Officers  &  Staff

Marion Smith, president

Marion, a native of South Carolina, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wofford College with a BA in Government & History. He has studied in England, France, The Netherlands, and, most recently, Hungary where he received an MA in International Relations from Central European University, writing his thesis on the compatibility of NATO and EU security cooperation. Marion’s articles have appeared in various publications, including the Washington Times, National Review Online, and Wall Street Journal Europe. He is a graduate fellow at the B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics at The Heritage Foundation. He was a 2010 Washington Fellow at the National Review Institute in Washington, D.C., and a 2011 Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute in California.

Anna Stumpf, director

Anna received her MA in International Relations and Political Science at Corvinus University in 2009. She is currently an MA candidate in American Studies at ELTE. She has interned at CNN International, the Council for Foreign Relations in NYC, and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington DC. She is an alumna of The Fund for American Studies’ Prague and DC institutes and is active in the Hungarian-American Coalition’s alumni. She was an editor of Hungary’s Political Yearbook, The Hungarian Political System, and the Hungarian edition of Matthew Spalding’s Introduction to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Anna is a native of Budapest and an eager guide of the city’s beauty to foreigners.  She is a fan of Balanchine’s ballets and Art Nouveau.

Emese Böröcz, operations associate

Emese currently studies at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, NY as one of the first participants of the Atlantis Transatlantic Double Degree Program in International Security and Development Policy. Emese graduated from Thomas Mann Gymnasium, German School of Budapest and finished her BA in International Studies at Corvinus University with a focus on European Integration. She has studied abroad in Switzerland and interned in the Foreign Ministry of Hungary.  She is an accomplished bridge player and enjoys skiing.

Zsófia Göde, program associate

Zsófia graduated in 2011 from Corvinus University, she holds a BA in International Studies and European Integration.  During her college years, she spent a semester studying abroad at Dublin City University and interned at the Cold War History Research Center in Budapest, where she translated political memoranda from Hungarian to English. After her graduation, she participated in the first internship program of Common Sense Society. In her spare time, she enjoys playing basketball and hunting for bargains at antiquarian book shops.