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 Derek Chollet Joins
Beacon Global Strategies
Mark Simakovsky & Bryan Smith Join as Vice
President & Technical Advisor, Respectively
Beacon Global Strategies LLC (BGS) is pleased to announce three new
additions to our firm: Derek Chollet as a member of the Advisory Board
and an Advisor to the Firm, Mark
Simakovsky as Vice President, and
Bryan Smith as Technical Advisor.
Derek Chollet joins BGS as a member of the Advisory Board and
an Advisor to the Firm
With over two decades of experience in Washington, Derek Chollet has had
senior roles in the Defense Department, State Department, White House,
and on Capitol Hill.
From 2012-2015, Mr. Chollet was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense
for International Security Affairs, where he managed U.S. defense policy
issues related to 148 countries in four regions:
Europe (including
NATO), the Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere.
role,
he
was
a
senior
advisor
to
two
secretaries
of
In that
defense,
Leon
Panetta and Chuck Hagel, and was awarded the Department of Defense Medal
for Distinguished Public Service.
Prior to joining the Pentagon, Mr. Chollet served at The White House as
special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic
planning on the National Security Council Staff.
was
the
Principal
Deputy
Director
of
From 2009 to 2011, he
Secretary
of
State
Hillary
Clinton’s Policy Planning staff.
From November 2008 to January 2009, he
was a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team.
During
the
Clinton
administration,
Mr.
Chollet
served
as
chief
speechwriter for UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and as special advisor
to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.
From 2002 to 2004, Chollet
was foreign policy adviser to U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC), both on
his legislative staff and during the 2004 Kerry-Edwards presidential
campaign.
In addition to his work at Beacon, Mr. Chollet also serves as counselor
and
senior
advisor
for
security
and
defense
policy
at
The
German
Marshall Fund of the United States. Mr. Chollet has been a fellow at The
Center for a New American Security (CNAS), the Brookings Institution,
the
Center
for
Strategic
and
International
Studies
(CSIS),
and
the
American Academy in Berlin. He has been a visiting scholar and adjunct
professor at The George Washington University and an adjunct associate
professor at Georgetown University.
He also assisted former Secretaries
of State James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher with the research and
writing of their memoirs.
Mr. Chollet is the author, co-author or co-editor of six books on U.S.
foreign policy, including The Road to the Dayton Accords: A Study of
American
Wars:
Statecraft
From
11/9
(Palgrave
to
Macmillan,
9/11,
2005),
co-authored
America
with
James
Between
the
Goldgeier
(PublicAffairs, 2008), and The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in
the World, co-edited with Samantha Power (Public Affairs, 2011), and his
commentaries
and
reviews
on
U.S.
foreign
policy
and
politics
have
appeared in many other books and publications.
Mr. Chollet joins Ambassador Eric Edelman, former Assistant Secretary of
State Brian Hook, Ambassador Kristen Silverberg, Admiral James Stavridis
(Ret.), and Frances Townsend on BGS's Advisory Board.
Mark Simakovsky joins BGS as Vice President
Throughout his career, at the Defense Department, the State Department
and on Capitol Hill, Mark Simakovsky has worked on a wide variety of
national security issues, including defense policy, strategy, budget
formulation,
and
congressional
affairs.
He
has
significant
regional
experience in Europe and Eurasia.
Prior to joining BGS, Mr. Simakovsky served as the Europe/NATO Chief of
Staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy.
He also
served as the Russia Country Director in the Office of the Secretary of
Defense for Policy.
In 2013, Mr. Simakovsky was a Brookings Congressional National Security
Fellow in the office of Senator Mark Warner. Prior to that, he was the
inaugural Ronald D. Asmus Non-Resident Policy Entrepreneur Fellow at the
German Marshall Fund.
Strategy
From 2008-2012, Mr. Simakovsky was the Eurasia
Advisor/NATO
Coordinator
and
Country
Director
for
Georgia/Moldova in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy.
Mr. Simakovsky began his government service in 2006 as a Presidential
Management
Fellow
(PMF)
in
the
Office
of
Russian
Affairs,
U.S.
Department of State.
He is currently a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as
well as a member of the NATO and Atlantic Council’s Young Emerging
Leaders Program.
Mr. Simakovsky earned his Masters in Science in Foreign Service from
Georgetown University in 2005. While at Georgetown, he was a Foreign
Language and Area Studies Fellow (FLAS) in Russian, and received an
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Grant to Georgia. He returned to
live in Georgia after graduation as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. In 2004,
he completed language training at St. Petersburg State University. In
2002, Mr. Simakovsky completed a Bachelor of Arts in Diplomacy and
Foreign Affairs from Miami University (Oxford).
Bryan Smith Joins BGS as Technical Advisor
Bryan Smith has held senior resource management positions in the House
and
Senate
intelligence
committees,
the
Office
of
the
Director
of
National Intelligence (ODNI), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
and
the
National
Reconnaissance
Office
(NRO).
His
diverse
national
security career also included diplomatic and operational intelligence
assignments.
Mr. Smith served as the Budget Director of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) from 2011-2015. In this position, he
was
responsible
for
roughly
$70-$80
billion
in
annual
intelligence
spending. Under the guidance of Chairman Mike Rogers, Mr. Smith led the
development and drafting of the classified annexes to five intelligence
acts in four years. He frequently testified before the Committee.
During 2012, Mr. Smith was an intelligence team member on the Romney for
President Transition Team, where he authored a management agenda for
intelligence reform.
From late 2007-2010, Mr. Smith served as Professional Staff Member of
the
Senate
Select
Committee’s
Vice
Committee
Chair,
on
Intelligence
Senator
Bond,
(SSCI).
on
He
the
advised
the
intelligence
budget, acquisition policy, financial management, nuclear arms control,
and energy security issues.
Prior to joining the SSCI, Mr. Smith served in 2007 as an Associate
Director of National Intelligence and Chief Financial Officer (acting).
In this ODNI role, he lead the inter-agency formation of the Director’s
nearly
strategy
$50
and
billion
roadmap
National
for
Intelligence
Program
financial auditability
in
and
published
a
the
Intelligence
Community.
Mr. Smith also served in the Intelligence Community from 1999-2003 at
the NRO as an Associate Deputy Director and Deputy Financial Management
Executive. In this senior executive CIA position, he led NRO’s day-to-
day financial management and oversaw the legislative liaison function.
Throughout a combined 15 years of service at OMB (1988-1999 and 20032006), Mr. Smith led, in turn, all three branches of OMB’s National
Security
Division.
In
these
Senior
Executive
Service
positions,
Mr.
Smith assessed nearly every major defense and intelligence program in
formulating
national
the
President’s
security
Budget.
legislation;
His
duties
included:
mediating inter-agency
drafting
resource
and
regulatory disputes; and attending Deputies Committee meetings of the
National Security Council. In addition, Mr. Smith led OMB’s formulation
of
three
Department
of
Defense
emergency
supplemental
appropriation
requests for Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Global War on Terror.
Mr. Smith began his Washington career as a Foreign Affairs Officer at
the
U.S.
Arms
Control
and
Disarmament
Agency
(ACDA)
at
the
State
Department, where he was the staff architect of the verification regime
for the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Mr. Smith also served
as an Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the INF Treaty in Geneva,
Switzerland in 1987.
From 1980-1983, Mr. Smith served as a commissioned human intelligence
(HUMINT) officer in the U.S. Air Force.
Mr. Smith holds an M.A. In International Affairs and an M.B.A. from the
George Washington University. He received his B.A. From Bowling Green
State University.