About » Board and Staff

With the Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC) since 1997, Karl Altau has helped conduct extensive advocacy on behalf of the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian central organizations in the United States. This includes the period of NATO accession for the three Baltic countries and the campaign for Magnitsky sanctions against human rights violators in Russia. He has addressed the Baltic parliaments and the United States Congress on the work of the Baltic-American communities.

A native Virginian with a degree in journalism from Radford University, Altau has lived and studied in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and at Indiana University. Altau has served on the boards of the Maryland-Estonia Exchange Council, which helps promote the Maryland Sister States Program and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation from 2004-2017. He spent three years with the consular section of the Embassy of Estonia in Helsinki, Finland from 1992-1995.

Lee Allen joined JBANC in February of 2024, helping to connect Baltic communities through Baltic Advocacy Days and inform Congress on the legislative priorities of the Baltic diaspora community.

Lee received his master’s degree from Riga Stradins University, graduating with a degree in International Governance and Diplomacy. He wrote a thesis on the role of Congress in foreign policy, using Ukraine aid as a case study.

Hindrek Pärg joined JBANC in the summer of 2024 through the Baltic American Freedom Foundation’s Professional Internship Program. Hindrek received his master’s degree from the University of Tartu in 2023, having graduated Journalism and Communication, cum laude. During his master’s studies he also went on an Erasmus+ Exchange semester to Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia.

He has over nine years of professional experience in journalism, communication and marketing, most recently working at Estonia’s biggest newspaper Õhtuleht as a duty editor and for the past 2.5 years as the Head of Digital Subscription Business. Among other places his previous work has taken him all over the United States, including Los Angeles, Tucson, Houston and Orlando, and to Ukraine at the start of March 2022 to cover the full-scale Russian invasion.

Markuss joined JBANC in November 2024 as a Baltic American Freedom Foundation Professional Fellow. He holds a master’s degree in International Security from Sciences Po. With a strong foundation in legal studies and international affairs, Markuss is dedicated to advancing Baltic advocacy efforts and fostering closer U.S.-Baltic relations.

Before joining JBANC, Markuss built extensive experience in Baltic defence policy and strategic communications within organizations such as the Baltic Security Foundation and NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence. His recent research explored the role of small states in global governance, focusing on U.N. Security Council campaigns and memberships of Estonia and Lithuania.