Confirmed Speakers

As a long-serving international affairs consultant, government relations professional and communications practitioner John Rosenberg possesses an in-depth knowledge of global security and international relations. As founder of the Washington, DC-based Rosslyn Group International, Rosenberg is exceedingly adept at bridging different cultures and in counseling foreign interests in their ever-crucial relations with the United States, in addition to representing U.S. interests abroad.

Prominent within the African affairs community in Washington, Rosenberg has been an important architect of U.S. policy, across a broad spectrum of issues impacting the continent, including those of politics, security, development, and trade. In 2015 he worked as an advisor to President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign.

Later in 2015 Rosenberg served upon the national security team of U.S. presidential candidate, Governor John Kasich, from December 2019 to March 2020, as Africa policy advisor to the Bloomberg 2020 foreign policy team, and upon the Biden-Harris campaign’s Africa Working Group.

For more than three decades Rosenberg has successfully interacted with the U.S. Congress in addressing such matters as the refugee crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and conflict resolution in Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Angola, Ethiopia/Eritrea, and Liberia. Working with senior U.S. officials in Washington along with the South African diplomatic corps Rosenberg assisted in engendering a smooth transition in bilateral relations during the changeover from apartheid to democracy. He was also instrumental in establishing official U.S. recognition of the MPLA government in Angola.

In addition to briefing congressional members/staff regarding developments across Africa, Rosenberg was a frequent figure on Capitol Hill delivering insights on Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served five tours in various intelligence and communications capacities.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom Rosenberg was a senior Department of Defense official at the Pentagon and U.S. embassy in Baghdad, working upon the $17.3 billion Iraq reconstruction. In 2005- ’06 he returned to Baghdad, managing the flow of critical information and strategic messaging on behalf of Multi-National Force Iraq.

In 2009 Rosenberg was an advisor to the International Joint Command (IJC), United States Forces Afghanistan, Information Operations (IO) Directorate (J2), standing up the counterinsurgency initiative in preparation for Operation Moshtarak, Helmand Province.

Following the IJC assignment Rosenberg was a senior advisor to the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense, where he assessed capabilities and provided counsel to the Afghan National Army regarding their strategic communications resources. In 2010 he was assigned to Kandahar Air Field as senior analyst within the Regional Command-South area of responsibility.

Rosenberg has promoted cross-border security programs in the Gulf of Guinea and facilitated introductions between electric energy interests and decision-makers within the U.S government presiding over the Obama Administration’s Power Africa initiative. In 2013 he was sent to Bogota in order to connect with select Colombian military officers on behalf of a Washingtonbased security firm and shortly thereafter lived and worked in Indonesia, advising the Commander of the National Armed forces (TNI) of Indonesia.

In recent years Rosenberg has served on behalf of a wide range of international interests, for example the 2017 U.S. path forward in Afghanistan, overall bilateral relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, to successfully assisting nations such as New Zealand and Iceland with visa legislation to airline regulatory matters.