Following his studies at Prague’s FAMU film school, during which – in late 1989 – he worked for the US TV station CNN, he ran a production company that made a number of documentary films for Czech Television on the war in the Persian Gulf, as well as setting up a consultancy firm focused on relations between the private and public sectors. In 1990 he accompanied Václav Havel on his first state visit to the United States. He helped Olga Havlová set up the Committee of Goodwill – Olga Havlová Foundation and was by her side during her first independent visit to the US in April 1990. At the close of the 2000s he assisted Ivan Hašek in his efforts to modernise Czech football.

In 2004 he and his wife Jana began doing business in the residential accommodation sector and other property projects. His insights into the problems of Czech sport and sense of a societal “bad mood” led him to enter the public arena and begin influencing matters at local level at least. He has been a member of the Prague 5 council since 2019.

David Dušek has been collaborating with the Václav Havel Library for some time, as evinced by for instance the books Notes of the Accused (2016) and I Hid It Somewhere (2021). As co-producer he was part of the team behind the documentary film Citizen Havel (2007), directed by Pavel Koutecký and, after his tragic death, by Míra Janek. Since January 2022 he and Dagmar Havlová have been working intensively on the modernisation of the legal form of the Vacláv Havel Library, with a view to transforming it into an institution capable of holding its own among the younger generations and ready for the challenges of modern technology.

David Dušek is the grandson of the writer, translator and Charter 77 signatory Zdeněk Urbánek, one of Vacláv Havel’s closest friends. He therefore grew up in a “Havlovian” milieu and to this day regards that period as key to the shaping of his world view, understanding of context and moral values.

Martin Palouš is Senior Fellow and Director of the Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy at the School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University. He is also President of the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and President of the International Platform for Human Rights in Cuba. He was one of the original signatories of Charter 77, served as its spokesperson in 1986 and participated in the creation of Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution. After the fall of Communism Martin Palouš was a member of Parliament (1990), Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States (2001 –2005) and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations (2006 –2011).

Nina Smitová graduated from the Faculty of Law of Prague’s Charles University (1999–2004) and undertook postgraduate studies in international public law, EU law and comparative law at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna (2005–2006). She defended her thesis at the Department of International Law at Prague’s Charles University in 2007. She is currently on maternity leave.