentina. Her thesis was on Brazil and Angola and south-south cooperation.
See articles by Allison Fedirka

Cole Altom

Managing Editor

Cole Altom is the managing editor at Geopolitical Futures. He oversees the publishing department, which curates the website, develops Geopolitical Futures’ editorial strategy, consults with analysts, liaises with marketing and maintains the integrity of all published material.
Before joining Geopolitical Futures, Mr. Altom worked at Stratfor for seven years, during which time, as managing editor, he handled special projects, served as personnel director for the publishing department, ran the internship program, managed website taxonomy, tracked website analytics, developed new content types and edited and copyedited published material.
Mr. Altom earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies and political science at Trinity University in San Antonio. He is a certified English teacher and is conversant in Spanish.
See articles by Cole Altom

Ridvan Bari Urcosta

Analyst

Mr. Urcosta joins Geopolitical Futures as an analyst with wide experience in the Black Sea region, Russia and the Middle East, Ukraine and Crimea as a geopolitical region and Eastern Europe. He is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Strategic Studies, University of Warsaw and he also teaches an independent ERASMUS course: “Russia and the Middle East: Geopolitics and Diplomacy.”
He was born in Abkhazia, Georgia where he lived until the onset of the Civil War. In the early 1990’s he moved to Crimea where he lived until its annexation by Russia. At the moment of annexation he worked in the Sevastopol State Administration. Right after annexation he worked as a Human Rights Officer in Odessa, Ukraine in the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission.
Mr. Urcosta graduated from the Estonian Diplomatic Academy in 2015 and completed The Indigenous Fellowship Programme (IFP) in 2017, a comprehensive human rights training program, that was established by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva. In 2018 he gave a speech at the UN Human Rights Council about the human rights situation in annexed by Russian Federation Crimea. Previously Mr. Urcosta has provided insights to different analytical centers including the European Council on Foreign Relations, Jamestown Foundation, War Room (U.S. War College) The Proceedings (U.S. Naval Institute), Jerusalem Post and others. He previously worked as an assistant to the Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, a single supreme plenipotentiary representative and executive body of the Crimean Tatar people. He speaks Polish, Russian, English, Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar and Turkish. See articles by Ridvan Bari Urcosta

Jill Bellenger

Marketing Director

Ms. Bellenger manages the company’s social marketing presence, provides compelling and up-to-date content and develops creative branding and communications solutions.
Ms. Bellenger’s previous experience includes communications and consulting positions in the environmental and design fields. She lives in Rochester, New York, and holds an MBA from Green Mountain College. She completed undergraduate and certificate programs at State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry and at Harvard University.

Ryan Bridges

Editor

Ryan Bridges is an editor with Geopolitical Futures, having spent years both editing and writing geopolitical articles. He joined Geopolitical Futures in 2017 and spent over a year as a geopolitical analyst writing on Europe and focusing on issues relating to the European Union. His expertise as an editor was in high demand so he recently made the change back to editing rather than analyzing. Prior to Geopolitical Futures Mr. Bridges worked for seven years as an editor at Stratfor. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, where he studied political science with a minor in philosophy.
Mr. Bridges lives and works from Germany and also travels extensively in the region.He speaks some German.
See articles by Ryan Bridges

Chris Brown

Web Developer

Chris Brown is a web developer at Geopolitical Futures. He has helped create and implement data solutions, working with our marketing and analyst teams. Mr. Brown studied audio engineering at Columbia College Chicago and web development at General Assembly. He has previous experience in team management and as an entrepreneur.

Stacy Haren

Graphic Designer

Stacy is a graphic designer at Geopolitical Futures. With a background primarily in architecture she has been lending visual representations to abstract ideas throughout her entire career. At Geopolitical Futures, her focus is to create graphic accompaniments for the analysts’ reports.
Ms. Haren earned her Bachelor of Architecture at Louisiana State University in 2012 with a focus in community design and architectural history and retains her architecture license in the state of Louisiana. Prior to joining the Geopolitical Futures team she worked on a wide range of project types at firms in Alabama and Louisiana, ranging from downtown restaurant renovations to new construction for healthcare facilities.

