International Advisory Council

Robert J. Abernethy is president of American Standard Development Company and Self Storage Management Company and Managing Director of Metropolitan Investments, LLC.

Abernethy received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, certificates in Real Estate and Construction Management from UCLA and was formerly employed by Hughes Aircraft Company as Controller of its Technology Division.

For well over two decades, Mr. Abernethy served as a director of Public Storage, where he served as Chairman of the Audit Committee and has been a member of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties since 1988. He is a member of the Self Storage Association’s Hall of Fame and was director of the Self Service Storage Association where he served as Past National Vice President, Secretary & Treasurer and Past Regional President, Vice President, Secretary & Treasurer. He is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of Lambda Alpha International. He has been licensed as a California General Building Contractor since 1975.

Abernethy is a trustee emeritus of Johns Hopkins University, a trustee of Davidson College and a trustee of Loyola Marymount University. He is a member of the US Department of State Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, a member of the Advisory Board of the Truman National Security Project and the Aspen Institute Society of Fellows. He is a member of the Harriman Society, Harvard Partners, Human Rights Watch, the UCLA Chancellor’s Cabinet and UCLA Arts Board of Visitors and on the Advisory Council of the School of Advanced International Studies Washington and Bologna. He serves on the executive committee and as Vice Chairman of the Atlantic Council and the Pacific Council on International Policy as well as a member of the chairman’s forum of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a board member of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, the Brookings Institution, RAND Center for Global Risk & Security, the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, the Music Center of Los Angeles County, the Hollywood Bowl and the Peabody Conservatory.

S. Daniel Abraham is a leading American entrepreneur and dedicated philanthropist, who is the founder and former chairman of Slim-Fast Foods, the most successful diet product in history.

A WWII combat veteran, Mr. Abraham is a generous and thoughtful philanthropist dedicated to a variety of causes, among them improving health care and nutrition, encouraging Middle East peace, and broadening educational opportunities. His gift to the Mayo Clinic served to create the highly innovative Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, whose opening in 2007 received national media coverage. A passionate advocate and supporter of higher education, Abraham has endowed an S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University, and a Chair in Nutritional Medicine at Harvard University Medical School. He has also funded the Dan Abraham School for Business Administration and Economics at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, the S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program at Yeshiva University, and the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program at Stern College for Women.

Mr. Abraham has strong ties to Israel, which he expresses through deep personal involvement and commitment. In 1989, Mr. Abraham and the late Utah Congressman Wayne Owens established the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, which works with leaders and policy makers in the U.S. and Middle East to promote a just and comprehensive resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In the course of Mr. Abraham’s travels, he became convinced that Israel’s greatest security would come from peace with its neighbors, and this spurred his efforts to support the peace process. He is a close friend of many top leaders in the United States, Israel, and throughout the Middle East, and through those personal channels has worked tirelessly over the past two decades to help bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Mr. Abraham's tireless work in this arena prompted former President Bill Clinton to say: "When peace finally comes to the Middle East, it will be because of people like Dan Abraham."

Mr. Abraham and his wife Ewa reside in Palm Beach with their two children. He also has four grown daughters, twenty-seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. He holds honorary doctorates from Ben-Gurion University, Bar-Ilan University and Yeshiva University.

Dr. Peter Ackerman is the Managing Director of Rockport Capital Incorporated, a private investment firm. Since its inception in 1990, Rockport has made numerous direct investments in fields as diverse as movie libraries, advertising, chemicals, wax refining, car windshield manufacturing, SMS integration, and internet-based food retailing. From 1978 to 1990, he was Director of International Capital Markets at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he structured, financed, and invested in hundreds of recapitalizations including the largest and most complex leveraged acquisitions of that period.

Dr. Ackerman holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where he served 15 years as the Chairman of the Board of Overseers. He serves on the Board of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Ackerman was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Freedom House. He was also the Chairman of Americans Elect, whose purpose was to invite every registered voter in the United States to participate in a nonpartisan process to nominate candidates for the 2012 Presidential election through an online convention.

Dr. Ackerman is the founding chair of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. This mission of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict is to develop the understanding and encourage the use of civilian-based, non-military strategies that will lead to the establishment and defense of democratic self-rule and human rights.

