We’re thrilled to announce the expansion of our Board of Trustees at EDYN. Joining our esteemed colleagues, Jonas Rolett, Kathryn Walt Hall and Peter Cari are Caryn Eggeraat, Alison Kelly, Greg Strimple, and Nicholas Whyte, each bringing with them a wealth of experience and expertise to our organization. This addition significantly strengthens our mission and pursuits, ensuring diverse perspectives guiding our growth and impact. While Caryn and Greg will contribute an American perspective, Nicholas and Alison represent EDYN’s first Board members coming from Europe.
The collective backgrounds and proven track records of the leadership of these individuals make them invaluable assets to our Board of Trustees. We are confident that their insights and contributions will play a crucial role in shaping the future direction of EDYN. To provide a deeper understanding of their backgrounds, brief bios of each new member are provided below.
Caryn Eggeraat
Caryn Eggeraat is the principal of the Endicott Group, a political consulting firm specializing in donor development for Republican federal candidates. Over the years, Caryn has served as Finance Director for a center right caucus in the House of Representatives, eight Members of Congress and nine United States Senators. She has overseen small to multi-million-dollar campaign operations, strategizing and executing a plan to fund each. Caryn earned her bachelor’s from Western Michigan University and her master’s from Suffolk University. She resides in Washington, DC.
Alison Kelly
Alison Kelly is a retired Irish diplomat, She holds an honours degree in Social Science from University College Dublin and a postgraduate degree in European Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. Much of her career involved multilateral negotiations in the EU, UN, OSCE and other international frameworks. Diplomatic assignments abroad included The Hague, Cairo, OSCE Vienna, Madrid, Washington, Ambassador to the Czech Republic, non-resident Ambassador to Ukraine and Ambassador to Israel. Her headquarters assignments encompassed EU internal and external relations, the UN, OSCE, Africa, the Middle East and disarmament and non-proliferation issues. She lives in Dublin.
Greg Strimple
Greg Strimple’s expertise spans public opinion research, advertising, and political strategy. As the founder of GS Strategy Group, Greg has navigated regulated industries, understood consumer behavior, and crafted successful marketing campaigns for leading corporations and institutions nationwide.
Before establishing GS Strategy Group, Greg co-founded Mercury Public Affairs, a renowned public affairs consultancy. Serving as the firm’s senior strategist, he oversaw critical aspects like polling and advertising, contributing to key accounts in healthcare, energy, entertainment, finance, and telecommunications.
Greg’s impact extends to political campaigns, where he served as pollster and senior advisor in notable races such as Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid and Governor Chris Christie’s 2009 upset victory. Additionally, he played pivotal roles in campaigns for Senator Mark Kirk and Senator John Cornyn, among others. With a diverse portfolio of opinion surveys at local, state, national, and international levels, Greg possesses a deep understanding of public sentiment across various contexts.
Outside his professional endeavors, Greg enjoys family life in Boise, ID, with his wife, Kari, and their four children.
Nicholas Whyte
Nicholas Whyte is a Senior Director at the Brussels office of APCO, a global strategic public affairs consultancy. A candidate and activist in the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s, he worked for the National Democratic Institute in Bosnia and Croatia in 1997-98, and then in Brussels for the Centre for European Policy Studies and the International Crisis Group as a Balkan and Eastern European analyst. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ulster University. He reads science fiction unashamedly.
