Discover

Today a member of the Institut de France, Jean-David Levitte has had a distinguished and outstanding career in the French Foreign Service, serving on the staff of three French Presidents and holding key senior positions in the French Foreign Service.

From 2007 to 2012, Ambassador Levitte was the Senior Diplomatic Adviser and Sherpa of President Sarkozy.

He served as Ambassador to the United States, from 2003 to 2007 during the difficult period of the war in Iraq.

From 2000 to 2002, he was the French Ambassador to the United Nations. In New York, Ambassador Levitte successfully handled several international negotiations, including resolution 1441 on Iraq.

Ambassador Levitte served as Senior Diplomatic Adviser and Sherpa of President Chirac from 1995 to 2000.
From 1990, he held senior positions in the French Foreign Ministry, first as Assistant Secretary for Asia and then as Undersecretary for Cultural and Scientific Cooperation.

In 1988, he was designated to his first position as Ambassador and served as the French Ambassador to the United Nations Office in Geneva.

Before 1988 Mr. Levitte was assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Foreign Minister ; Deputy Assistant Secretary in the African Bureau ; Second Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in New York.

Mr. Levitte joined the Foreign Service in 1970. He was first posted in Hong Kong and Beijing in the early 1970's. A few months after his election in 1974, President Valery Giscard d'Estaing asked him to work on his staff at the Elysee Palace, where he stayed from 1975 to 1981.

Born in 1946 in the south of France, Ambassador Levitte earned a law degree and is a graduate of Sciences-Po (the renowned Institute for Political Science in Paris) and of the National School of Oriental Languages, where he studied Chinese and Indonesian.

Ambassador Levitte is married to Marie-Cécile Jonas and has two daughters and three grandchildren.

Ambassador Thomas Greminger served as Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) from July 2017 until July 2020. On May 1, 2021, he took over as Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).

As Secretary General, he acted as an effective crisis manager supporting successive Chairmanships in an increasingly polarized environment. In the final months of his term, he dealt with the COVID-19 crisis, working to protect the health and safety of staff while ensuring that the OSCE continued to carry out its critical mandates and maintained business continuity.

Despite the highly polarized political climate, Ambassador Greminger promoted dialogue among the 57 OSCE participating States as one of his key priorities. He sparked informal discussions on emerging challenges and opportunities such as the importance of technology to all dimensions of security or the link between climate change and security.

He supported the OSCE in maintaining field presences to support participating States in implementing OSCE commitments, and preventing or managing conflicts – notably the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. He engaged in diplomatic efforts and supported those of various mediators addressing emerging and protracted conflicts in the OSCE area.

Ambassador Greminger promoted effective multilateralism by strengthening ties with the OSCE’s partners among international and regional organizations. He highlighted the OSCE’s contribution in helping participating States to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.

In his capacity as OSCE Chief Administrative Officer, Ambassador Greminger introduced a “fit for purpose” agenda focused on adapting the OSCE to changing realities and new opportunities against a background of limited and declining resources. This included a management review of the OSCE Secretariat that resulted in procedural and structural improvements, including by making the best use of technology. He also introduced an OSCE gender parity strategy and openly addressed sexual harassment and other challenges to creating a healthy and inclusive professional working environment. In view of his engagement, he was invited to join the International Gender Champions’ network.

Previously, Ambassador Greminger served as Deputy Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. As Head of South Cooperation, he oversaw cooperation with 21 partner countries and regions, entailing an annual budget of USD 730 million and 900 staff in Bern and abroad. In this function, he regularly represented Switzerland at international conferences as State Secretary.

From 2010 to 2015, Ambassador Greminger served as the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE, the United Nations and the International Organizations in Vienna. He was instrumental in devising the consecutive chairmanships and joint work plan of Switzerland (2014) and Serbia (2015). During the Swiss Chairmanship, he chaired the OSCE Permanent Council and played an active role in addressing the crisis in and around Ukraine that rapidly unfolded during the course of 2014. For the first time in years, the OSCE managed to achieve consensus on new OSCE operations – the most important being the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.

