Examining Local Solutions to Global Challenges

Join Dr. Fiona Hill, formerly an official at the U.S. National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs, in conversation with former diplomat and Russia expert Susan Thornton and non-profit community builder Barrett Takesian in a discussion about strengthening grass roots organizations as a means to alleviate domestic dysfunction that can lead to national security crises.

Dr. Fiona Hill CMG is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and Chancellor of Durham University. Hill served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the U.S. National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, as well as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Intelligence Council from 2006 to 2009. Hill has researched and published extensively on issues related to Russia, the Caucasus, regional conflicts, and strategic issues, as well as the link between deindustrialization and political populism. She is the author of the bestselling memoir There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century and co-author of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin. In December 2023, Hill was recognized by the United Kingdom as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, for services to international relations and in July 2024, Hill was appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be an external reviewer for a Strategic Defense Review for the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom. 

Susan A. Thornton is a retired senior U.S. diplomat with almost three decades of experience with the U.S. State Department in Eurasia and East Asia. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Law and Senior Fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. She is also the director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Thornton received her M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and her B.A. from Bowdoin College in Economics and Russian. She speaks Mandarin and Russian.

Barrett Takesian grew up in Southwest Harbor, Maine. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 2012, he left the private sector to pursue his passion for youth development. What began as small squash clinics in the basement of the YMCA grew into Portland Community Squash (PCS) - a multicultural, multigenerational community center now serving 1,000 members on Noyes Street in Portland. The community squash model has since expanded beyond Maine, inspiring similar efforts across the U.S. and sparking adoption in other arts and sports organizations. Barrett has served as Senior Advisor for Community Squash at US Squash, Maine’s Ambassador for the Afterschool Alliance, and Chair of Portland’s Out of School Time Network. He continues to champion community centers both locally and nationally, contributing to initiatives with the Sport for Development Journal, Laureus Sport for Good, the Aspen Institute, and the Brookings Institution.

Lead Sponsors for this event are David Douglas Stone and Joe and Carol Wishcamper

Net proceeds to beneift Portland Community Squash

Enjoy pre-lecture music by Shaina's Strings for 30 minutes before the performance.

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