Matt Harris

Graphic Designer and Multimedia Producer

Matt Harris is a graphic designer and multimedia producer at Geopolitical Futures. He creates clear and compelling visuals to elevate the work of our analysts. With interests in audio production and computer animation, he’s taken on projects that include the creation of a series of data-driven explainer videos, GPF Presents, and the production of Geopolitical Futures’ bi-weekly podcast, Talking Geopolitics. Mr. Harris studied architecture at Louisiana State University and is a touring musician.

Viktória Herczegh

Analyst

Viktória Herczegh is an analyst at Geopolitical Futures. She is also a PhD candidate at the Political Science and International Relations Doctoral School of Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary. Her PhD research topic is "Double Standards projected by Great Powers". Ms. Herczegh holds a bachelor's degree of Chinese Language and Culture and a master's degree of East Asian Studies. She also spent one semester at Shanghai International Studies University studying Mandarin Chinese. Ms. Herczegh is a native Hungarian fluent in English, Spanish, French and Mandarin.

Valentina Jovanovski

Editor

Valentina Jovanovski is an editor at Geopolitical Futures. She works with analysts to hone their writing and handles daily digital publishing and communication of analytical content to subscribers.
Ms. Jovanovski was previously an analyst at a research firm focusing on corporate social responsibility before moving to London, England, to earn a diploma in journalism. She worked in Budapest for two years as a freelance journalist, writing for several international publications. She was also an associate editor for an English-language Hungarian news portal.
She has an honors bachelor’s degree in political science and geography from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in political science from Carleton University in Ottawa.

Angela Lindsey

Director of Subscriber Services

Angela Lindsey is the director of subscriber services at Geopolitical Futures. Ms. Lindsey combines her personal interests in geopolitics and history with her professional experience to build a U.S.-based subscriber support department on a mission to provide the very best customer service experience in the industry.
Before joining Geopolitical Futures, Ms. Lindsey spent several years working in business development with a special focus on customer service across large construction companies, home builders and ultimately the Homeland Security sales division for a large U.S. company. Ms. Lindsey studied business and marketing at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

Mandy Walsh

Senior Graphic Designer

Mandy Walsh is Geopolitical Futures’ senior graphic designer. In this role she oversees the graphics department for our online publication and works closely with the IT team in web development. She is an analyst, artist and web developer who enjoys taking information and creating visually intuitive solutions. She joined Geopolitical Futures in November 2017.
Ms. Walsh’s background includes work in public transportation, digital mapping, construction and travel. Previously she worked for MSF Global Solutions in New Orleans on user interface design and development, migration of transportation websites, web maintenance and support. As a field photographer Ms. Walsh has worked for EveryScape, Inc, and during an internship with the City of New Orleans she conducted assessments using ArcGIS Online. She has also worked as a web designer and developer for Trim-Tex, Inc. and Bookit.com.
Her interests include data visualization and GIS, and Ms. Walsh believes in leveraging the power of data and location to build stronger businesses and communities. Ms. Walsh has an associate’s degree in graphic design from Milwaukee Area Technical College and a bachelor's degree in international studies from the University of New Orleans.

Ronan Wordsworth

Analyst

Ronan Wordsworth is an analyst for Geopolitical Futures. He completed a Masters in Geopolitical Studies at Charles University in Prague in 2022. He has an ongoing association with the University, including assisting an ongoing project of African University partnerships and is co-host of a Geopolitics Podcast. Prior to undertaking the master’s program, Mr Wordsworth completed a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Sydney and spent nine years working across Australia, Europe, and Southern Africa working up to the level of Senior Project Manager providing experience in statistical analytics.

Ekaterina Zolotova

Analyst

Ekaterina Zolotova is an analyst for Geopolitical Futures. Prior to Geopolitical Futures, Ms. Zolotova participated in several research projects devoted to problems and prospects of Russia’s integration into the world economy. Ms. Zolotova has a specialist degree in international economic relations from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. In addition, Ms. Zolotova studied international trade and international integration processes. Her thesis was on features of economic development of Venezuela. She speaks native Russian and is fluent in English.
See articles by Ekaterina Zolotova

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