Dr. Ackerman co-authored Strategic Nonviolent Conflict published in 1994, and A Force More Powerful: a Century of Nonviolent Conflict. The latter volume was a companion book for the Emmy-nominated documentary of the same title which appeared nationally on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in September 2000, for which he was the series editor and principal content advisor. Dr. Ackerman was also executive producer of Bringing Down a Dictator, the Peabody award-winning documentary that chronicled the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia which premiered on PBS in March 2002. Currently, a third documentary Orange Revolution is being aired on PBS. All three films in aggregate have been translated in 13 languages and seen in over 80 countries.

Joanne Leedom-Ackerman is a novelist, short story writer, and journalist whose works of fiction include The Dark Path to the River and No Marble Angels. Joanne is vice president of PEN International and former international secretary of PEN International and former chair of its Writers in Prison Committee. She serves on boards of PEN American Center, PEN Faulkner Foundation and Poets and Writers. She also serves on the boards of the International Crisis Group, Johns Hopkins University and Refugees International and is an emeritus board member of Human Rights Watch and Brown University. A former reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, Joanne continues to publish articles and essays in newspapers, magazines and books. She has taught writing at New York University, City University of New York, Occidental College and in the Writers’ Program at the University of California at Los Angeles extension. She holds M.A. degrees from the Johns Hopkins University and Brown University and graduated from Principia College. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Joanne lives in Washington, DC.

Rafic Bizri currently serves as president and CEO of Hariri Interests and related commercial real estate companies in the United States and as president and CEO of the Hariri Foundation-USA which has sponsored over 3,000 students from Lebanon in the United States and Canada. He has served as Financial Officer for Saudi Oger, one of the largest construction and development companies in Saudi Arabia, Controller and Owner Representative for a real estate development in Clayton Missouri, Controller and Investor Representative for Mediterranean Investors Group USA, President and Sole Director of Hariri Holdings, Director of Telscape International, Inc., and Controller For Holiday Inn, Charlotte. Mr. Bizri holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Landrum Bolling’s career can be characterized by a uniquely acute awareness of and desire to understand the mechanisms by which conflicts of sociopolitical, ethnic, and religious nature are manifested, and a passion for exploring the methods by which compromise and peace can be attained. His desire to understand the other’s point of view has propelled his career onward through nearly 80 subsequent years of outstanding service to the field of education and the furthering of peaceful intercultural relations and international conflict resolution.

Dr. Bolling’s training in political science led him to pursue a career in journalism. He also taught as a professor at both Beloit College and Brown University, and served as a research professor at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. With the onset of World War II, Bolling found himself caught in the midst of an ethical battle between his pacifist Quaker values and a feeling of humanitarian responsibility. Ultimately, after rescinding his status as a conscientious objector, Bolling found himself serving as a war correspondent in the European war theater in Rome, Vienna, Berlin, and later, Sarajevo during its liberation from Nazi occupation.

At the end of the war he served as overseas editor for a New York-based news agency, stationed in post-war Berlin and traveling with his young family throughout Europe.

Throughout the administration of Jimmy Carter, Bolling’s study and extensive knowledge of the Arab-Israeli conflict drew him into an intermediary relationship between the White House and state department and top Palestinian leaders. He served for a time as an unofficial back channel to the PLO and its leader Yasser Arafat. Later, In Bosnia, he went on to work with government officials, religious leaders, and various non-governmental organizations to develop initiatives for inter-ethnic and religious cooperation and recognition.

Bolling’s extensive experience in international conflict resolution and in facilitating dialogue between warring cultural and religious groups provided a valuable resource for Earlham College during the fifteen years he served as its president. After his resignation, Dr. Bolling was named a Lifetime Honorary Trustee of Earlham College and was honored with the establishment of the Landrum Bolling Center for the Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies.

Dr. Bolling’s career has earned him more than 30 honorary doctorates from both foreign and American universities, including his own alma mater.  In June 2000, Dr. Bolling received the Peacemaker/Peacebuilder award by the National Peace Foundation. Between 2002 and 2005, he was honored with both the CASE award as well as the James L. Fisher award, both for his work in the advancement and support of education. Dr. Bolling has also written and co-authored several books including Search for Peace in the Middle East published by the American Friends Service Committee, This is Germany, Private Foreign Aid, Reporters Under Fire, Conflict Resolution: Track Two Diplomacy, and most recently, a documentary film entitled, Searching for Peace in the Middle East.