Ambassador Greminger was responsible for preparing the successful 2014 OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel, which yielded 21 consensus decisions and declarations. He chaired the OSCE Human Dimension Committee in 2011 and 2012. He introduced the structured agenda, substantive human dimension discussions as well as regular exchanges with OSCE institutions, field missions and UN mandate holders. As a member of the OSCE Troika, he chaired the OSCE Mediterranean Contact Group (2013) and the OSCE Asian Contact Group (2015).

Through his comprehensive expertise in security policy, Ambassador Greminger marked a number of important achievements in the OSCE: he contributed significantly to Ministerial Council Decision 3/11 on the conflict cycle, and the subsequent development of mediation and facilitation capacities in the OSCE Conflict Prevention Center.

During his term as Permanent Representative, Switzerland became the coordinator for the Vienna Document and introduced a number of modernization proposals. By strongly promoting partnership with the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), he helped the OSCE Secretariat and field missions to build capacities in security sector governance and reform.

From 2004 to 2010, he served as Head of the Human Security Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The Division is the Department’s main competence center for peace, human rights and humanitarian and migration policy, with an annual budget of around USD 70 million and 100 staff in Bern and abroad. During his tenure, the division offered and supported facilitation and mediation services to more than half a dozen peace processes worldwide (including in the Middle East, Colombia, Nepal, Burundi, Uganda and Sudan) and launched a number of important diplomatic initiatives, including those which led to the creation of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN International Tracing Instrument for SALW, and the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development.

Ambassador Greminger also served as Deputy Head of the Human Security Division from 2002 to 2004, and from 1999 to 2001 as Country Director at the Swiss Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique, where he managed Switzerland’s largest development cooperation programme with an annual budget of around USD 30 million and staff.

From 1994 to 1998, he served in different posts in the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, including Head of the Policy and Research Unit.

Ambassador Greminger holds a PhD in history from the University of Zurich. He is Lieutenant Colonel GS (company and battalion commander of infantry unit of the Swiss Armed Forces; G6 and Deputy Chief of Staff of Infantry Brigade). He has authored numerous publications on military history, conflict management, peacekeeping, development and human rights. His mother tongue is German; he is fluent in English and French and has a good working knowledge of Portuguese. Ambassador Greminger was born in 1961 and has four daughters.  

Christina Orisich is the Deputy Director of GCSP and Head of  GCSP’s “Executive Education” activities, developing and expanding the organisation’s comprehensive portfolio internationally.

Ms Orisich brings an extensive international experience in executive education to GCSP, as well as expertise in consulting in organizational and leadership development, change management, strategy and leading a business. She has a very good understanding of challenges leaders face in this complex and ever-changing world both in the private and public sector.

Prior to joining the GCSP, she worked for 12 years for the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) - Europe, where she was Head of the Coaching and Leadership Development Practice, responsible for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Previously as EMEA Design Practice Leader, she led a cross-cultural team of experienced instructional design faculty who delivered highly customized leadership solutions in response to very specific client challenges. In her role as Regional Director, responsible for Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and France at CCL she was responsible for all CCL activities in these countries (multi-million businesses). She built extensive experience in partnering strategically with international global corporations and institutions to support them with their organizational, talent and leadership development challenges. She was Senior Lead Faculty for several client engagements and worked with most of the large international corporations from the Pharma, Health Care, Chemical, Automotive and Financial Services industry. She is also a very experienced Executive coach, and regularly worked with senior leaders from big blue chip corporations as well as international organizations.

Before this, Christina worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Consulting) in Brussels and London leading EU financed projects in Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Romania in the public and private sector. Christina also worked at the European Commission in Brussels, Ericsson in Vienna and the Austrian Trade Commission in New York City.

Christina has a broad international background and has always worked in multi-cultural environments across a wide range of industries, leading and working with cross-cultural teams. She is Austrian and has lived and worked in 13 countries (Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Ukraine, Estonia, Russia and Poland). She speaks 8 languages.

She holds a degree in International Business Administration from the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna, Austria. She earned her postgraduate degree in European political studies, from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. She is a certified Leadership Embodiment Coach and is certified by the International Coaching Federation. 

Christian Bühlmann is the Chief of Staff . He is seconded from the Swiss Armed Forces.

