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GEORGIA`S REFORMS ASSOCIATES

MULTI PROFILE THINK TANK IN GEORGIA

Founders

Dr. Sergi Kapanadze

He is a co-founder of GRASS. He currently serves as Chairperson of the board. He served as  Deputy-Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia. He also worked as a Dean of School of Governance at the Caucasus University and as an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of Tbilisi State University. He previously served as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia in charge of Georgia’s relations with EU, US, and Russia. He has led Georgian delegations to the Geneva International Discussions, Association Agreement Negotiations with the EU and Strategic Partnership Charter working groups with the United States. His work experience also includes Foreign Intelligence Special Service of Georgia, Administration of the President of Georgia and the National Security Council. He holds Ph.D. in International Relations from Tbilisi State University and MA degree from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Kapanadze is an author of numerous publications in the fields of foreign policy and conflict resolution. He holds the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and is the recipient of the Presidential Order of Excellence.



Mrs. Helen Khoshtaria

She is a Member of the Parliament of Georgia. She previously served as a deputy State Minister at the Office of the State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, also worked at the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. She graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations as a specialist in International Security with Honor. She currently lectures at the Caucasus University and is involved in the Administration of the Free University of Georgia.



Mrs. Tamar Tomashvili

She previously worked at the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, Criminal Justice Inter- Agency Council, as well as the Legal Adviser at the Permanent Mission of Georgia to UN and other IOs in Geneva, Switzerland. She participated in Geneva Talks and negotiations on Georgia’s Association Agreement with the EU. She has obtained LLM in Humanitarian Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International Studies. She has attended Geneva Academy of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and owns a diploma in the course on International Criminal Justice from the Nottingham University.



Ms. Tinatin Goletiani

She has worked at The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, at the State Audit Office of Georgia and the Office of the Public Defender as a specialist in International Law. She has served as a National Legal Expert in the framework of EUJUST THEMIS, EU mission to Georgia. Ms. Goletiani attended American University of Washington College of Law, obtained Master’s degree from Bologna University and BA degree from the Kyiv International University.



Mrs. Dali Khomeriki

She held the post of the Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation, and Refugees of Georgia. Before that, she was the Minister of Education in the Government in Exile of Abkhazia. She has a long experience of serving as the Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Georgia. Mrs. Khomeriki has lectured at the Sokhumi State University for several years. She is an awardee of Franklin Award, several Meritorious Honor Awards of the US State Department. Mrs. Khomeriki obtained academic degrees from the University of Columbia and Tbilisi State University. She is also the author of several publications.



Mr. Davit Nardaia

He served as a Head of International Relations and Euro-Atlantic Integration Department at Ministry of Defence of Georgia. Previously he held various posts at the Ministry of Defence of Georgia. Mr. Nardaia graduated with MA degree from National Defense University, College of International Security Affairs, Washington DC, USA; Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies; Ivane Javakhishvili State University of Tbilisi; Sukhumi Branch of the Ivane Javakhishvili State University of Tbilisi. He owned Order of Honor 2012.



Mr. Irakli Matkava

He served as a Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia. He also works for the Tony Blair Associates. Previously he has served as a Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia with the background on various posts in the respective ministry. Additionally, he was a Director of Georgian National Investment Agency and Program Manager at Eurasia Foundation Regional Office. Previously, Mr. Matkava served as a Policy Analyst at National Security Council of Georgia. His academic degrees include MBA from Grenoble Graduate School of Business, France; European Politics and Administration Course at the College of Europe, Belgium and BA in International Relations from Tbilisi State University.



Mr. Shota Utiashvili

He serves as a Senior Fellow at Free University Tbilisi Center for Policy Analysis. Previously, he held the posts of the First Deputy Minister, Ministry of Penitentiary and Legal Aid, also as a Director of International and Public Affairs, Chancellery of Government of Georgia. He worked as at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Georgia and as a Head of Georgian Delegation at Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms in occupied Abkhazia and South, at Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies as a Fellow. Mr. Utiashvili owns degrees from Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Black Sea Security Program. Also, he attended Senior Executive Seminar at George C Marshall European Centre for Security Studies and National Security Program provided by RAND Corporation and Georgian Foundation for Strat4egic and International Studies.



