Rear Admiral Christian Bock joined the Navy in July 1988, subsequently achieved a Master “Business Administration” and served on minehunting- and support vessels, holding command of a minehunter from 1998 until 2000.
After a period at the German MOD (Naval Staff Plans and Policy) and following the staff course at the German Armed Forces General Staff and Command College in Hamburg, he was seconded to SACT as Military Assistant for the 2* and 3* level in 2003.
Back to sea from 2005 – 2007, he served as the Deputy Squadron Commander of the 3rd Minesweeper Squadron in Kiel, followed by a posting at the German MOD Joint Staff Current Operations Branch.
From 2008 to 2010, Commander Bock was appointed Commanding Officer of the 5th Minesweeper Squadron, including a detachment as Commander German contingent UNIFIL.
Following a second assignment at the German MOD Joint Staff (conceptual planning), he joined the Federal Chancellery as Deputy Division Head "Military Aspects of Security Policy" in 2011.
From 2013 to 2015, promoted Captain (N), he was responsible for Maritime Operations (Horn of Africa region) at the Bundeswehr Joint Forces Operations Command in Potsdam.
Back to the MoD again, he held a Branch Chief post in the Planning Directorate until 2018, since when Rear Admiral Bock serves as Commander Flotilla 1 and Director NATO COE CSW.

Tom Guy's early appointments included a wide variety of ships, from patrol craft to mine-hunters, frigates, destroyers and aircraft carriers, ranging from fishery protection to counter-piracy and UN embargo operations as well as training and operating with a broad range of NATO allies.
An anti-submarine warfare officer by background, he commanded the minehunter HMS Shoreham and the frigate HMS Northumberland.  Ashore he worked in the strategy area of the MOD and directed the Naval Division of the Joint Staff College. He served as Chief of Staff to the UK's Commander Amphibious Task Group, as the Captain (Surface Ships) of the Devonport Flotilla, and in force generation in Navy Command Headquarters.
Operational Staff appointments have included tours ashore and afloat in the Balkans and the Gulf, including service in the Headquarters of the Multi National Force Iraq (Baghdad) in 2005.  In 2016-17 he was the Deputy UK Maritime Component Commander in Bahrain, working alongside the US Fifth Fleet Headquarters.  He assumed the role of Deputy Director of the Combined Joint Operations from the Sea Centre of Excellence in Norfolk, VA, in September 2017.

Ewa Skoog Haslum began her career in 1987 as a radio telegraphist on board HSwMS Stockholm. She was commissioned as an naval officer in the 2nd Surface Warfare Flotilla in 1990 with the rank of acting sub-lieutenant (fänrik). She was promoted to sub-lieutenant (löjtnant) there in 1993 and to lieutenant (kapten) in 1995

In 2007 she commanded the corvette HSwMS Sundsvall in the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force (MTF) Lebanon.

From 2010 to 2017, Skoog Haslum served one month a year as Aide-de-camp to Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden and was awarded the H.M. The King´s medal in 2015.

Skoog Haslum was employed by the Swedish Defence University from 1 December 2016 and became the new vice-chancellor of the university in early 2017. She then came together with the chancellor to lead the Swedish Defence University's development of education, not least with regard to future officer training. The vice-chancellor is the Swedish Defence University's highest military representative and advises the chancellor. The vice-chancellor has an important role in the development of the university and is also responsible for collaboration with foreign defense colleges and other international partners in the military field. The vice-chancellor also acts as exercise leader in major exercises. In conjunction with the appointment, Skoog Haslum was promoted to rear admiral (lower half).

She was appointed Chief of Navy in late 2019 and holds the position since 1 February 2020. At the same time she was promoted to rear admiral.

Professor Dr. Joachim Krause is the director of the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK). He was previously Chairman of the Foundation Wissenschaft und Demokratie and an executive board member at Aspen Institute Germany (2009–15); Deputy Director of the research institute at DGAP; and Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Ebenhausen. Until summer 2016, Joachim Krause was a professor for international politics and the director at the Institute of Social Sciences (Department of Political Sciences) at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel.

