Dr. Mendee Jargalsaikhan is Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies of Mongolia. He graduated from the Mongolian National Defense University and received his MAs from the US Naval Postgraduate School and the University of British Columbia. He obtained his PhD in political science from the University of British Columbia. Mendee served as political science and language instructor at the National Defense University, the Chief of the Foreign Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Defense, Defense Attaché at the Embassy of Mongolia in Washington, DC, senior expert at the Institute for Strategic Studies and Deputy Director of the Institute for Defense Analysis. He was the first Senior National Representative at the US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, the Asia Studies Visiting Fellow at the East West Center in Washington, and Post Graduate Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. 

Ralph Cossa is President Emeritus of Pacific Forum and WSD-Handa Chair in Peace Studies. He is a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum’s Experts and Eminent Persons Group and a founding member of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific’s Steering Committee. Mr. Cossa is a political/military affairs and national security specialist with more than 50 years of experience in formulating, articulating, and implementing US security policy in the Asia-Pacific and Near East–South Asia regions. Mr. Cossa served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1993, achieving the rank of colonel and last serving as special assistant to the commander of the US Pacific Command. He previously served as Deputy Director for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies and earlier as a national security affairs fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.  

Mr. Cossa holds an MBA from Pepperdine University, an M.S. in strategic studies from the Defense Intelligence College, and a B.A. in international relations from Syracuse University. He also received an honorary PhD in international relations from the University of Cambodia. 

Mark Tokola is Vice President of the Korea Economic Institute of America in Washington, DC. He retired as a U.S. Senior Foreign Service Officer with the rank of Minister-Counselor in September 2014. His last posting was as Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at US Embassy London. Previously he had served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassies in Seoul, Republic of Korea; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and, Reykjavik, Iceland. Mr Tokola received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for his work on implementing the Dayton Peace Accords while serving as Political Counselor in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1997-1999. He holds a BA in International Relations from Pomona College in Claremont, California, and an LL.M. in European Community Law from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Tokola serves on the Board of Governors of DACOR: An Organization of Foreign Affairs Professionals, and on the Board of Trustees of the Bacon House Foundation. 

Tuvshinzaya Gantulga is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies of Mongolia. Previously he served as the Foreign Policy Aide to the President of Mongolia as well as the first Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Mongolia. As a reserve officer in the Mongolian Armed Forces, Tuvshinzaya was deployed to Afghanistan as part of the Mongolian Contingent that served together with the U.S. and NATO troops. Tuvshinzaya holds an MPA from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) of Columbia University in the City of New York (2017), where he served as an editor of the Journal of International Affairs, and a BA in Value Studies with a concentration in Political Philosophy and Literature from Bard College in Berlin, Germany (2012). 

Satu P. Limaye is Vice President of the East-West Center and the Director of the Research Program & East-West Center in Washington where he created and now directs the Asia Matters for America initiative and is the founding editor of the Asia Pacific Bulletin. He is also a Senior Advisor at CNA Corp (Center for Naval Analyses). He is a graduate of Georgetown University and received his doctorate from Oxford University (Magdalen College) where he was a George C. Marshall Scholar. He publishes and speaks widely on Indo-Pacific regional issues and supports various U.S. government, foundation, fellowship, and professional organizations. Among his current affiliations are Center for New American Security (CNAS) Task Force on the U.S.-Philippines Alliance, United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Senior Study Group on the North Pacific, Project 2049 Study Group on the U.S.-Australia Alliance, Korea Economic Institute (KEI) Advisory Council, and Global Taiwan Institute-Taiwan Asia Exchange Foundation project. Recent publications include: Southeast Asia’s choices: Economic, political, and geopolitical integration face complications, India in East Asia: Focused on the Quad and Border Disputes with China, and Maintaining the Technology Edge: Strengthening US and Indo-Pacific Alliances to Counter Chinese Technology Acquisition (with Rose Tenyotkin).