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Ambassador Patrick Theros is a Strategic Adviser for Gulf International Forum. Previously he held positions as Political Advisor to the Commander in Chief, Central Command; Deputy Chief of Mission and Political officer in Amman; Charge D’affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission in Abu Dhabi; Economic Counselor in Damascus; and U.S. Ambassador to the State of Qatar. In a career spanning almost 36 years, he also has served in diplomatic positions in Beirut, Managua, Dharan and Abu Dhabi, as well as in the Department of State. During that period, he earned four Superior Honor Awards. After retirement Ambassador Theros served as President of the U.S. Qatar Business Council in 2000-2017.

Dr. Mehran Kamrava

Professor of Government, Georgetown University in Qatar

Mehran Kamrava is a Professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar. His research focuses on the modern political history and contemporary issues of the Middle East. He earned his Ph.D. in Government from the University of Cambridge.

Professor Kamrava is the author of numerous journal articles and books, including most recently How Islam Rules in Iran: Theology and Theocracy in the Islamic Republic (Cambridge University Press, 2024);  Righteous Politics: Power and Resilience in Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2023); A Dynastic History of Iran: From the Qajars to the Pahlavis (Cambridge University Press, 2022); Triumph and Despair: In Search of Iran’s Islamic Republic (Oxford University Press, 2022); A Concise History of Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2020); Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Persian Gulf (Cornell University Press, 2018); Inside the Arab State (Oxford University Press, 2018); The Impossibility of Palestine: History, Geography, and the Road Ahead (Yale University Press, 2016); Qatar: Small State, Big Politics (Cornell University Press, 2015); The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since the First World War, 3^rd ed. (University of California Press, 2013); and Iran’s Intellectual Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

His edited books include The Sacred Republic: Power and Institutions in Iran (2023); The Routledge Handbook of Persian Gulf Politics (2020); The Great Game in West Asia: Iran, Turkey, and the Southern Caucasus (2017); Fragile Politics: Weak States in the Greater Middle East (2016); Beyond the Arab Spring: The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East (2015); The Political Economy of the Persian Gulf (2012); The Nuclear Question in the Middle East (2012); and The International Politics of the Persian Gulf (2011).

Anna Jacobs

Senior Advisor, European Institute of Peace; Non-Resident Fellow, Arab Gulf States Institute

Anna Jacobs is a Senior Advisor on the Gulf Arab states and Middle East regional security at the European Institute of Peace. She is also a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and the former Senior Gulf Analyst at International Crisis Group. Prior to this, she was a Senior Political Officer at The Shaikh Group, where she worked on Gulf regional dialogue, and the Senior Research Assistant at the Brookings Doha Center. She has lived and worked in the Middle East for nearly 15 years, including six years in the Gulf. Her research focuses on the role that Gulf Arab states play in conflict and mediation, as well as Gulf regional security and dialogue. She spends her time between New York and the Gulf.