Who We Are
Our Team
GDN is a team of seasoned advisors led by senior diplomats that leverages its network of fellow diplomats, supported by subject-matter specialists and strategic communicators drawn from regional and international bodies, national governments, civil society actors and other relevant institutions across every region in the world.
Our advisors have sat on all sides of the table, as partnership builders, negotiators, facilitators, and the people in the room when the language of a resolution changes at midnight.
Founding Leadership
Dragan Micic
π·πΈFounding Director
Dragan Micic is a senior diplomat and United Nations professional with over 25 years of experience across government, the UN system, and the private sector. He served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, working on peace and security as well as social and development issues.
Simona Marinescu
π·π΄Chief Executive Officer
Simona Marinescu is a senior diplomat and public official with extensive experience across government, international organizations, and the United Nations system. She served as Minister and Senator in the Romanian government and held senior roles within the UN system, including as UN Resident Coordinator in Samoa.
Full bio coming soon
Managing Directors
Ambassador Collen Vixen Kelapile
π§πΌManaging Director
Ambassador Kelapile is a distinguished multilateral career diplomat with three decades of experience shaping policy and negotiations at the United Nations since joining Botswana's foreign service in 1995. He served as Botswana's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in New York (2018β2023).
Farrukh Khan
π΅π°Managing Director
Farrukh Khan is a distinguished global public policy professional whose career began with his entry into the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1995. Since then, he has navigated the highest levels of multilateral diplomacy, serving as Chef de Cabinet for the President of the 75th UN General Assembly and as a lead negotiator for the Paris Agreement.
Senior Advisors
Ambassador Paul Goa Zoumanigui
π¬π³Senior Advisor
Ambassador Zoumanigui is a seasoned career diplomat with four decades of experience at national, regional and international levels serving both the government of Guinea and the United Nations system. He served as Deputy Ambassador in Canada; Counselor and then Minister Counselor (1997β2009); and Ambassador Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Guinea to the UN in New York (2022β2024).
Ambassador Ngedikes 'Olai' Uludong
π΅πΌSenior Advisor
Ambassador Uludong is a distinguished Pacific leader with an accomplished career spanning diplomacy, public service, resource mobilization, and regional policy leadership across energy, climate change, oceans, and sustainable development. She served as Permanent Representative of Palau to the United Nations, Palau's first Ambassador to the European Union, Ambassador on Climate Change, Ambassador to the EU-ACP, and Permanent Representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Ambassador Csilla WΓΌrtz
ππΊSenior Advisor
Ambassador Csilla WΓΌrtz has over 25 years of international experience including in NATO, the UN, the EU, on security policy, WMD, counter-terrorism, sustainable development, sport and cultural diplomacy, multi-stakeholder partnerships. She has a strong track record in institutional governance, operating model re-design, cross-functional delivery in high-pressure, multi-country environments, and in high-level conference programming, event production and management, protocol and logistics.
Nino Shekriladze
π¬πͺSenior Advisor
Nino Shekriladze is a diplomat and former senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia with over 20 years of experience in international relations, economic policy and multilateral diplomacy. Her international field experience includes four years as Counsellor at Georgia's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, where she represented the country in high-level intergovernmental negotiations including on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Talal Al-Jamali
πΎπͺSenior Advisor
Talal Al-Jamali is a career diplomat covering a wide spectrum of multilateral issues. He served as Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Yemen to the United Nations in New York, working on development and economic issues, and was the focal point with all New York-based development funds and programs.
David Mulet-Lind
π¬πΉSenior Advisor
David Mulet-Lind is a policy strategist and former diplomat from Guatemala with over 15 years of experience in sustainable development policy and governance across multilateral institutions, governments and the private sector. His career began at the Organization of American States (OAS), working on civil registration, e-Government and land administration programs throughout the Americas.