At the time of this interview, Kathleen Imholz was an expert with the European Assistance Mission to the Albanian Justice System, where she worked on all aspects of the justice system. From 1999 until October 2005, she worked for several years with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the World Bank as an adviser to the Albanian government and the General Secretary of the Council of Ministers. Before that she taught commercial law as a Fulbright Fellow in Albania and worked on a legal education program in the country.

At the time of this interview, Bernard Zeneli was the manager of the Brain Gain program, an initiative of the Albanian government supported by the United Nations Development Programme that encouraged skilled professionals to return to the country and contribute to its development.  Previously, he was head of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Pristina in Kosovo, where he developed courses related to policy making, comparative politics, government and international relations.  He also taught at Northeastern University, the University of Tirana and South Eastern European University in Tetovo, Macedonia.

At the time of this interview, Dritan Agolli was the general administrator of the city municipality of Tirana, Albania. He served in several important positions in the municipality under the mayor, Edi Rama, first as the general director of Public Works and then the general director of Urban Planning before becoming the general administrator. Prior to moving to Tirana, Agolli was cleaning supervisor in the city of Fier, Albania. Agolli was part of Tirana’s municipal team that radically improved city infrastructure and service delivery from 2000 to 2010.

At the time of this interview, Fatbardh Kadilli was adviser to the prime minister on anti-corruption matters, a position he had held since 2005.  Prior to that he served for four years as a consultant on anti-corruption with an American firm financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Prior to that he led a program on integrated services for children at UNICEF. From 1998 to 2005, he was also a consultant with the Institute for Contemporary Studies, where, among other tasks, he advised the government on decentralization reforms. Earlier, he served in the State Secretariat for Local Governance, where he was in charge of the Refugee Office and drafted the law on asylum seekers.

At the time of this interview, Zef Preci was the founding head of the independent, non-governmental Albanian Center for Economic Research, established in 1992 as Albania's first independent, non-governmental organization dedicated to research and analysis in support of a market economy and democracy. He served briefly in 2000 as the minister of public economy and privatization before he returned to ACER as its director. Later, he was an adviser to Albania's president and chairman of the Authority for Competition.  During his career, he also was a lecturer in entrepreneurial economics at Tirana University.

At the time of this interview, Filloreta Kodra was the head of the Department of Public Administration in Albania. She was responsible for transitioning and reforming the civil service after the collapse of many state institutions in 1997. She had extensive experience with the civil service in Albania through her work within the Ministry of Labor as a specialist and was involved in the creation of the National Council of Labor, an advisory body to the Ministry of Labor. Kodra began working in public administration in 1981. She also served as the president of the Institute for Studies on Good Governance and Sustainable Development in Albania. She later became the vice minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

At the time of this interview, Ylli Manjani was a legal program assistant with the Institute for Policy and Legal Studies (IPLS), designing and co-managing the IPLS legal policy program and its various projects.  Previous to this position he served as the secretary general of the Council of Ministers and legal adviser to the Albanian Prime Minister.  In this interview, he speaks largely to his work in 1999-2000 as adviser to the Minister for Legislative Reform and later on as head of the Approximation of Legislation Department in the Council of Ministers.  A lawyer by training, Manjani went on to become the deputy minister of Public Work and Transport in Albania.

Ilir Gjoni served as chief of staff under Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko, being appointed to the position in 1999. When the administration changed that same year, the new prime minister, Ilir Mehta, reconfirmed Gjoni’s appointment. Prime Minister Meta went on to appoint Gjoni as minister of defense in July 2000. Gjoni also became the minister of public order under Meta’s regime, holding the post until February 2002. A philology major in the Tirana University class of 1985, Gjoni’s involvement in the public sector began when he was recruited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs upon graduation. Leaving the ministry in 1994, Gjoni pursued a master' degree in diplomacy. He then opted to acquire a second degree in national security studies at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monteray, California. Gjoni also spent some time working as an international news editor at the only independent newspaper in Albania at the time, Koha Jone. After his venture into journalism, Gjoni went on to become a liaison officer for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees office in Tirana, assisting in the management of both the ’98 and ’99 Kosovo refugee crises until his appointment in the Majko administration.  

At the time of the interview, Artan Hoxha was the president of the Institute for Contemporary Studies, an Albanian think-tank. He served previously as the Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation in the Albanian government.   There he oversaw public sector reforms including the restructuring of ministries, downsizing of the public administration, and decentralization of services. His work with the Intsitute of Contemporary Studies has been focused on similar reform practices.   

At the time of the interview Petrit Gjokuta was the director of the Information Technology Directory in Albania. From 2002 to 2005 he served as the director of the National Registry of Voters for the Central Election Commission. During his time with the Central Election Commission he was responsible for the reform of the voter registry.