Prior to this assignment, he gained extensive experience in the area of defence policy, politics, and military strategy as Senior Advisor to the Chief of Swiss Armed Forces. He has over 25 years of combined civilian and military experience. His previous appointments include : Head of Sales Defense at a major Swiss company (as a civilian) as well as head of doctrine research and development (as a regular officer).

He graduated from the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (Master of Science in Computer Sciences), and the Swiss Military Academy. He received a Master of Arts in International Studies (King's College, London) after attending the Royal College of Defence Studies, London. In his spare time, he is working on a PhD thesis in political science assessing the influence of political ideas on the transformation of Swiss defence policy.

Christian Bühlmann co-authored a book on a Colonel Daniel Reichel, a maverick Swiss military thinker, and has published numerous article on doctrine, strategy, defence policy, and history.

He is a Swiss national; his mother tongue is French and he is proficient in German and English

Anne-Caroline is the Head of the GCSP’s Global Fellowship Initiative and Creative Spark. Anne-Caroline joined the GCSP in September 2003 and has held different positions throughout this time. She spent a number of years working with the Director of Special Programmes on diplomatic activities and training courses abroad. She then worked with the External Relations Team and, as its Manager, was in charge of the Centre’s external communications - GCSP website, media relations and publications. She later joined the Emerging Security Challenges Programme as a Senior Programme Officer responsible for the Security and Law activities of the Centre. Since 2015, Anne-Caroline coordinates the GCSP Global Fellowship Initiative and currently also heads the development of the Creative Spark.

She holds a Master’s Degree (LL.M.) in International Humanitarian Law, jointly awarded by the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International Studies (HEI). She studied Law at Pierre Mendes France, University of Grenoble (France), and after her Maîtrise with specialisation in European Law, she obtained a Diploma from their European Summer Academy on "Europe in Transition".

Prior to her employment at the GCSP, she worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Athens (Greece), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) in Geneva.

Anne-Caroline speaks English, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian and German.

Isabelle Gillet is the Head of Community Engagement and leads, develops, and organizes the Centre’s community programmes in Geneva and abroad, including community-led projects. She aims to facilitate mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships between the GCSP and its alumni community.

Isabelle has joined the GCSP early 2008 and has held different positions throughout this period. She began at the Centre in the Protocol and Events department where she managed expert seminars, diplomatic dialogue, executive training workshops and major international conferences. In December 2013 she began working for the GCSP’s alumni development and introduced a new strategic plan and new technology to most effectively engage alumni in the life of the GCSP.

Prior to joining the GCSP, Isabelle worked for 14 years for Geneva Tourism & Convention Bureau, where she started to work in the Sales and Promotions department. As its Manager in the later years, she was in charge of a cross-cultural team to brand and develop the destination’s leisure tourism sector. Herself responsible for the Asian market, she established Geneva’s partnerships in the Far East and implemented commercial strategies and promotional projects with an active participation at sales meetings, workshops trade shows and other task forces to further drive business.

Isabelle has a large international background and has continually evolved in a multi-cultural environment. Isabelle is Swiss and lived and worked in the US, UK, India, the Middle East, and the Far East.

She is trilingual in English, French and German and holds a degree in international hotel business management.

Paul Dziatkowiec was appointed Head of Diplomatic Dialogue in 2021. Prior to that, for nearly a decade he served as Project Manager in various roles at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), an organisation that mediates between protagonists in armed conflicts.

At HD, Paul was involved in mediation efforts in diverse conflict settings including Nigeria, Myanmar, Thailand and most recently Ukraine, where he led HD’s efforts to help find a solution to the conflict in Donbas. He was also engaged in various regional and geopolitical dialogue initiatives.   

Also at HD, for five years Paul managed the Oslo Forum, the leading international mediation event that convenes peacemakers, world leaders (up to head of state level), peace process actors and conflict parties.

Paul had previously served in the Australian diplomatic service for over a decade. He was Australia’s Deputy Ambassador in Nairobi and, as Deputy and Acting Ambassador, covered a range of countries including Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. Concurrently, he was Australia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Nairobi.

During his diplomatic career, Paul engaged in various multilateral negotiations at the UN, in Geneva, New York, and Nairobi, which included negotiating resolutions and delivering statements on behalf of Australia, on political, security, human rights, and environmental questions.

Previously Paul was posted to the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv, and acted periodically as Australian’s Representative to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, during the second intifada.