Tania Lațici is as a Policy Analyst on security and defence in the European Parliamentary Research Service - the in-house think tank of the European Parliament - where she supports MEPs with specialised input while regularly publishing on strategic matters related to the EU’s security and defence policy, EU-NATO cooperation and others. Tania is also doing a part-time PhD on transatlantic defence cooperation at the University of Ghent and within the Doctoral School of the European Security and Defence College. Past work experiences include the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the transatlantic relations division at the European External Action Service. Tania is also an Associate Fellow with the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations, a Member of Women in International Security Brussels, a Transatlantic Denton Fellow at CEPA, and an Associate Expert at the New Strategy Center. In 2019, she was a GLOBSEC Young Leader and New Security Leader at the Warsaw Security Forum. In 2020, she was appointed by Secretary General Stoltenberg to co-coordinate the NATO Young Leaders advisory body to assist the NATO2030 strategic reflection process.

Bryan McGrath is the founding Managing Director of The FerryBridge Group LLC (FBG), a niche consultancy specializing in naval and national security issues including national and military strategy, strategic planning, executive communications, strategic communications, and emerging technologies.

A retired Naval Officer, Bryan spent 21 years on active duty including a tour in command of USS BULKELEY (DDG 84), a guided-missile destroyer homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.   In command, he received the “Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Award for Inspirational Leadership” from the Surface Navy Association and his ship earned the USS ARIZONA Memorial Trophy signifying its selection as the Fleet’s most combat-ready warship.  His final duties ashore included serving as Team Lead and Primary Author of the US Navy’s 2007 Maritime Strategy “A Cooperative Strategy for 21^st Century Seapower”.

Bryan was formerly the Deputy Director of the Hudson Institute Center for American Seapower.  In this capacity, he helped develop the Surface Navy’s “Distributed Lethality” concept and contributed to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments’ 2017 Navy Alternate Fleet Architecture Study.

Bryan earned a BA in History from the University of Virginia in 1987, and an MA in Political Science (Congressional Studies) from The Catholic University of America. He is a graduate of the Naval War College.

Julian Pawlak is a researcher at the Institute for Political Science at Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg and the German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (GIDS). In his research, he focuses on questions pertaining to maritime strategy and security, as well as defence and security policy issues in Northern and Eastern Europe and the ‘Northern Flank’. Afore, Julian acted as a researcher and project manager for the Baltic Sea Strategy Fora at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK) and its adjunct Center for Maritime Strategy & Security. Julian studied political science, sociology as well as international politics and international public law at Osnabrück University, Jagiellonian University Kraków, and the University of Kiel.

After graduating from the Naval Academy in Brest and a first assignment in the Indian Ocean in 1986 on the corvette Doudart de Lagrée based in Djibouti, Vice-Admiral Piaton entered the realm of naval aviation.

Qualified as a helicopter pilot in 1989, he specialized in anti-submarine warfare on the Lynx Helicopter. After successful assignments aboard the frigates Montcalm, Cassard, and Dupleix, he took part in the operations of the first Gulf War in August 1990 as well as several coalition operations in Somalia, the Persian Gulf, and the Adriatic.

In 1994, he headed air detachment aboard the Jeanne d’Arc, naval training ship for officers.

Between 1995 and 1999, he was appointed Executive Officer, before commanding the new unit, which brought the new Panther helicopters into service for the French Navy.

After graduating from Joint War College in 2000, he was assigned to the Joint Military Staff in Paris until 2003 where he carried out duties for the Political and Strategic Studies Office, dealing in particular with NATO and EUled operations in the Balkans.

Between 2003 and 2010, he served at sea, first as the Executive Officer of the destroyer Montcalm, before assuming command of the Ventôse (2004-2006), a frigate based in the French West Indies. In 2007, he was appointed Executive Officer aboard the newly commissioned LHD Tonnerre (Mistral class) before assuming Command of the LHD Mistral (2008-2010).

Throughout this whole operational period, he supported mainly counter-narcotics trafficking, cooperation, crisis prevention in the Gulf of Guinea, and emergency interventions operations.

After attending the 117th session of the NATO Defence College Senior Course in Rome (2010-2011), he was appointed head of Fleet Human Resources for crew and petty officers, reporting directly to the Director of Navy Military Personnel in Paris (2011 to 2014). He also served as Public Affairs Officer and spokesman for the Chief of Staff of the French Navy (2014-2016).

Promoted to Rear-Admiral (LH) in 2016, he assumed command of French Naval Forces deployed in the Indian Ocean as well as the French Joint Headquarters and Forces stationed in the United Arab Emirates, acting also as French National contingent Commander of Operation for Inherent Resolve (Iraq) until 2018.

Acting as deputy to the Chief of Staff/Operations at the Joint Staff in Paris since September 2018, he was promoted to Rear-Admiral (UH) in 2019. In this assignment, from March to May 2020, he supervised the COVID-19 ministerial crisis cell from the Joint Staff, in coordination with the Cabinet Office of Ministers.