Dr. Bolling has, for much of the organization’s history, served as senior advisor to Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian and peace-building agency. He currently works out of Mercy Corps’ Washington D.C. office as senior advisor in matters of policy and program development.

Betty Flanagan Bumpers, former First Lady of Arkansas, wife of former U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers, has dedicated her life to issues affecting children's health, empowering women, and the cause of world peace. A former art teacher educated at Iowa State, the University of Arkansas, and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Betty Bumpers is the mother of three children and has seven grandchildren.

When she became First Lady of Arkansas, the state had one of the lowest immunization rates in the nation. Mrs. Bumpers spearheaded a statewide immunization program for childhood vaccinations, and the state achieved one of the highest immunization rates in the country. The "Every Child By "74" project model that brought together the Arkansas League for Nursing, the State Health Department, the Arkansas National Guard, the State Nurses Association, the State Medical Society, and the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Arkansas, faith-based organizations, and other volunteers, was so successful it was used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for immunization programs across America. It continued into the next decade.

When Jimmy Carter became President, Mrs. Bumpers contacted him and explained the deficits in the country's immunization program, and urged him to work to improve the situation. At that time, only 17 states in the country required immunizations by school age. Mrs. Bumpers" and Mrs. Carter's advocacy led to the first federal initiative in comprehensive childhood immunization, launched in 1977. These efforts led to laws in every state requiring vaccinations before entry into school. Today, more than 95% of American children are immunized by the time they go to school. The CDC says it is the most successful public health program they have ever had.

In 1991, responding to the 1989-1991 measles epidemic, Betty Bumpers and Rosalynn Carter founded Every Child by Two to ensure that all children in America are immunized on schedule by age two and that states develop immunization registries. Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala said, "from Arkansas to Washington, DC, to the far corners of the globe, Betty has been a guardian of children, protecting them from polio, from rubella and from many other invisible enemies."

In 1982, Mrs. Bumpers, concerned about the growing nuclear arms race, formed Peace Links to "effect a mindshift in the way people think" about peace and nuclear war. For twenty years Peace Links, which encompassed over 200 gubernatorial and congressional women and global women leaders, worked to educate communities about a new concept of national security, the value of cultural diversity, non-violent conflict resolution, global cooperation, citizen diplomacy, violence prevention and peace building. Through the National Peace Foundation, she continues to draw the world together into a unified community dedicated to peace.

Christopher “Chris” Carney is currently a member of the nine-person Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission, and was a Member of the United States Congress from 2007-2011. The first Democrat elected in Pennsylvania’s 10th District in 48 years, Chris was a member of the Homeland Security Committee and he was appointed the Chairman of the Management, Investigations, and Oversight Subcommittee as a freshman legislator. In that capacity he reviewed DHS operations, plans, and its future direction. In particular, Chris had a direct role in guiding and developing DHS’ first QHSR (Quadrennial Homeland Security Review), and provided oversight on DHS’ $45B budget.

Moreover, as the second-ranking member of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment Chris had the opportunity to work with DHS and NCTC to develop policies pertaining to international as well as domestic terrorism. Chris was instrumental in helping DHS create and sustain Regional Fusion Centers to help state and local law enforcement officials have a more active role in homeland security. These fusion centers are a “push-pull” system of integrated intelligence sharing that keep the local officials apprised of national-level threats, and keep national decision makers aware of local and regional threats. 

Closely related to his work on the Homeland Security Committee was his work as a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Chris served on the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, as well as the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, and the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.

Prior to running for Congress, Chris was assigned to the Pentagon during OEF/OIF as a strategic analyst of the global terrorist threat. Having worked directly with the most senior decision-makers of the Bush administration, Chris provided Red Cell alternative analysis of the threat posed to the United States by al-Qaida, its network, and its affiliated groups. Chris ran DoD’s Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group (PCTEG), was part of the Abu Musab Zarqawi working group at the White House, and was the “Special Projects” intelligence officer for two tours during Operation Southern Watch working closely with the J2 and with members of the British Army and Air Force on low-visibility, high-impact intelligence sorties.

Commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy Reserve in 1995, Chris has served as an intelligence officer for over 15 years. Retiring at the rank of Commander, Chris ended his military career as a combat Mission Operation Commander (MOC) for the MQ-1 Predator, the MQ-9 Reaper, and RQ-4 Global Hawk ISR platforms. 

Chris is a Founding Partner of Stone City Solutions, a strategic business development consulting firm focusing on health care, education, and alternative energy technologies. 