Paul has also represented the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva, and worked as a Human Rights Officer in the Australian Foreign Service, both during the formative years of the UN Human Rights Council. Earlier, after the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement he deployed as a Peace Monitor to Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, where he was involved in raising public awareness of the agreement, following up ceasefire violations, and arranging weapons disposal and community reconciliation processes.  

Paul has a Bachelor’s degree in International Business from Queensland University, as well as three Master’s degrees in International Law, International Relations, and International Policy Studies from the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, and the University of Sydney respectively. He has written a number of articles and publications on various aspects of mediation, humanitarian and human rights issues.

Tobias Vestner leads GCSP’s Research and Policy Advice Department as well as the Security and Law Programme. He oversees and manages GCSP’s analysis and advice activities as well as researches and teaches on the intersection between security policy and international law. Tobias Vestner regularly advises governments, international organizations, and private firms on global security and legal issues. He has published several books and papers (see below) and provided insights to various media outlets, including the U.S. National Public Radio, NBC News, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and RTS Geopolitis.

Tobias Vestner has many years of experience in international law, international relations, and policymaking. He is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Exeter University, a Fellow at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (NATO), and a Non-Resident Fellow at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). A former reserve member of the Swiss Special Forces Command, he serves as reserve Legal Advisor at the Swiss Armed Forces Staff. He is member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War (ISMLLW) and member of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL).

Before joining the GCSP, Tobias Vestner was Research Affiliate and Global Futures Fellow at Georgetown University. Prior to that, he was Policy Advisor at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, where he managed political processes with regard to the export of conventional weapons, and participated in the UN negotiations of the Arms Trade Treaty. Previously, while at the Law of Armed Conflict Section at the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports, he contributed to bilateral negotiations on military cooperation, and trained military officers in international humanitarian law.

Tobias Vestner holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, a Master of Laws in International and European Law from the University of Geneva, and a Bachelor degree in Swiss law from the University of Lausanne. Tobias Vestner has Swiss and German nationality, and is fluent in English, French, and German. 

Books

• 'International Law and Policy on the Protection of Civilians’, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming (co-authored)
• 'Ethical Dilemmas of the Global Defense Industry’, Oxford University Press, forthcoming (co-edited)
• ‘A Guide to International Disarmament Law’, Routledge, June 2019 (co-authored), reviewed here, here, and here.

Select Papers

• ‘Military Operations and Artificial Intelligence’, in Robin Geiß and Henning Lahmann (eds), ‘Research Handbook on Warfare and Artificial Intelligence’, Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming
• ‘The Divide between War and Peace’, in Mitt Regan and Aurel Sari (eds), ‘Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict: The Challenge to Liberal Democracies’, Oxford University Press, forthcoming
• ‘Revisiting the Law on UN Peace Operations Support to Partner Forces’, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, forthcoming (co-authored)
• ‘The Defense Industry’s Contribution to National Security’, in Daniel Schoeni and Tobias Vestner (eds), ‘Ethical Dilemmas of the Global Defense Industry’, Oxford University Press, forthcoming
• ‘Treaty Law to Signal to Outsiders: The Case of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons’, Washington International Law Journal, June 2022
• ‘Legal Reviews of War Algorithms’, International Law Studies, February 2021 (co-authored)
• ‘Trends in Global Disarmament Treaties’, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, December 2020 (co-authored)
• ‘The New Geopolitics of the Arms Trade Treaty’, Arms Control Today, December 2020
• ‘Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space: Multilateral Negotiations’ Effects on International Law’, Moscow Journal of International Law, November 2020
• ‘Targeting Private Military and Security Companies’, Military Law and the Law of War Review, March 2020
• ‘Addressing the Use of Human Shields’, Strategic Security Analysis, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, December 2019
• ‘Book Review of the Leuven Manual on the International Law Applicable to Peace Operations’, International Review of the Red Cross, September 2019 (co-authored)
• ‘Synergies between the Arms Trade Treaty and the Wassenaar Arrangement’, Strategic Security Analysis, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, May 2019
• ’Prohibitions and Export Assessment: Tracking Implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty’, Geneva Paper 19/23, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, March 2019
• ‘Weapons Systems Supply and Operational or Logistical Support under the PSSA’, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, March 2019 (co-authored)

