Navigate complexity.
Capture opportunity.

Izel Selim brings over a decade of experience in strategic advisory, international cooperation, and business development across the transatlantic security and defense space to her role at CCG.

For nearly eight years (2017–2025), Izel served as Programs Manager at New Strategy Center (NSC), Romania's leading foreign policy and defense think tank. At NSC she managed high-level programs including the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum, NATO 2030 young leaders consultations, and international cooperation initiatives with allied institutions and governments.

She also served as an Expert with the International Republican Institute's Transatlantic Security Initiative, focused on countering authoritarian influence, bolstering democratic resilience, and advancing strategic partnerships across the Euro-Atlantic space.

In parallel, Izel founded Balkan S. Consulting, a strategic consulting firm specializing in communications and business development. Through its creative brand necalli perfumes, the firm also bridges strategy with artistic expression — embodying the fusion of strategic thinking with bold, unconventional craftsmanship.

Colonel (Ret.) Mariana-Adriana Abaza has over two decades of extensive experience in the field of intelligence analysis, primarily within the defense intelligence structures of the Romanian Ministry of National Defense. She served as Head of the Strategic Analysis Service within the Defense Intelligence General Directorate, where she coordinated the intelligence input provided to political and military decision-makers on key geopolitical and security developments, adversaries' military capabilities, and internal and external risks, threats and vulnerabilities against the national security in the military field.

Throughout her career, she has led and coordinated multidisciplinary assessments focusing on hostile state and non-state actors, resilience building, and countering disinformation, espionage, subversion, terrorism, and hybrid threats.

She has represented her institution in interagency and allied cooperation formats, including within the NATO Military Intelligence Committee at working level and the European Union Military Staff / Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC), contributing to the development of policies in the field of security and intelligence.

Her experience also includes participation in peace support operations within international and multinational structures such as NATO and the EU, including theatres of operations in the Western Balkans. She has completed advanced professional training programs at prestigious institutions in the United States and Europe and has supported academic activities in the areas of joint operations and strategic analysis.