Mrs. Tina Burjaliani

She serves as Consultant Innovate Consulting kit on public sector reforms, justice, and fights against corruption. Previously she held the post of First Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia. Moreover, Mrs. Burjaliani worked at the Office of the Prosecutor General (now Office of Chief Prosecutor) of Georgia, as well as at HOLLAND AND KNIGHT LLP, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Mrs. Burjaliani served as a Representative of Georgia to the European Court of Human Rights. Her professional experience also includes posts at Women Aid International Caucasus, British East-West Center and the Parliament of Georgia. Mrs. Burjaliani was lecturing at Georgian Institute of Public Affairs and Georgian American University. She holds LL.M Summa Cum Laude from American University, Washington College of Law; Degrees from Tbilisi State University and University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.



Mr. Andro Gigauri

He is a lawyer and staff member of the Free University of Tbilisi, moreover, works for Institute for Non-Violent Communication. He is a participant of UGRAD and MUSKIE Programs. Mr. Gigauri worked for USAID Georgia’s Office of Democracy and Governance for three years. He is a graduate of George Mason’s School of Public Policy, where he received a prize as a Distinguished Student of the Year. At Mason, he was a member of editorial board of student-run policy journal. He established series of policy discussions, which in 2012 won a Silver Prize from National Association of Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA). After returning to Georgia, Mr. Gigauri joined Ministry of Justice of Georgia as a Chief of Administration. At the Ministry, he launched Juvenile Diversion and Mediation Program. In 2012 Mr. Gigauri was promoted to the position of Deputy Chief Prosecutor. He is a recipient of Meritorious Honor Award for fighting human trafficking in Georgia.



Mr. Nodar Kharshiladze

He is a Senior Fellow at Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies. He started his career as a civil servant in 2001 at Ministry of Internal affairs Of Georgia. In 2002-2205 he was the civil servant at the Ministry of Defence in fields of defense planning and NATO integration. Since the year 2005, Nodar Kharshiladze was appointed as a Head of Defence Policy and Planning department. From 2009 to 2012 he worked as First Deputy Defence Minister. He was responsible for strategic planning, transformation and reform, international relations and NATO, management and HR, PPBS and NATO integration. In 2012 he worked as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, portfolio for transformation, international relations, HR, Planning, NATO and EU. 1995-2000 he studied at Ankara Police Academy 2004 He graduated from “Public Policy Analysis Training Program” run by RAND and in 2005 “Public Policy Planning and Policy Evaluation Program”, implemented by Canadian International Development Agency. He holds Master’s Degree in Strategic Security Studies from National Defence University, Washington DC, USA 2008.



Mrs. Camille Massey

She serves as an Evaluator at Council of Europe. Previously she worked as an International Consultant in the field of public administration reform and Senior Strategic Planning Adviser on Police Reform, OSCE Mission to Serbia Law Enforcement Department. She worked as an Evaluator, OSCE Secretary General’s Office/Office of Internal Oversight and as Consultant for Applied Research Consortium/International Commission For Migration Policy Development/European Commission. Professional experience of Mrs Massey includes: Consultant for Applied Research Consortium/International Labor Organization – Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan; Consultant of Strategic Evaluation at OSCE Mission to Serbia, Head of Mission’s Office; Policy Adviser, National Integration and Tolerance Program, USAID/Freedom House/United Nations Association of Georgia (UNAG), Tbilisi; Consultant – Responding to the Prevalence of HIV/AIDS among Injecting Drugs Users, UNODC; Consultant at the Head of Mission of OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mrs. Massey’s Academic degrees include Bilingual MA from Institutd’Etudes Politiques de Paris Bilingual(Sciences-Po) in International Development Management ; Bilingual MA in International Law and Public Affairs. Also, Maîtrise en Droit,Maîtrise en Sciences Politiques Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.