Meet the Team

Kareem Makhlouf is Senior Director of Operations at New Lines Institute. He is also an adjunct professor of Education in the Middle East and North Africa at the George Washington University and an expert in nonprofit management.

Kareem has over 24 years of experience in international development and public administration with multilateral development agencies and organizations including the World Bank Group and the European Commission. He has designed and led multimillion-dollar donor-funded projects in the Middle East and in other parts of the world and has helped over 50 nonprofits across various sectors and environments develop and deliver effective products and services, scale operations and enhance their development impact.

Kareem holds two master’s degrees in Education and Human Development from the George Washington University: one with a focus on international education and another with a focus on organizational leadership and learning. Kareem also holds a Certificate in Public and Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University, and a bachelor of science in Economics from Cairo University.

Kareem joined New Lines Institute in 2018.

Dr. Agnes Nagy-Rado earned a Ph.D. in educational/cognitive psychology, an MA in Educational Administration, an MA in Translation and Interpretation in English and Hungarian (consecutive and simultaneous), a graduate license in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, and a B.A. in Teacher Education with a double major in English as a Foreign Language and Literature and Russian Language and Literature.

She dedicated over two decades to The Catholic University of America as a full-time, tenured faculty member. Throughout this period, she also assumed administrative responsibilities including Department Chair, Director of Accreditation, Certification Officer, Director of Field Experiences, and Coordinator of Academic Advising for Undergraduate, Graduate, and Honor Society students. Her involvement extended to overseeing the Assessment System, Education Study Abroad, and various academic programs, including the Master’s in Learning and Instruction, Elementary Education, and Special Education. She participated in numerous committees, including the Academic Senate, Academic Council, Undergraduate Board, Graduate Board, Academic Leadership Institute, and the Global Education Committee. 

Nagy-Rado has taught from freshman to doctoral courses in the areas of cognitive psychology, educational research, issues in memory and cognition, human growth and development, language learning, general linguistics, and computer skills. In addition to her instructional roles, she served as a dissertation reader for numerous doctoral dissertations. Dr. Nagy-Rado’s scholarly focus centers on educational psychology, particularly cognitive psychology and teacher education. Her research endeavors delve into aspects of educator preparation, exploring ways to enhance teaching methodologies and provide support for effective learning. Employing cognitive psychology as her analytical framework, she examines how students process information, acquire literacy skills, and grasp mathematical concepts. Dr. Nagy-Rado’s contributions extend to the publication of numerous articles, delivering dozens of presentations, and serving as a peer reviewer for research journals in both the United States and Europe.

Eugene Chausovsky is the Senior Director for Analytical Development and Training. He oversees the Institute’s publication and content production process, manages institutional training efforts, and guides the development of analytical products. 

Chausovsky previously served as Senior Eurasia Analyst at the geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor for more than 10 years. His analytical work has focused on political, economic and security issues pertaining to Russia, Eurasia, and China, as well as global connectivity issues related to energy and climate change.

He has contributed articles to a wide range of outlets including Foreign Policy, The National Interest, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Al Jazeera and has given interviews to global media outlets such as BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, Politico, and CNN. He has served as a speaker at international conferences and as a guest lecturer at universities in the US and abroad. He has also organized crisis simulations and delivered client briefings to numerous international organizations and businesses, including Fortune 500 companies. Chausovsky holds a Masters of International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a BA in International Relations from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Kamran Bokhari is Senior Director of the Eurasian Security & Prosperity portfolio  at the New Lines Institute. Previously, he was Director of Analytical Development Department from 2019 to 2023. Dr. Bokhari is also a national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. Bokhari has also served as the Central Asia Studies Course Coordinator at the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. 

He was a Fellow with the Program on Extremism at George Washington University (2016-18). Dr. Bokhari has also been a Senior Consultant with The World Bank since 2009. He has 15 years of experience in the private sector intelligence space during which he provided intellectual leadership in the publishing of cutting-edge geopolitical analysis & forecasts.

Dr. Bokhari is the author of Political Islam in the Age of Democratization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He has also contributed chapters to edited volumes: Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World (Rowman Littlefield, 2021), Strategic Analysis in Support of International Policy Making (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), Reassessing Order and Disorder in the Middle East: Regional Imbalance or Disintegration? (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), Oxford Handbook on Islam & Politics (Oxford University, 2013) & Debating Moderate Islam: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West (University of Utah, 2007).

His core areas of expertise are: Geopolitical/Intelligence Analysis of the Middle East, South Asia, & Central Asia, Countering Violent Extremism/Counterterrorism/Deradicalization, Islamist/Muslim Moderation, Geosectarianism, Governance, Democratization, Civil-Military Relations, & Comparative Political Systems. He has briefed various US, Canadian & UK government agencies, published thousands of analytical/theoretical/op-ed articles, presented papers in int’l academic/policy forums and given hundreds of interviews to leading global media organizations.

Bokhari earned his PhD from the Department of Politics & Int’l Relations at the University of Westminster after successfully defending his thesis ‘Moderations Among Salafists & Jihadists.’

Nicholas A. Heras is the Senior Director for the Strategy and Innovation Department and a coordinator for academic initiatives across the New Lines Institute. He was previously the Deputy Director of the Human Security Unit and the Senior Analyst and Program Head for the State Resilience and Fragility Program at the Institute. Prior to the New Lines Institute, he was the Director of Government Relations and the Middle East Security Program Manager at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). 

Before ISW, Nicholas was the Middle East Security Fellow and the 1LT Andrew J. Bacevich, Jr., USA Fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a Senior Analyst at the Jamestown Foundation. Nicholas served as a Research Associate at the National Defense University from 2013-2014, where he was responsible for managing field research and analysis for a project for the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. He was a David L. Boren Fellow based in Beirut, Lebanon from 2010-2011, and previously worked as the Research Associate at the American University Center for Global Peace where he managed field research and analysis for several projects focused on Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria.

Nicholas has authored or co-authored numerous reports and analytical articles on topics concerning Global and Middle East security issues, presented widely on these topics to multiple U.S. government and military agencies, and non-government organizations. He has been a frequent commentator to the media on Global and Middle East security issues including to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, Forbes, USA Today, Time Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, CNN, CBS News, NBC News, Fox News, C-SPAN, Bloomberg Television, National Public Radio, Voice of America, Public Radio International, Stars and Stripes,  The Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Vice News, BBC World Service, Australian Broadcasting Company, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Deutsche Welle, Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiyya, Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Reuters, Mother Jones, Le Monde Diplomatique, The Guardian, and The Telegraph.

Faysal Itani is a Senior Director at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy. He is also an adjunct professor of Middle East politics at Georgetown University.

Itani was born and grew up in Beirut, Lebanon and has lived and worked in several Middle East countries. Before joining the New Lines Institute, he was Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council working on U.S. policy in the Middle East. He has also worked in private intelligence as a risk analyst advising governments, corporations, and international organizations on political, economic, and security issues in the Middle East. Itani has repeatedly briefed the United States government and its allies on the conflict in Syria and its effects on their interests. He has been widely published and quoted in prominent media including The New York Times, TIME, Politico, The Washington Post, CNN, US News, Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

Itani holds an MA in strategic studies and international economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, a certificate in public policy from Georgetown University, and a BA in business from the American University of Beirut.