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On Wednesday, February 25, the Korea Economic Institute presents a panel discussion, "Fallout Northeast Asia: Consequences of the Global Economic Crisis and Nuclear Stalemate on the Korean Peninsula" in the lower level of the Carroll College Campus Center from 3 to 5 p.m. Free and open to the public, this event is co-sponsored by the Carroll History Department. Speakers include L. Gordon Flake, executive director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and formerly a senior fellow and associate director of the Program on Conflict Resolution at the Atlantic Council of the United States; Thomas Byrne, senior vice president of Moody's Investor Service; and Nicole Finnemann, director of research and academic affairs for the Korea Economic Institute.

More on these speakers below:

Thomas J. Byrne, Senior Vice President/Sovereign Regional Credit Officer for Asia & the Middle East,
Moody's Financial Institutions & Sovereign Risk Group

Mr. Byrne is a senior member of Moody's Sovereign Risk Team where he serves as an experienced analyst of the credit worthiness and economic challenges faced by the advanced economies as well as the emerging markets in Asia. Mr. Byrne's background has prepared him for his responsibilities as a Moody's observer of the fast-changing region since 1997. Mr. Byrne had worked for the previous 12 years at the Institute of International Finance in Washington D.C., spending much of that time as the senior economist in the Asia Department. He also served in Korea for three years as a US Peace Corps volunteer before returning to complete an MA degree in International Relations with an emphasis on economics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He often speaks at seminars and conferences on issues concerning East Asia hosted by Moody's financial institution client base, as well as at other institutions such as the World Bank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Asia Society, the China Institute, the Korea Economic Institute, the Korea Society and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

L. Gordon Flake, Executive Director, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation

L. Gordon Flake joined the Mansfield Foundation in February 1999.  He was previously a Senior Fellow and Associate Director of the Program on Conflict Resolution at The Atlantic Council of the United States and prior to that Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America.

Mr. Flake is co-editor with Park Roh-byug of the book New Political Realities in Seoul: Working toward a Common Approach to Strengthen U.S.-Korean Relations (Mansfield Foundation, March 2008) and co-editor with Scott Snyder of the book Paved with Good Intentions: the NGO Experience in North Korea (Praeger, 2003) and has published extensively on policy issues in Asia.  He is a regular contributor on Korea issues in the U.S. and Asian press and has traveled to North Korea numerous times.  He is a member of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies and serves on the Board of the United States Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (USCSCAP) as well as on the Board of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, and the Advisory Council of the Korea Economic Institute of America.

Mr. Flake was born in Rehoboth, New Mexico.  He received his BA degree in Korean with a minor in international relations from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  He completed his MA at the David M. Kennedy Center for International and Area Studies, also at B.Y.U.  He speaks both fluent Korean and Laotian. He has seven young children and is married to Pakayvanh Sisoutham of Vientiane, Laos.

Nicole M. Finnemann, Director of Research & Academic Affairs, The Korea Economic Institute

Nicole Finnemann is the Director of Research & Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute where she is charged with matters related to North Korea and Academic outreach. Around the country, she organizes and participates in KEI's numerous annual university programs and academic symposia. In Washington, Ms. Finnemann is responsible for programming and publications related to North Korea, student-related events, and KEI's Academic Paper Series (as editor and manager). Her primary substantive areas of research are negotiation and North Korea; and she returned from her first trip to Pyongyang in April, 2008.

Outside of KEI, Ms. Finnemann has participated in referendum and peace agreement drafting for the Public International Law and Policy Group, co-founded the American University Negotiation Project, as well as LINC Negotiation Architects, a consultancy providing negotiation and mediation training materials. She has over five years of primary and secondary-level teaching and curriculum design experience. Having lived in Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Italy, and South Korea, Ms. Finnemann speaks Spanish fluently as well as some Italian and Korean. She holds a B.A. from Kalamazoo College and an M.A. in International Conflict Resolution from the American University's School of International Service and is originally from Minnesota.