Olga Gerasimova researches strategic planning at the Leontif Center in St. Petersburg, Russia.  She holds an M.A. in Studies in European Societies from St. Petersburg State University, and received a degree in the sociology of public relations from Ivanovo State University.  Her previous professional experience includes project management at the marketing agency RC “Grifon-Expert” in St. Petersburg in 2011.  Ms. Gerasimova also served as an intern at the Hamburg Institute of International Economics in Hamburg, Germany, an intern with the International Federation for Housing and Planning in the Hague, Netherlands, and supported the Ivanovo Regional Duma through the monitoring of local, regional, and federal mass media in 2007. She has participated in two international conferences in Riga, Latvia and St. Petersburg, Russia and was the winner of the competition for young scholars, Galateya. Ms. Gerasimova speaks both English and German and has numerous publications in the fields of strategic planning and civil society. While in the United States, she plans to conduct research on municipal strategic planning. She will work with Geraldine Gardner, Director of Urban and Regional Policy at the German Marshall Fund.