Dr. Susan E. Penksa

Dr. Susan E. Penksa is Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, North Macedonia, seconded by the United States. From September 2019-November 2023, she served as Head of Security Cooperation in the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as well as Acting Head of Mission (August-October 2022). Prior to joining the OSCE, Dr. Penksa managed an international consulting practice providing strategic advisory services in global security. Her clients have included the U.S. Mission to the EU (Brussels); USAID-Pakistan; the EU Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Democratic Control of the Armed Forces (DCAF); the European Commission; the EU Delegation to the U.S. (Washington D.C.); and the U.S. Combat Studies Institute. She has extensive field experience from around the globe, including BiH, Kosovo, the Republic of Georgia, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Mexico. A senior leader with over 25 years of experience in global and Euro-Atlantic security, she is highly skilled in strategic planning and leadership; multilateral diplomacy; political affairs; stakeholder management; crisis management, conflict stabilization, & peace-building; anti-terrorism; police reform; the rule of law; security & justice sector governance and reform; civil-political-military affairs; DDR; arms control; threat assessments; and gender/human rights mainstreaming. Dr. Penksa is a frequent contributor to strategic dialogue on global security, foreign policy & transatlantic relations. She has been an invited speaker of multiple EU presidencies, the European Parliament, the EU External Action Service, OSCE, NATO, DCAF, the ICO/EUSR in Kosovo, the EU Police Mission, Heinrich Boll, and the UK Embassy in Washington, D.C. From 1996-2018, Dr. Penksa served as Professor of Political Science at Westmont College. The recipient of numerous professional awards and accolades, in 2005 she was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies. She received a 2007-2008 Fulbright Fellowship to BiH and taught the first course on the EU at the University of Sarajevo; in 2010 she was awarded a follow-on Fulbright fellowship. From 2012-2014, Dr. Penksa held the position of Senior Associate at the Institute for European Studies. She is the co-author of 'The European Union in Global Security: The Politics of Impact' (Palgrave Macmillan: 2012; 2014).