Project Milestones

Eric Rosand

Executive Director

Eric Rosand is the Executive Director of the Strong Cities Network. He has more than two decades of experience working with governments, multilateral organizations, civil society, academics, and the private sector on international counterterrorism and P/CVE issues. This includes more than six years as a senior official at the US State Department where was the international policy director for the White House CVE Summit and led efforts to develop and launch the Global Counterterrorism Forum, its inspired institutions, and the Strong Cities Network. He previously was a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and served as co-director of the Global Center on Cooperative Security, and a lawyer at the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. His writings, including on the role of cities and other local actors in P/CVE have appeared in a wide range of publications such as the American Journal of International Law, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Global Observatory, Just Security, The Hill, Lawfare, Order from Chaos, Time, and War on the Rocks. He holds a BA in history from Haverford College, a JD from Columbia University School of Law, and an LLM (Hons) in international law from Cambridge University.

Katie Wells

Programme Manager

Katie Wells is a Programme Manager for the North America Regional Hub, responsible for prevention training, guidance and support to mayors, city council members and senior city officials from small and mid-sized cities across the United States. Through an innovative new partnership with the National League of Cities, Katie works with city leaders to better understand and identify targeted violence and related threats, needs and vulnerabilities in their communities and operationalize a public health approach to prevent and respond to them. Prior to joining Strong Cities, Katie served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Andy Berke, Mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee where she helped coordinate the response to a violent extremist attack and led the Council Against Hate, aimed at understanding and addressing the factors that lead to hate extremism and polarisation.

Lauren Nish

Project Coordinator

Lauren Nish is a Project Coordinator for the North American Regional Hub, working on prevention programming, capacity building and local framework creation in cities across the continent. Prior to joining Strong Cities, Lauren worked in local and federal government, and at an anti-doxxing organisation, where her team ensured that those serving their communities were safe from threats and violence. Recently, she spent time advancing gender and security while working at an organisation fighting to end armed conflict and build sustainable peace. Lauren holds degrees in International Relations from Universities in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Bill Peduto

Senior Adviser

William (Bill) Peduto is a Senior Adviser to the Strong Cities Network and a Distinguished Executive in Residence at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. He served as the 60th Mayor of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) from 2014 until 2022 and served on the Pittsburgh City Council from 2002 to 2014. He operated a political consulting business and served as general consultant, campaign manager, finance director and other roles for several Democratic candidates and elected officials. At 28, he served as a political director for then Acting Governor Mark Singel. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in public policy and management from the University of Pittsburgh.

Nancy Rotering

Senior Adviser