About
The External Advisory Board (EAB) supports the strategic development of the Florence School of Transnational Governance at the EUI. The EAB was established by the EUI’s High Council in December 2018. It consists of at least twelve members, all of international fame and reputation, with a sound background in research and in managing institutions, and / or who hold or have held top positions in public or private organisations in Europe and across the world. Three representatives of the EUI complete the EAB membership.
Stefano Caselli
Executive Secretary
Stefano Caselli is Vice Rector for International Affairs at Bocconi University whereas he is a Full Professor of Banking and Finance at Department of Finance and Algebris Chair in Long-Term Investment and Absolute Return. He has got a long experience as independent director in several boards of corporations and financial institutions, including the membership in the Advisory Board of Confindustria (2018-2021).
Luis Almagro Lemes was elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States in March 2015. A career diplomat, Almagro was Foreign Minister of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015, and has extensive regional and international experience. In addition, he was elected Senator in the national elections in Uruguay in October 2014.
Themis Christophidou is the Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission, since March 2018. She is a civil engineer with 34 years of experience in private and public sector management. After having worked in the private sector for 15 years, she joined the European Commission in 2001, holding managerial positions in various Commission services.
Christopher Hill is Emeritus Professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) at the University of Cambridge. During his career, he has held visiting positions in various universities in Europe and beyond, including the EUI. He has been an elected Council Member at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. His research activities focus on foreign policy analysis and general international relations.
Mohammed Ibrahim is the Founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which he established in 2006 to support good governance and exceptional leadership on the African continent. Mr Ibrahim has a distinguished business career.
David McAllister is a Member of the European Parliament since 2014 and chairs the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is a Vice President of the European People's Party. From 2003 to 2010 he served as Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Group and from 2010 until 2013 as Prime Minister of Niedersachsen (Germany).
Jacques Pelkmans is Senior Research Fellow at CEPS in Brussels and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges and at Goethe University in Frankfurt. During his academic career, he has been professor in several higher education institutions in Europe, including the EUI. He has also been an advisor to different Asian and European governments, as well as the International Organisations.
Sonja Puntscher Riekmann is Emerita Professor of Political Theory and European Politics at the Department of Political Science and Sociology and research fellow at the Centre of European Union Studies (SCEUS) at the Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg. She taught at the Universities of Vienna, Innsbruck and Florence. She has served as Vice-Rector for international relations of the University of Salzburg (2003 – 2011).
Allan Rosas is member of the Independent Ethical Committee of the European Commission and Chairperson of the Advisory Board of Baltic Area Legal Studies (BALEX), a competence cluster run jointly by the University of Turku and the Åbo Akademi University. Between January 2002 and October 2019, he was a judge at the European Court of Justice.
Vaira Vike-Freiberga was President of Latvia (1999-2007) and President of the World Leadership Alliance/Club de Madrid (2014-2019). Currently, she is co-chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center. She was Special Envoy on the United Nations reform and official candidate for UN Secretary General in 2006.
Joseph H.H. Weiler is University Professor at NYU Law School and Senior Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard. Until 2016, he served as President of the European University Institute. Prof. Weiler is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of International Law (EJIL) and the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON).
George Yeo is Visiting Scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. From 1988 to 2011, he served 23 years in Government, as Minister for Information and the Arts, Health, Trade & Industry, and Foreign Affairs. He has also holds several positions on advisory and oversight boards of academic as well as business institutions and organisations.
EUI Representatives
Professor Renaud Dehousse is President of the European University Institute since September 2016. Prior to this, Professor Dehousse was a professor and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair of European Law and Political Science at Sciences Po, where he also directed the Centre for European Studies.
Alexander Stubb is the Director of the School as of 1 May 2020. He has served as Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Trade and Europe Minister of Finland (2008-2016). He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2008 and national parliament (2011-2017). He was the Chairman of the Finnish National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) from 2014 to 2016 and Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2017 to 2020.
Fabrizio Tassinari is the Executive Director of the School of Transnational Governance. He also serves as a non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations of Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, DC and non-resident Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Berlin.