Disarmament in Review
Introducing the Steering Team of the Conference
Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins
Chair of the Steering Team
Bonnie Jenkins is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS). She is a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. From 2009 – 2017, she was an Ambassador at the U.S. Department of State where she served as Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. She served as the U.S. representative to G7 Global Partnership Against the Spread of WMD. She was the Department of State’s lead to the four Nuclear Security Summits.
Jenkins was also a leading US official in the launch and implementation of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), and before returning to government in 2009, Jenkins served as Program Officer for US Foreign and Security Policy at the Ford Foundation. She also served as Counsel on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission). Jenkins also worked at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in the Office of General Counsel. Jenkins holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Virginia; an LL.M. in international and comparative law from the Georgetown University Law Center; an M.P.A. from the State University of New York at Albany; a J.D. from Albany Law School and a B.A. from Amherst College. She is a member of the New York State Bar
Adriana Volenikova
Adriana currently works for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as an Associate Project Officer dealing with Non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. She is responsible for assisting States with implementation of the UNSC resolution 1540 and acts as a focal point in the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre for all non-proliferation and 1540-related issues throughout the OSCE region.
Adriana started her career at the OSCE in 2000 where she held progressive positions at various departments of the Organization. In addition, she worked for the International Criminal Court in The Hague from 2007 to 2009. Ms. Volenikova is an International Relations graduate and holds a Master’s Degree in East European Studies from Freie Universitaet in Berlin. She is also a co-author of an article on UNSCR 1540 and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe published in the 1540 Compass and Keeping a Lid on Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Weapons, Security Community.
Elena Sokova
Elena is the Executive Director of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. Her primary research areas are fissile materials security and control, international organizations and nonproliferation regime, nuclear nonproliferation issues in Eurasia, nonproliferation and disarmament education and training. Prior to her post in Vienna, Elena was Deputy Director, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She authored dozens of articles, book chapters, reports, and other publications on nonproliferation and nuclear security. In 2014-2015 Elena was a member of the Global Agenda Council on Nuclear Security of the World Economic Forum. In 2015, she also chaired a Fissile Material Working Group on ending the use of HEU in civilian applications
Jennyfer Ambe
Jennyfer works to support the Sahelian region through civil society outreach to communities in an effort to ensure a reduction in the determinants of health and preventable diseases by access to health care. She has interests in; bioethics, biosecurity, non-proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW), programmatic gender response capabilities and the de-escalation of gender-based violence. She is currently the lead on a project which is revolutionizing the approach to workforce development by strengthening economic opportunity for under-represented populations and at-risk youth through the development of curricula and career pathways resulting in the creation of new and expanded critical healthcare occupations.
Jennyfer is the International Coordinator for the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium (GET) and active on the Cultural, Anthropological, Social, Economic (CASE) & Ethics, Community Engagement and Patient Advocacy Support (ECEPAS) working groups. ECEPAS was established during the West Africa Ebola outbreak to review protocols for research providing bioethics expertise and consequently working with the GET consortium’s mandate and the GET-Ebola Response Mechanism (GERM) operations in the West Africa region. ECEPAS is comprised of experts providing an African perspective on bioethics and emerging biotechnology. The working group has contributed to the WHO frameworks for emergency outbreak response and human genomic editing. Jennyfer is also co-chair for the new Global Health Working Group which supports the Global Health Security Agenda, with Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS).
Nabila Jamshed
Nabila is an international security and global governance professional currently working with the United Nations. She has previously served as a political analyst with multilateral agencies and the UN in The Hague, in India, and with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan.
Nabila’s career in the United Nations system began with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, where she worked as a Political Affairs Specialist. With a Master’s degree in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford, Nabila joined the OPCW during the organisation’s work on chemical disarmament in Syria.
She has also worked for the United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organisation and with the Asian Development Bank.
Oum Keltoum Hakam
Oum is a Professor at the University of Ibn Tofail and Director of Nuclear Physics and Techniques Research Unit. She has a PhD in Nuclear Physics. She has more than 20 years of professional experience in nuclear education and training as well as more than 10 years of experience with IAEA and other international organizations.
Oum acts currently as a member of the Advisory Group on Nuclear Security (AdSec) to the DG of IAEA and a former Chair of the IAEA International Nuclear Security Education Network (INSEN). She also serves as a consultant on nuclear security to the IAEA and other international organizations.
Oum has initiated a Women in Nuclear Security Group to empower young women to take the lead in a male-dominated environment. She has also been invited to co-edit a Special Issue on Women in Nuclear Security of the International Journal of Nuclear Security to be published on June 2020. She has conducted research and published on the subject of radiation protection, dosimetry, nuclear security and other related subjects.
Wardah Amir
Wardah is currently a graduate fellow with the National Nuclear Security Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, DC. She is a young ambassador with the Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS) and is co-chair of the WCAPS Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Policy Working Group.
After performing an internship with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, she joined CRDF Global’s chemical security team as a project associate. She has also performed internships with several think tanks including Chatham House, Hudson Institute, and the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Wardah completed her M.A. degree in security policy studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University, with a specialization in weapons of mass destruction. She also holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University.
