Founding CEO, Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) –For over twenty years, Sasha has worked to pioneer real-world solutions to hate, conflict and extremism. Building on a decade of conflict resolution work in former Yugoslavia, she co-founded ISD in 2006, today the leading global counter-extremism ‘think and do’ tank, pioneering policy, educational and technology solutions to polarization, disinformation and extremism of all forms.
In that capacity, Sasha advises a range of governments and international institutions in the domains of counter-terrorism, counter-extremism, disinformation and digital policy.
She also serves as an expert advisor to the UK Counter-Extremism Commission and the Mayor of London’s counter-extremism program. Working with leaders in tech, civil society and government, she has spearheaded first-of-their-kind initiatives including; the largest global network of former extremists and survivors of extremism (Against Violent Extremism); the first global network of Mayors and municipal leaders tackling polarizationand extremism in cities around the world (Strong Cities Network); a range of educational resources to inoculate the next generation to extremist propaganda and disinformation (Be Internet Citizens/ Extreme Dialogue); the first scaled interventions with individuals showing signs of radicalization online (CounterConversations); partnerships with Google, Facebook and Microsoft to trial new approaches to tackling the extremist threat across search, social media and gaming platforms (Google/ISD Innovation Fund, Microsoft Partnership, Online Civil Courage Initiative); and the build-out of a data analysis capability to identify and expose disinformation campaigns that promote hate and undermine the integrity of elections (ISD Digital Research Unit).
Sasha previously served as Senior Director at the EastWest Institute (EWI) where she led conflict resolution programming. She is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, has testified before US Congress, the UK Parliament and is a regular commentator in the media (CNN, BBC, Channel 4 News and other networks).