Ambassadors
CERGE-EI Foundation Ambassadors are former board members who continue to champion our mission. Drawing on their experience and long-standing dedication, they remain valued advocates and supporters of our work. We are grateful for their ongoing engagement and commitment.
Alan Brown
Former Group Chief Investment Officer, Schroder Investment Management Ltd.
London, United Kingdom
Alan Brown has over 40 years of experience in international investment management, including leadership roles at Schroders, State Street Global Advisors, PanAgora, Posthorn, and Morgan Grenfell, where he oversaw global investment strategy and operations. He served as Chief Investment Officer and main board director of Schroders, earning CIO of the Year three times. Alan now holds a portfolio of non-executive and charitable positions, including Chair of University of Cambridge Investment Management, Trustee and Treasurer of The King’s Fund, and roles with Artemis, Christ’s College Investment Committee, Gurkha Welfare Trust, and Tobacco Free Portfolios UK. A member of the 300 Club and a strong advocate for ethics and corporate governance, he has served on advisory boards for the CFA Institute, MSCI Barra, and CERGE-EI, and was awarded the Jan Masaryk Honorary Medal for services to Czech education.
Ambassadors
Alan Brown
Aydin Hayri
Michael Markovitz
Jan Novotny
Gérard Roland, Ph.D.
Ambassador Craig Stapleton
Dragana Stanišić
Aydin Hayri
Transfer Pricing Economist and Partner, Deloitte US
Washington, District of Columbia
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Aydin Hayri is a Principal at Deloitte US, leading the transfer pricing practice in Greater Washington and Philadelphia and serving as life sciences industry leader. Since 1998, he has advised clients on transfer pricing, intellectual property, licensing, and business model restructurings across life sciences, defense, high-tech, and software industries. Aydin is the author of Transfer Pricing in Action and previously taught economics at CERGE-EI, University of Warwick, and Princeton University, specializing in industrial organization, risk, and valuation.
Michael C. Markovitz
Founder and Chairman (ret.), Argosy Education Group
Chairman, John Marshall Law School
Sarasota, Florida
Michael Chaim Markovitz is the founder of the first freestanding doctoral program in professional psychology in the United States and the developer of Argosy University, an investor-owned institution accredited by the APA, ABA, and HLC, among others. He took Argosy public on NASDAQ in 1998 and later oversaw educational joint ventures between U.S. and Chinese universities. After retiring as Chairman of Argosy, he served as Chairman of John Marshall Law School (Atlanta) and Yorkville University (Canada). Dr. Markovitz holds a B.S. from City College of New York and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Biological Psychology from the University of Chicago, where he also chaired the Visiting Committee to the Social Sciences. A retired trustee of Eckerd College, he resides with his wife Ling in Sarasota, Florida, with an additional home in Chicago. In 2025, he received the Czech Republic’s Distinguished Contribution to Diplomacy Medal.
Jan Novotný
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eFX Quant, Nomura
London, United Kingdom
Jan Novotný is an economist and quantitative finance specialist, currently serving as an eFX Quant at Nomura. His expertise spans time series econometrics, financial engineering, and numerical methods. He is also the founder of Quantum Finance CZ, Ltd. and has held research roles at CERGE-EI, Charles University in Prague, focusing on market dynamics, volatility spillovers, and information flows. Jan has consulted for the National Economic Council of the Czech Republic, advised Generali Holding, and developed trading algorithms for firms in Central Europe. His research, published in journals such as Physica A, explores price jumps, financial stability, and agent-based models, and he has presented at leading international conferences.
Gérard Roland, Ph.D.
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E. Morris Cox Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science (Emeritus), University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
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Gérard Roland is the E. Morris Cox distinguished emeritus professor of economics and professor of political science at the University of California Berkeley where he has been since 2001. He has received many honors including an honorary professorship from the Renmin University of China in Beijing in 2002 and the medal “De Scientia et humanitate optime meritis” by the Czech Academy of Sciences, November 15 2018.
The Association for Comparative Economic Studies created an annual dissertation fellowship in his name to recognize his contributions to the field. He served on the CERGE-EI Executive and Supervisory Board for over 20 years and was also an active member of the CERGE-EI Foundation.
He is the author of close to 200 journal articles, chapters in books, and books and has been published in leading economics journals on topics of transition, political economy, culture and comparative economics. He wrote the leading graduate textbook Transition and Economics published in 2000 at MIT Press and translated in various languages, including Chinese and Russian. He co-organized with Olivier Blanchard a Nobel symposium on the transition economics in 1999. He has a forthcoming book Empires, Nation-states and Democracies. Institutions in the International Arena (Princeton University Press).
Ambassador Craig R. Stapleton
Stapleton Associates and Former United States Ambassador
Greenwich, Connecticut
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The Honorable Craig R. Stapleton is a Senior Advisor at Stone Point Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is a director of Tenax Aerospace, and a co-owner of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was President of Marsh and McLennan Real Estate Advisors of New York from 1982 until 2001. During the administration of George H. W. Bush, Stapleton served on the Board of the Peace Corps. Under President George W. Bush he served as Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2001-2003, where he received the Jan Masaryk Medal. In June 2005, he was appointed Ambassador to France, serving until January 2009. Stapleton was decorated as Commandeur of the Legion d’Honneur. Stapleton serves on the boards of the Vaclav Havel Foundation, the United Way Tocqueville of France, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the World War I Commission and the Trust for the National Mall. He is a Trustee of the Fishback Foundation. He has served on the Visiting Committee for Harvard College Athletics and the Committee on University Resources and Athletics.
Dragana Stanišić
Head of Product, Informa
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dragana Stanišić is Senior Business Partner Lead at Informa Markets in Amsterdam. She previously served as Global Product Manager at GfK and as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Amsterdam. Dragana holds a Ph.D. in Economics from CERGE-EI, an MA in Economics and Sociology from Lancaster University and the Graduate School for Social Research in Warsaw, and a BA in Economics from the University of Belgrade. She is also committed to supporting education for girls in the Balkans.