Three years after retired US Navy Admiral Gregory Johnson and retire diplomat Susan Thornton first graced our stage to discuss the implications of the just launched invasion of Ukraine by Russia, they return to Freeport Speech at this critical moment of changing global priorities and alignments to discuss what the shifts in the world order may mean for Ukraine's future and the broader implications for the world writ large. They will be joined in the conversation by Robert Gelbard, an American diplomat who led US policy in the Balkans through wars and post-war recoveries.

- Admiral Gregory "Grog" Johnson, is a native of Westmanland, Maine. He was a 1964 graduate of Caribou High School and graduated with a degree in political science from the University of Maine. ADM Johnson is a retired United States Navy admiral and former Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces(NATO) Southern Europe, and Commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe. Johnson serves as a co-leader of the National Security Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and on the Board of Trustees for Maine Maritime Academy.

- 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.

- Robert S. Gelbard's career in the State Department spans more than four decades, during which he has held multiple senior positions: Deputy Treasury Representative and First Secretary at the United States Embassy in Paris, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South America, Ambassador to Bolivia, Special Envoy to the Balkans during the Clinton administration, Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia, and a Member of the Obama-Biden Presidential National Security Transition Team. He is a graduate of Colby College and received a MPA from Harvard University in economics. Ambassador Gelbard entered the Foreign Service after serving in Bolivia as a member of the Peace Corps.

Lead Sponsor for this event are Robert and Joan Carpenter Troccoli

Net proceeds from this event to benefit Partners for World Health

Enjoy pre-lecture music for 30 minutes before the performance