National Security Speakers

Mark Conord

Mark Conord has more than 30 years of experience in domestic and international leadership in crisis planning, risk management, policy, and strategy with the State Department and Department of Defense. He serves as an expert in assessing enterprise risk while managing large security operations in critical threat environments.

In addition, Conord served as the primary advisor to seven U.S. ambassadors. His exciting career anecdotes were a scholar and staff favorite during the National Security diplomacy panels.

Eric Kutner

Eric Kutner is a national security strategy and policy consultant. As a thought leader on networking, relationship building, and collaboration, he has advised many senior leaders in the national security field, as well as other public and private sector arenas. Kutner serves on the Advisory Board for the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Research Center at Rutgers University. In recent years, he chaired a military space conference and a network modernization conference.

Earlier this year, Kutner ran for public office in California’s 53rd Congressional District in San Diego. He is a self-described “moderate democrat” and a returning Envision National Security defense panelist.

State Department Speakers

Kara McDonald

Kara C. McDonald serves as a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, where she oversees the bureau’s work on Europe, South and Central Asia, and the Multilateral and Global Affairs teams in DRL/MLGA.

She most recently served as U.S. Consul General Strasbourg and Deputy Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe.  From 2015-2017, McDonald was Director of Policy, Planning, and Coordination in the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Bureau.  Prior to that, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Chisinau, Moldova.  McDonald's other assignments included Deputy Special Coordinator for Haiti; Director for United Nations and International Operations at the National Security Council; Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; and the Czech Republic desk.  From 2009-2010, she was an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.  McDonald's overseas assignments also included U.S. Embassies Port-au-Prince and Bucharest.  Prior to joining the U.S. Department of State, she was a Presidential Management Fellow in democracy and governance issues at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

McDonald holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan and a Master of Arts from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.  She speaks or has studied French, Romanian, and Russian.

Kristi Roberts

Kristi Roberts joined the Department as a Foreign Service Officer in 2007. A political-coned officer, she currently is a Stabilization Advisor for the Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, focusing on Iraq and the Levant. Previously, Roberts served at Embassy Luxembourg as the Political/Economic Chief, including more than one year as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission.

Her previous foreign service assignments included serving as the Public Affairs Officer in Algeria; on the Iraq Assistance Team in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration; as the Jordan Desk Officer in Washington, D.C.; and as Consular Officer and Staff Aide to the Ambassador in Tel Aviv, Israel. While in Tel Aviv, Roberts served as the Permanent Control Officer for Senator George Mitchell, the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she worked as a Strategic Communications Analyst at The MITRE Corporation in McLean, Virginia. Roberts also taught middle and high school English, geography, and history in San Antonio, Texas and New York City as well as at American schools in San Salvador, El Salvador and Warsaw, Poland.

Roberts holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master of Arts in Teaching, both from Trinity University in San Antonio. She was born into a family with a strong tradition of military service, and, as an Army brat, grew up in several U.S. states as well as in Seoul, South Korea. Roberts has a lifelong passion for photography, and her work has been exhibited in Warsaw, Poland; New York City; McLean, Virginia; and Arlington, Virginia.

Raffi Balian

Raffi Balian currently serves as the acting Deputy Director of the Office of Environmental Quality in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES). He is a Foreign Service Officer with 20 years of experience managing people and resources to achieve strategic objectives and to advance U.S. government priorities globally. For his accomplishments, Raffi has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and received multiple awards from the U.S. Department of State.  He has served in embassies in the Middle East and Eastern Europe as well as in various bureaus within the Department in Washington.

Raffi has represented the United States in international fora focused on renewable energy, sustainable development, and transboundary environmental issues, and served as a Pearson Congressional Fellow on Capitol Hill in addition to as a Lawrence S. Eagleburger Fellow at The Carlyle Group. Raffi was also an adjunct Professor of Practice at the University of Maryland. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his master's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.