Prior to his terms in Congress, Chris was an Associate Professor of Political Science specializing in security, terrorism, and international relations at Penn State University, where he wrote, published, and presented dozens of academic papers pertaining to international political economy and power relationships. Chris’ doctoral dissertation, which was titled International Patron-Client Relationships, used statistical analyses to explore the impact emerging powers have on global security arrangements and the global economy.

Chris earned his BSS in U.S. Diplomatic History and Environmental Science from Cornell College, a Master’s degree from the University of Wyoming in International Studies, and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Chris lives in Dimock, Pennsylvania with his wife Jennifer where they try to keep tabs on their five children.

Richard Danzig is vice chair of the board of trustees of RAND Corporation, a member of the Defense Policy Board, The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and the Homeland Security Secretary’s Advisory Council, a Trustee of Reed College, a director of the Center for a New American Security and a director of Saffron Hill Ventures (a European investment firm). In recent time he has been a director of National Semiconductor Corporation (NY Stock Exchange) and Human Genome Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ). He has also served as the chairman of the board of The Center for a New American Security and Chairman of the board of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Dr. Danzig served as the 71st secretary of the Navy from November 1998 to January 2001. He was the under secretary of the Navy between 1993 and 1997. From the spring of 2007 through the Presidential election of 2008, Dr. Danzig was a senior advisor to Senator Obama on national security issues.

Dr. Danzig is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and a senior advisor at the Center for New American Security, the Center for Naval Analyses, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC. His primary activity is as a consultant to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security on national security issues.

Dr. Danzig was born in New York City in 1944. He received a B.A. degree from Reed College, a J.D. degree from Yale Law School, and Bachelor of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Upon his graduation from Yale, Dr. Danzig served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White.

Between 1972 and 1977, Dr. Danzig was an assistant and then Associate Professor of Law at Stanford University, a Prize Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows, and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow. During this period, he wrote a book on contract law and articles on constitutional history, contracts, criminal procedure, and law and literature.

From 1977 to 1981, Dr. Danzig served in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, first as a deputy assistant secretary and then as the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Logistics. In these roles, he contributed particularly to the development of the Department’s ability to mobilize manpower and materiel for deployment abroad. In 1981, he was awarded the Defense Distinguished Public Service Award. He received that same honor—the highest Department of Defense civilian award—twice more in 1997 and 2001 for his work with the Navy and Marine Corps.

Between 1981 and 1993, Dr. Danzig was a partner in the law firm of Latham and Watkins. Resident in Washington, his unusually broad legal practice encompassed white-collar crime defense work, civil litigation, and corporate work, including heading the firm’s Japan practice. During this time he co-authored a book on National Service, taught contracts at Georgetown Law School, and was a Director of the National Semiconductor Corporation, a Trustee of Reed College, and litigation director and then vice chair of the International Human Rights Group. In 1991, he was awarded that organization’s Tony Friedrich Memorial Award as pro-bono human rights lawyer of the year.

Dr. Danzig and his wife, Andrea, reside in Washington, DC where Mrs. Danzig has an active practice as a psychotherapist. They have two adult children, David and Lisa. Mr. Danzig’s recent publications include “Driving in the Dark: Ten Propositions About Prediction” and as co-author of “Aum Shinrikyo: Insights into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons,” both published in 2011 by The Center for a New American Security.

Raymond DuBois is a senior adviser at CSIS, where he focuses on international security policy and defense management reform. He served as acting under secretary of the Army from February 2005 to February 2006. From October 2002 to May 2005, he was director of administration and management, responsible for all manpower, real estate, and organizational planning for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Concurrently he was the director of Washington Headquarters Services, where as “mayor of the Pentagon,” he directly managed 2,500 employees and a $1.3-billion budget, the 800-person Pentagon Force Protection Agency, and the $5.5-billion Pentagon Renovation Program. From April 2001 through November 2004, DuBois served as the deputy under secretary of defense for installations and environment, during which time he managed the “Base Realignment and Closure” Program and established policy for the $660-billion worldwide inventory of installations, ranges, housing, utilities, and environmental programs.

