Ms Elena Sokova is the Executive Director of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) and former Deputy Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (2015-2019). Ms Sokova worked at the Soviet and then Russian Foreign Ministry from 1981-1992 and has also served on the Global Agenda Council on Nuclear Security (World Economic Forum) and chaired a working group on the elimination of civil HEU established by the Fissile Material Working Group. Her areas of research include fissile materials security, nuclear non-proliferation issues and safeguards in Eurasia, and furthering education and training in the field.