Sandra Pralong, Ph.D., is, since September 2015, a State Advisor and member of the Cabinet of the President of Romania, responsible for relations with Romanians abroad (a 4,5 million-strong Diaspora). She held a similar position in a previous Administration when, between 1998 and 2000, she opened up the Romanian state’s relations with its citizens who had fled during Communism and with the then much smaller Diaspora. As a former UN executive (UNDP, UNFPA), international foundation executive (Open Society Foundation) and international media executive (Director of Promotion for Newsweek in New York), Sandra shared her expertise as a professor at the University of Bucharest and the University of Niamey (Niger, West Africa). She is the author of several books, countless academic research papers and essays, a public speaker, a trainer and a coach. 

With established credentials in public policies for diaspora engagement, values-based leadership and strategic communications, human rights advocacy, civil society development and overseas development assistance (ODA), Sandra has a Ph.D. in Political Science (‘Magna cum Laude’ from the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris, France), an MA in Business Management (from HEC, Lausanne, Switzerland), an MA in International Relations (from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston, USA), an M.Phil. in Political Philosophy (from Columbia University, NY, USA) and a Master’s Degree in Cognitive Sciences (from the University of Bucharest, Romania).