Kristīne Rudzīte-Stejskala is a policy practitioner with more than 20 years national and international expertise from defence sector from Riga and Brussels (NATO and EU). Currently she works in the DG Defence Industry and Space, European Commission. Before joining the EC, she has served as Deputy National Armaments Director, the MOD Latvia for six years. She has expierence in armaments policy development, defence procurement, military infrastructure development, industry relations and development of support instruments for national and European defence innovation ecosystem. Her professional experience is from the US Embassy Riga, the Ministry of Defence, NATO and European Commission in Brussels. She holds MSc from London School of Economics in politics of the world economy, MA in European Studies and BA in political science from the University of Latvia. Kristīne has written several academic contributions on defence financing and emerging disruptive tech. Posiada tytuł magistra nauk ścisłych w dziedzinie polityki gospodarki międzynarodowej uzyskany w London School of Economics, tytuł magistra w dziedzinie studiów europejskich oraz tytuł licencjata (BA) w dziedzinie nauk politycznych uzyskany na Uniwersytecie Łotewskim. Kristīne Rudzīte-Stejskala jest autorką kilku prac naukowych dotyczących finansowania obronności oraz nowych, przełomowych technologii.