Helga Kalm started in the position of the Lennart Meri Conference director in September 2023. Before joining the Lennart Meri Conference team, she served as the director of the NATO and Security Policy Division at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and worked as a political councillor at the Estonian Embassy in Washington, DC. She has also spent several years with the Estonian Ministry of Defence, where she most recently served as the deputy director for the Policy Planning Department. Throughout her career, she has always maintained focus on NATO, Trans-Atlantic relations, and the Baltic Sea security. Ms Kalm graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the University of Tartu. She also studied at Sciences Po, Georgetown University, and Renmin University of China.