Team
Cris Martin is acting director of the Program on Georgian Studies, in addition to her role as the Davis Center's associate director. As a member of the center's senior leadership team, she advises the faculty director and executive director on a range of strategic areas, including research programs, development, and alumni relations. She also oversees event and educator-outreach programming, working to disseminate knowledge and research on Russia and Eurasia to a variety of constituencies, including undergraduate students, K-14 teachers and students, and the broader community.
Stephen Jones is a Davis Center associate and chairman of the Advisory Board of the Program on Georgian Studies; he served as the program's founding director from its inception until summer 2024. He received his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His books include Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917 (Harvard University, 2005) and Georgia: A Political History Since Independence (I.B. Tauris, 2012). More recently he edited with Neil MacFarlane Georgia from Autocracy to Democracy (University of Toronto Press, 2020). Dr. Jones became a foreign member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences in 2011 and received an honorary doctorate from Tbilisi State University in 2012 and from Ilia State University in 2018.
Allison Hart is the coordinator for the Program on Georgian Studies. Prior to joining the Davis Center, she received her M.A. in political science from the American University in Cairo, where her thesis focused on regional security in the Black Sea region. In 2022 she spent two months researching legacies of the Rose Revolution while working as a Black Sea Title VIII fellow.
Mzia Shanava is a Georgian language instructor. She is a linguist, journalist, and educator. She studied Georgian language and classical humanities at Ivane Javakhishvili University in Tbilisi, Georgia. After immigrating to the U.S., she worked as a Georgian translator for the Department of Justice and as a Georgian instructor for the Department of Defense, where she taught Georgian to the diplomatic corps and developed a course on modern Georgian language.
Nini Sikharulidze is a research assistant for the Program on Georgian Studies. She graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School as a biological sciences major. She is originally from Tbilisi, Georgia. As a 2025 Harvard graduate, Nini is exploring human developmental and regenerative biology with a secondary focus on global health and health policy. Her current interests include medicine, education, and healthcare strategies in developing nations.
Advisory Board
Mr. Irakli Baidashvili, president of AmCham Georgia and executive vice president of GMT Group, has four decades of experience in business, investment, and policy. He has advanced U.S.-Georgia economic ties, led real estate ventures, and served as honorary consul of the Netherlands. A Georgetown graduate, he champions regulatory reform, innovation, and Georgia’s democratic development.
Dr. Stephen Jones chairs the Advisory Board. (See bio above.)
Ms. Tamara Kalandiya, CFO at Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, is a financial executive and nonprofit leader with expertise in cultural exchange, education, and humanitarian aid. Founder of the Academy of Georgian Heritage, she previously served as CFO/COO of the Middle East Institute. A CPA, she advises cultural and international organizations.
Dr. Neil MacFarlane joined Oxford University as the Lester B. Pearson Professor of International Relations in 2006. He has a wide range of research interests, which focus on the theory and practice of international relations of the former Soviet space, as well as Georgian regional foreign policy.
Ms. Elizabeth Zaldastani Napier is a trustee of the G. Zaldastanishvili American Academy in Tbilisi and board member of American Friends of Georgia. She has worked at Harvard Business School, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. She led the Georgian American Diaspora organization from 1995 to 2005 and helped launch the America-Georgia Business Council.
Mr. Zaza Pachulia was a professional player in the NBA for over 16 years, and a member of the Golden Warriors’ 2017 and 2018 NBA Championship teams. He went on to become a consultant with the Golden Warriors and founder and leader of the Zaza Pachulia Basketball Academy in Georgia.
Ambassador Natalie Sabanadze is the Cyrus Vance Visiting Professor in International Relations at Mount Holyoke College. Previously she held positions as Georgia’s ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the European Union, as well as a senior adviser/head of section at the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.
Mr. Beso Sikharulidze, an investment professional with 30+ years in global markets, is managing director of London & Regional Properties in Ukraine, where he restructured a $300 million portfolio. Founder of AISI Realty Capital, he led its IPO in London. A Harvard MBA, he also managed multi-billion-dollar funds at Fidelity Investments.
Dr. Mamuka Tsereteli has more than 30 years of experience in academia, diplomacy, and business in the Black Sea and Caspian regions. He is president of the America-Georgia Business Council, a senior fellow at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at the American Foreign Policy Council, and senior adjunct professor at the School of International Service, American University, in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Kenneth Yalowitz is a retired career diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to Georgia and Belarus. Since retirement, he has been a faculty member at Dartmouth College and Georgetown University and an adjunct at Washington and Lee, Mount Holyoke, and Virginia Tech.