Sir Mark V. Vlasic
Senior Fellow, Adjunct Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University
Mark V. Vlasic is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor of law and public policy at Georgetown University, a Senior Adviser at Techstars, and maintains a boutique law practice focused on international law, human rights, hostage negotiations, cultural heritage and strategic philanthropy. A former diplomat and pro bono adviser to the Director-General of UNESCO on “blood antiquities,” he is now an executive producer with CBS Studios. His international law and interfaith work inspired the lead character “Danny” on the action-adventure social impact series “Blood & Treasure” on CBS, Paramount and Amazon Prime.
As a public sector specialist at the World Bank Group, Mark served as the first head of operations of the StAR Secretariat, a joint United Nations-World Bank presidential initiative to help developing countries recover stolen assets from past dictators. He has also served as a White House Fellow/special assistant to the Secretary of Defense and adviser to the President’s Special Envoy to Sudan. Mark was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
In private practice, Mark served on the Slobodan Milosevic and Srebrenica genocide prosecution trial teams at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He taught the Iraqi judges who tried Saddam Hussein, served on the U.S. Delegation to the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie terrorist bombing trial in the Netherlands, and has provided commentary to BBC, CNN, FOX, CBS and NPR.
Mark studied business, theology and government at Georgetown University while on an Army ROTC scholarship and received his law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown. He holds certificates in international law from The Hague Academy of International Law, conducted post-doctorate research at Universiteit Leiden as a NAF-Fulbright Scholar to the Netherlands, and completed the World Economic Forum’s executive leadership programs at Oxford and Harvard. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
As a U.S. Army officer, Mark was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. He has been knighted by the Vatican and Ethiopian Crown and commissioned a Kentucky Colonel. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.