Please read below a short descritpion of the GCSP and Bios of our speakers.
About the Geneva Center for Security Policy
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) has its roots in the Geneva Summit of 1985: the first meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to discuss international diplomatic relations and the arms race in the midst of the Cold War.
The meeting exposed the pressing need to strengthen national expertise in the field of disarmament and international security, so the Swiss Confederation took the initiative to design a nine month executive training programme for government officials. It met the needs of officials not just in Switzerland, but in many other countries in Europe and beyond.
The course was uniquely designed to address the most critical issues in a round table format that facilitated exchange between experts and practitioners. The officials not only gained knowledge, but also built relations and trust across political divides and thus the course became a vehicle to build and maintain peace, security and stability and foster international cooperation. The ‘GCSP Way’ was born.
In 1995, Mr. Adolf Ogi, Swiss President and Federal Counsellor in charge of the Federal Department (Ministry) of Defence initiated the establishment of an international Foundation in Geneva to expand the reach and impact of the course and serve as a contribution of the Government of Switzerland to peace in Europe. 11 States accepted to nominate a representative to serve on the Foundation Council (board of trustees).
The GCSP’s mission was strengthened, when in 1996, Switzerland joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP), an initiative led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to enhance transatlantic security cooperation. GCSP was a Swiss contribution to the PfP and is now recognised as a Partnership Training and Education Centre (PTEC).
Since its creation a quarter of a century ago, the GCSP have delivered high quality executive education programmes in international security policy for participants coming first from the Euro-Atlantic Area and then worldwide. The complex, interconnected nature of security challenges has also led us to expand our portfolio of expertise and the professional and geographic diversity of our staff, participants, associates and experts.
In 2014 the move to the Maison de la paix (House of Peace), a state-of-the-art glass structure in the heart of International Geneva, led to a significant transformation and expansion of the Centre.
About the speakers:
Mrs. Alexandra Hoffmann
Alexandra Hoffmann is the CEO of Alexandra Hoffmann Consulting (AHC). AHC helps crisis management leaders and teams thrive through crises. AHC promotes diversity and blends complementary professional expertise, background, and experience through various partnerships. Thanks to a career with the French government and large international corporations, Alexandra has a rich operational and multicultural experience base with strong expertise in Crisis Management and Organizations Resilience, its boosting factors, and best practices to manage it. Alexandra is regularly interviewed in the print media to discuss corporate resilience topics, including 500 Startups, Authority Magazine, Business Insider, or Thrive Global. She also writes for ASIS Security Management Magazine, and regularly presents at virtual events. Alexandra has an LLB in Criminal Law from Paris University, France, an M.Sc. in Corporate Security from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Alexandra is also a Certified Coach, trained in Neurosciences, and a Certified Yoga Teacher.
Mr. David Horobin
David Horobin is Head of the Crisis Management at GCSP. He has more than 25 years operational experience in emergency and crisis management in natural and conflict related contexts in both field and HQ functions. As Head of Crisis Management his main tasks are designing, researching, and delivering contemporary crisis management courses for decision makers, leaders, researchers and specialists in the government, humanitarian and corporate sectors. Prior to that, he held the position of Head of Crisis Management and Security at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Head of the Rapid Deployment Unit at the ICRC and Director of the Operations Team (CHASE-OT) at the UK’s Governments Department for International Development (DFID). Throughout his career, he developed first-hand operational experience in natural and complex emergencies. Additionally, he was responsible for high level policy and operational coordination with UN, RCRC, governments and commercial operators. A logistician by profession, he is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics (FCILT), and recently appointed Fellow and Advisory Board Member of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM); he holds an MSc in Transport Engineering from Imperial College, London and a BSc in Social Science. He has attained accredited Senior People, Leadership and Management (PLM-CS), Ashridge, UK (2007-2010), and certified EU High Level Coordinator (EU DG ENV-2006).
Dr Jean-Marc Rickli
Dr Jean-Marc Rickli is the Head of Global and Emerging Risks at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) in Geneva, Switzerland. He is the co-chair of the NATO Partnership for Peace Consortium emerging security challenges working group and a senior advisor for the AI (Artificial Intelligence) Initiative at the Future Society. He is also a member of The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems and represents the GCSP in the United Nations in the framework of the Governmental Group of Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS). He is a member of the advisory board of Tech4Trust, the first Swiss startup acceleration program in the field of digital trust and cybersecurity. In 2020, he was nominated as one of the 100 most influential French-speaking Swiss by the Swiss newspaper Le Temps. Prior to these appointments, Dr Rickli was an assistant professor at the Department of Defence Studies of King’s College London. Dr Rickli received his PhD and MPhil in International Relations from Oxford University, UK, where he was also a Berrow scholar at Lincoln College. His latest book published by Georgetown University Press is entitled Surrogate Warfare: The Transformation of War in the Twenty-first Century. He has lived and worked in Europe, USA, Middle East and China.