Select Op-eds & Blogs

• ’Can the TPNW Serve Ukraine?’, Opinio Juris, April 2022 (co-authored)
• ‘Die Schweiz hat durchaus das Zeug zur Grossmacht in der Uno’, NZZ am Sonntag, February 2022
• ‘Wenn der Terminator plötzlich zur Realität der modernen Kriegsführung wird’, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, August 2021
• ‘Quo Vadis, Abrüstung?’, Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften, October 2020

Digital Tool

• DisarmApp, ACW - Artifex Creative Webnet, January 2020 (co-created)

Talks at the GCSP

• Human Shields: A History of People in the Line of Fire
• International Disarmament Treaties: Trends and Lessons Learned 
• War Algorithms: Who Will Decide in Future Conflicts?
• Bye-Bye, International Order?
• Do the Geneva Conventions Matter?
• Dear Geneva: Let's Talk Hybrid Warfare
• Responsibility to Protect Revisited
• Arms Transfer to Conflict-prone Regions
• Russia and Europe: International Law as Bone of Contention or Common Denominator?
• Does Law Contribute to Peace Operations' Success?
• The Trump Administration and International Law
• Special Panel on Libya
• Expert Seminar on Enforced Disappearances
• Writing on the Wall: Redefining Security and Law
• The Worth of the Arms Trade Treaty? Let’s debate!

Ms Matas is the Special Advisor to the Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. 

Her work focuses on analysis of key developments and emerging issues in International Security, and on providing policy advice to the Director of the Centre. She also designs, and oversees, a number of dialogue processes in Geneva, and internationally, focused on relations between Russia and the West, European Security,  OSCE conflict prevention mechanisms, reforms and post-war reconstruction in Syria, as well as others. She also holds the role of GCSP representative at the OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions. 

Her research interests include European Security, the OSCE, and the relationships between Russia and other Eurasian countries. Given her expertise, she is a regular contributor to international conferences and workshops, and teaches a series of modules at the GCSP on courses such as the European Security Course (ESC), the Leadership in International Security Course (LISC), and the Swiss Military Professional Officers Training (SPOT) course, amongst others.

Previously, Ms Matas was the Deputy Head of the Diplomatic Dialogue at the GCSP, whose aim it is to promote inclusive dialogue on current geopolitical issues, and act as a supporting body to existing peace processes.

She also headed the Effective Governance cluster, where she directed executive education programmes in both English, and French, for State officials from various countries including Myanmar, Tunisia, Iraq, and Cameroon, amongst others.

Ms Matas joined the GCSP in January 2011. Prior to joining the Centre, she worked at the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) on Foreign Direct Investments promotion. She also has experience working in the private sector for Crédit Suisse, in their Trade Finance department.

Ms Matas holds a License and a Master’s in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), in Geneva. She is a fluent Russian, English, and French speaker, and has intermediate proficiency in German. 

Julie Allard was appointed GCSP’s Deputy Head of Diplomatic Dialogue in 2022. Prior to that, she served as a Strategic Projects Manager within the Director’s Office where she contributed to the development and implementation of the Centre’s strategy and supported its fundraising and outreach activities.

Prior to joining the GCSP, Julie worked for several organisations based in the Middle East in the field of Peace, Security and non-proliferation. Including implementation of EU’s CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative projects in the MENA region.

Julie holds a Master's degree in International Security from Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po Paris and a Bachelor in European Studies from King’s College, London.

Her native language is French, she is fluent in English and has basic knowledge of Italian and Arabic.

Laura Elbaz is Acting Head of Marketing and Communications. Laura joined the GCSP in March 2018, she worked as Junior Professional Officer and then Digital Marketing Officer. Together with the Marketing and Communications team, she is in charge of promoting and informing about the GCSP's services and activities. Prior to joining the GCSP, she worked for different private companies in Digital Marketing in Geneva, Paris, Grenoble, Miami and Shanghai.

Laura holds a Bachelor's degree in Information and Communication from IAE Savoie Mont Blanc and a Master's degree in Corporate Communications from Grenoble Alpes University.

Her mother tongue is French, she is fluent in English and has basic knowledge of Spanish.