Upon promotion to his present rank in June 2020, Vice-Admiral Piaton has been the Deputy Commander at the Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) in Northwood (UK).

He holds various decorations and awards, including Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the National Merit, the Military Valour Cross, the Overseas Medal (Middle East and Somalia clasps), and the Aeronautical Medal.

Dr Deborah Sanders is a Reader in Defence and Security Studies in the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London at the Joint Services Command and Staff College where she specialises in maritime issues and military transformation in the Black Sea. She is a founding member of the UK Consortium on Small Navies and the Corbett Centre at the UK Defence Academy and was awarded her doctorate in 1997 from Aberystwyth University. Dr Sanders has taught at the Joint Services Command and Staff College specialising in Professional Military Education for more than twenty years as well as the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. She has published extensively on the Black Sea and her most recent publications include Europe, Small Navies and Maritime Security (Routledge, 2019) and ‘Cooperation between small navies in the Black Sea: Potential for alternative naval operations’.

John Darrell Sherwood is a historian at the Naval History & Heritage Command (NHHC). He has served with NHHC, the official historical agency of the U.S. Navy, since 1997.

He holds a PhD in history from The George Washington University, and has authored six books, including War in the Shallows: U.S. Navy Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam, 1965-1968 (2015). His recently completed book manuscript, The Shores of Tripoli: The United States, Its Navy, and Libya, 1801-2011 (forthcoming), examines naval conflict in Libya from the first Barbary War through Operation Odyssey Dawn and Unified Protector in 2011.

Dr. Sherwood’s current research focuses on maritime humanitarian operations. For the 2019-2020 academic year, he was selected as a Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs fellow to study European navies and coast guards and the migration crisis. As a Fulbright grantee, he was a resident scholar at ISPK from September to October 2019 and at the Hellenic National Defence College in Athens from November to December 2019. During his fellowship, he interviewed over 40 European Union naval and coast guard officers plus a large number of civilian mariners employed by NGO rescue boats.

Captain Rackwitz was born in 1972 and joined the German Navy in 1991. After taking a master’s degree in political and social sciences at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich he joined the submarine service in 1996 where he served as commanding officer of submarine U24 from 2004 to 2006 and as commanding officer Submarine Squadron 1, which is home to all German submarines and intelligence gathering ships, from 2011 to 2013.

During his time at sea, among other deployments, he participated in anti-terrorism operations in the Mediterranean and led a task group of German ships, an MPA and a 212a-class submarine across the Atlantic to develop new ASW-tactics with the US Navy off Florida and support the work-up of a US Navy carrier strike group. In 2019, he led TU.01 of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 in the Mediterranean consisting of Albanian, German, Greek and Turkish vessels, in charge of NATO’s Aegean Activity to curb illegal migration.

Ashore, after graduating from the national General- and Admiral Staff Officers Course, he served in the Federal Ministry of Defence as XO to the director armed forces staff 2008 to 2009 and as deputy-branch head strategy and policy in the directorate for politico-military affairs 2009 to 2011. From 2013 to 2016, he was assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a military advisor to the German Ambassador to the PSC, the political and security political committee of the council of the Eurpean Union in Brussels.

Upon returning from Brussels, he became the senior military assistant to the chief of the German Navy (Inspekteur der Marine) in Rostock before taking over as the head teacher for naval strategy and operational art at the Navy Department of the German Command and Staff College, the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr, in 2017.

After two years at the college in Hamburg Captain Rackwitz returned to the fleet as chief of staff and deputy commander of Flotilla 1 of the German Navy, based in Kiel.

On March 22 this year, he assumed his current post as branch head central affairs and executive officer to the Director General for Forces Policy at the Federal Ministry of Defence.

Captain Rackwitz has been married with his wife Mirjam since 1999 and they have three children – their daughter has already joined the Navy as a cadet. To keep perspective and humility he plays golf, often and poorly.     

Dr. Alix Valenti is a defence and security expert with over 15 years of international work experience. As a defence and security journalist focusing on naval procurement and strategy around the world she has published articles in a wide variety of defence media, including IHS Jane's, Shephard Media and Armada International; she was also editor in chief of Naval Forces for two years.
Dr Valenti also regularly works on projects for the European Commission in the area of justice and home affairs. She holds a PhD in Development Planning from UCL, where she studied the impact of international organisations on the institutional and urban reconstruction of countries after conflict.