Gregor W. Kössler is a career diplomat with the Austrian Foreign Ministry. A Minister Plenipotentiary since 1999, he has done extensive service in South Eastern Europe, directing the Cabinet of High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1999-2002. He was a political officer with the European Community Monitoring Mission in 1997 (Croatia and BiH), and OHR political advisor under HR Carlos Westendorp in BiH in 1998-99. In Vienna, he served in both the Western Balkans and the EU affairs coordination department of the MFA. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and of the Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck, he holds an M.A. in Conflict Management and International Economics and an M.A. in Contemporary History and Philosophy. Mr. Kössler joined the Stability Pact in June 2002.

Ms. Kangaskorpi joined the Finnish Foreign Ministry in 1996. In 1997, she was posted to Finland's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, where she spent three years working mainly on issues relating to sustainable development, drug consumption, crime and gender equality. She was Deputy Head of Mission at the Finnish Embassy in Poland from 2000 to 2003. Prior to joining the Stability Pact, Ms Kangaskorpi worked as a First Secretary in the Foreign Ministry's section for EU enlargement, where she was in charge of Romania and Phare (EC Programme for CEE) issues, among others. Ms. Kangaskorpi holds a Masters Degree in Business Economics and Administration from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.

Dragan Barbutovski joined the Stability Pact after working for the European Commission Delegation in Slovenia as a Press and Information Officer. Over a period of five years, he was in charge of the implementation of the European Commission's Enlargement Communication Strategy in Slovenia, and the EU referendum campaign. Previously, Mr Barbutovski worked as a journalist/editor for various Slovenian media outlets, and was involved in press, and lobbying activities of Slovene NGOs, notably Amnesty International. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and an M.A. in European Union Policy from the University of Liverpool (UK).

Björn Kühne began working on issues of South East Europe in 1998, working with the OSCE Presence in Albania for two years, and with several Election Observation Missions in the region. He also acted as a consultant to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Mr. Kühne studied Political Science, International Relations and Eastern European Studies in Bremen, St.Petersburg, Canterbury and Berlin. He holds a B.A. in Politics and International Relations from the University of Kent in Canterbury (UK), and a Diploma (M.A.) in Political Science of the Free University of Berlin. He was seconded to the Stability Pact in July 2002 by the German Foreign Ministry.

Prior to joining the Stability Pact Alessandro Rotta worked as a researcher at the Centro studi di politca internazionale (CeSPI) in Rome, where he headed and co-ordinated studies on SEE on organized crime, EU integration dynamics, Italian co-operation with the Balkans and migrations from and through the area. In 2003, he worked as a consultant for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on migration and development in the Balkans. Since 2001 he has collaborated with the main information website on the Balkans, Osservatorio Balcani, and has regularly contributed to the Italian daily Europa since 2003.He holds a grant from a consortium of three European foundations (Volkswagenstiftung, Stftelsen Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and Compagnia di San Paolo) for a two-year research on The European Connection: EU accession prospects and promotion of the rule of law in the Western Balkans in the framework of the European Foreign and Security Policy Studies research programme. Since 2001 he has supervised and observed elections with OSCE in Kosovo and Serbia. Mr Rotta graduated in International politics at the University of Florence, where he also obtained his MA in Communication and Media Studies.

Prior to joining the Stability Pact as an Executive Assistant to the Cabinet of the Special Co-ordinator, Valérie Bode completed several internships with major international organisations in the area of Natural Hazard Risk Management (UN/ISDR) in Geneva, UNESCO in Paris, Organisation of American States in Washington DC and IIASA in Laxenburg, Vienna. Moreover, she worked with Caritas and the Austrian Chamber of Commerce WKö in Vienna.Ms Bode holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations with an emphasis in Economics from the Webster University (Geneva ) and has also studied Business Administration at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria ) for 2 years.Ms Bode’s major areas of interest cover politics and economics of sustainable development, humanitarian aid and risk management as well as information management.