Middle-Power Coalitions in a Fragmenting World

Chris is a member of the national board of the Canadian International Council (CIC) and president of the CIC Victoria branch. He also holds a PhD in history (2009) from Queen’s University with a focus on civil-military relations in the developing world. His dissertation was published in 2010 by the Canadian Defence Academy Press under the title, The Other Cold War – Canadian Military Assistance to the Developing World 1945-1975. He is a Fellow with the Queen’s Centre for International and Defence Policy, a sessional professor with the Canadian Forces College teaching courses focused on Canadian foreign and defence policy and an Associate Faculty member at Royal Roads University.

Chris enjoyed a 36-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces and is a graduate of the Advanced Military Studies Course and the year-long National Security Program (equivalency granted). He commanded 4th Air Defence Regiment from 1999-2001, followed by positions including Acting Director Future Security Analysis and Liaison Officer to the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence.

From July 2009 until July 2010, he deployed to Canada’s Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan as the Deputy Military Attaché (Lieutenant Colonel). On his return to Canada, he commenced Turkish language training before heading to Canada’s Embassy in Ankara, Turkiye as the Canadian Defence Attaché (Acting Colonel) with cross accreditation to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkmenistan from July 2011 until July 2014. Chris retired from the CAF in September 2014.

Since retiring from the military, Chris has become a recognized expert on Canadian and Middle Eastern political issues. His book chapters, articles and opinion pieces on Canadian defence and foreign policy, plus Turkish and Middle Eastern matters, have appeared in numerous Canadian and international publications. He has also conducted numerous television, podcast and radio interviews covering similar subjects.

Dr. Bernd Althusmann has been the new director of the country office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Canada, based in Ottawa, since November 2024. From 2013 to 2016, he worked for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa and headed the country office in Namibia and Angola, based in Windhoek.

He also has broad government experience in German politics. From 2017 to 2022, he served as Minister of Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalization, Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Lower Saxony and thus at the same time a member of the Advisory Board of Volkswagen and, among other things, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Deutsche Messe AG. He was state chairman of the CDU in Lower Saxony and a member of the presidium of the CDU Germany for 6 years. Prior to joining KAS in Sub-Saharan Africa, Bernd Althusmann was Minister of Education and State Secretary from 2009-2013 and, with interruptions, a member of the Lower Saxony
State Parliament for over 20 years. After graduating from high school, he started his career as an officer in the German Armed Forces, studied business administration and pedagogy and was awarded a Dr.rer.pol. Doctorate. Bernd Althusmann is married and has three children.

Mrs. Aleksandra Kucy is an experienced diplomat and civil servant. Her professional career in public administration began in 1999 when she started working at the Supervision Office for Pension Funds and later continued at the Office of the Committee for European Integration.

Since 2006, she has been a valued member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During her tenure, she has held key positions, including head of unit at the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy and overseeing program affairs within the Department of Cooperation with the Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad. In 2020, she assumed the role of Deputy Director for Program and Financial Affairs within the same department. Mrs. Aleksandra Kucy has also amassed valuable consular and diplomatic experience through her service at diplomatic missions, notably in Zagreb from 2006 to 2012 and in Ottawa from 2015 to 2019.

Mrs. Aleksandra Kucy holds a degree from the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw and has also graduated from the esteemed economics program at Columbia University in New York. Moreover, she has earned diplomas from postgraduate studies in foreign service and for financial directors. Her linguistic versatility shines through as she is fluent in English, German, Croatian, and French.

Li-hsin Liu assumed her post as Director General of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver in October 2021. During her 28 years of foreign service for the Taiwan Foreign Ministry, she was posted twice in the United States, respectively in Houston, Texas in 2002-2008, and Los Angeles, California in 2012-2018. Prior to her current post, she worked in the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister’s Office, Mainland Affairs Council, Department of North American Affairs and Department of East Asian & Pacific Affairs. She has a master’s degree from SAIS, the Johns Hopkins University with a major in China Studies and international economics.

She enjoys hiking, traveling, jogging, watching movies and reading. Li-hsin is married to
Sam Tsay, a Taiwanese American and a commercial real estate investor and developer
in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Pedro Márquez is Full Professor of Strategic Management and International Business at Royal Roads University. He has co-authored book chapters and journal articles on NAFTA, family business management, and management education. His research is focused on corporate governance and accountability, Latin American politics, Mexico’s business environment and Canada-Mexico-United States trade. He is an active member of the Academy of Management and the Academy of International Business, having reviewed article submissions for the last 20 years and received the AOM-MED Best Reviewer Award in 2012.

Márquez served as Vice-President Research and International for Royal Roads University between 2015-2023. Previously, he held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Management since joining Royal Roads in 2007. He has remained uninterruptedly active in economic development agencies, serving as Board Member for the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance, the South Island Prosperity Partnership, the Westshore Chamber of Commerce and more recently the Vancouver Island Hispanic Network Society.

Before joining Royal Roads, Márquez was Dean at Tecnológico de Monterrey business school in Mexico Cirt. At the time, he custom-designed a very successful executive education program for CEMEX, one of North America’s largest cement producers, delivered upon a partnership between Tec de Monterrey, Stanford University and INSEAD.

Amongst several professional development programs, Márquez completed Harvard Graduate School of Education’s prestigious “Institute for Educational Management” program; attained the prestigious ICD-D Corporate Governance designation; obtained Ph.D. and Master’s degrees from the University of Calgary, and a Licenciatura en Admnistración degree at ITAM in Mexico City.