Mrs. Leelo Pukk  is a retired Chemistry teacher at Enskilda Gymnasiet in Stockholm. For more than 40 years, she has been an active contributor to the work of the Association of Estonians in Sweden. She is currently the Chairwoman of the Estonian National Congress of Sweden (Rootsi Eestlaste Liidu Esinduskogu) which has existed since 1956 in Sweden. She is also the Senior Vice-President of the Estonian World Council.  @Sverigeesterna

Mrs. Marju Rink Abel is since 2016 the President of the Estonian World Council. She is also the President of the Estonian American National Council since 2006 if which she is a member already since 1990.  She also serves on the boards of the Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC) and the Central and East European Coalition in Washington, DC and will be assuming the Presidency of JBANC this year.  She worked for 33 years at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Congressional Audit Agency. @marjura1 

Mr. Gunnar Hökmark is a Swedish politician (M), member of the European Parliament since 2004. He was member of the Swedish Parliament 1982-2004. In 1989 Hökmark started the so-called Monday movement, a popular movement supporting the independence of the Baltic States that spread all over Sweden, which today is manifested by a monument at the main meeting place in Stockholm, Norrmalmstorg. 

Prof. emeritus Hain Rebas was Professor of History at several Higher Education institutes in the North. Between 1990 and 1992, he was Adviser to the Foreign Minister of Estonia, Lennart Meri, and became then Estonia’s Minister of Defence, a position that he held from 1992 to 1993. He started his academic career at the University of Gothenburg.  From 1980 until 2008, Rebas held the Chair for Nordic History at the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel in Northern Germany where he made a strong contribution to the development of Nordic and Baltic historical research. 

Mr. David Lindén is Editorial Writer at the Swedish broadsheet Nerikes Allehanda and historian specialized in the Swedish-Baltic ties during the 17th century. He holds a BA and MLitt from Newcastle University and examines in his PhD thesis at King’s College London. He is the author of “Hemming Gadh –  Vasatidens gudfader” (Atlantis, 2016) and “Johan Skytte – Stormaktstidens gudfader” (2017, forthcoming). @davidlinden1 @NApunktSE

Ambassador Eitvydas Bajarūnas is Ambassador-at-Large with responsibility for Hybrid Threats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania in Vilnius. From 2011 to 2016, he was the Lithuanian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden. Bajarunas had been Counselor at the Mission of the Republic of Lithuania at NATO from 1996 to 1999. From 2005 to 2008, he was the Consul General of the Republic of Lithuania in Saint Petersburg. @EitvydasB @LithuaniaMFA

Mrs. Lolita Čigāne is, since 2014, the Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Latvian Parliament (Saeima). She holds an MA in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University (CEU) in Budapest and an MSc from the London School of Economics (LSE). Prior to becoming active in Latvian politics, she worked as a journalist, public policy analyst and international consultant on good-governance, anti-corruption and elections.  @lolita_cigane

Prof. Matthew Rhodes is Professor of National Security at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, where he started in 2003 as the Director of Programs in Central and Southeast Europe. From 1999 to 2003, he was Assistant Professor of Strategy and International Security at the U.S. Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Professor Rhodes’ research is concerned with U.S. foreign and security policy, transatlantic relations and European security issues. @Marshall_Center

Mr. Marcus Kolga  is the President of the Estonian Central Council in Canada and is a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute Foreign Policy Center. He is a leading Canadian expert on Russian and Central and Eastern European issues and an international award winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and digital communications strategist. He is also the founder and publisher of the online magazine UpNorth.eu that features analysis and political and cultural news from the Nordic and Baltic region. @kolga @upnorthmagazine @mlinstitute

Mrs. Sirle Sööt  is the Chairwoman of the Association of Estonians in Sweden (REL, Sverigeesterna). She works at the Swedish Ministry of Justice in Stockholm. Mrs Sööt is a graduate of the Estonian School of Diplomacy in Tallinn (2001) and also holds an MA in European Union Law from Stockholm University. She has been an active member of the Estonian community in Stockholm since 2005 and has led several public awareness campaigns, most recently #STOPNORDSTREAM2. @tinysirle @Sverigeesterna