Mr. DuBois was president of Potomac Strategies International LLC from 1995 to 2000, providing strategic management, marketing, and financial support to companies in the aerospace, electronics, telecommunications, and telemedicine industries. From 1990 to 1995, he worked for the Digital Equipment Corporation as director of strategic plans and policies of the Aerospace, Defense Electronics, and Government Group. He was also worldwide marketing director for the Defense Industries Group. From 1987 to 1990, he was the director of government affairs for the National Education Corporation and concurrently a managing director of its largest subsidiary, Applied Learning International, a leading computer-based training company. He served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1969, including nearly 13 months in Vietnam as a combat intelligence operations sergeant, where he received the Army Commendation Medal. He is the recipient of the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Army Civilian Distinguished Public Service Award (twice), the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, the Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, and the Army Commander’s Award for Public Service. Mr. DuBois currently serves as a member of the International Advisory Council of the U.S. Institute of Peace. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the National Defense Business Institute at the University of Tennessee. Previously, he served as a member of the Defense Health Board and its NCR BRAC Health Systems Advisory Committee from 2006 to 2009. He also served as a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Stabilizing Fragile States. Mr. DuBois received a B.A. degree from Princeton University.

Jim Dyer currently serves as senior advisor and principal at The Podesta Group serving clients in both Government Relations and International sectors of the firm. His clients include major defense firms, smaller research consortia and foreign policy advocates. He brings twenty-six years of experience on the House Appropriations Committee to problem solving for clients.

Jim served as clerk and staff director of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations for ten years. Jim supervised the activities of a 125-person professional staff in discharging the Committee’s responsibility to produce 13 annual appropriations bills. He also was principal committee liaison to the Republican leadership and assisted leadership staff in planning the House of Representatives agenda.

Prior to becoming clerk and staff director, Jim served as a professional staff assistant on the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Foreign Operations where he handled a variety of State and Defense Department issues and on the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch where he worked to fund the activities of Congress and its supporting agencies.

Previously, Jim worked at the White House as the deputy assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs and served as the principal point of contact for President George H.W. Bush with the United States Senate. In the Reagan White House he served as deputy assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs and worked on House legislative matters, specializing in the defense, foreign policy, and appropriations areas. He was also responsible for overall management of the legislative affairs office in the West Wing of the White House.

During the Reagan Administration, Jim handled legislative affairs for the U.S. Department of State for two years as deputy assistant secretary of state for Legislative Affairs for the House of Representatives, acting secretary of state for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, and principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Prior to that, Jim worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as a press secretary/legislative assistant to the Honorable Joseph M. McDade (R-PA), later as Congressman McDade’s administrative assistant, and then as the Congressman’s Appropriations Committee’s principal staff assistant, having responsibility for his Interior Subcommittee duties and later for his work on the Defense Subcommittee.

He also has held the following positions: budget consultant to the Secretary of the Navy; director of Washington Relations for Philip Morris Companies, Inc.; director of government affairs, Power Systems Division, United Technologies Corporation; and government affairs consultant for Hand, Arendall, Bedsole, Greaves & Johnson, ETA Associates, Inc.

Jim is a member of the board of directors of Ford’s Theatre where he serves on the Executive committee and as treasurer and Co- Chairman of its Finance Committee. He has previously served on the Board of the National Zoo, the U.S. Capitol Historical Society and the Army Science Board. He also serves as a board member at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA. He is a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Jim is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds the Distinguished Public Service Award from the U.S. Navy. He is a frequent media contributor on the subject of budget and appropriations policy.

Jim holds a B.A. from the University of Scranton and has done graduate work in Legislative Affairs at George Washington University. He holds an honorary Doctor of Human Letters from the University of Scranton.

Mr. Ford has been chief executive of LMI since January 2009, simultaneously joining the board with his appointment as the company’s eleventh president. As chief executive, he is responsible for the general management and strategic direction of LMI. Mr. Ford also serves as board chair of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis (CSBA) and on the board of the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC).

Mr. Ford has extensive experience leading organizations and developing enduring, practical solutions to some of the most complex problems in the public sector, with particular emphasis on national security, financial management, healthcare, and resource management.

Under his leadership, LMI has expanded its regional presence and broadened its capabilities into emerging federal and international markets, receiving multiple “small business partner” and “best place to work” awards along the way.

Before leaving government to lead LMI, Mr. Ford served as the Under Secretary of the Army from 2007 to 2009. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller from 2006 to 2007 and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller from 2005 to 2006. From 2002 through 2004, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Budgets & Financial Policy in the Department of Defense.

He was President and CEO of a medical manufacturing company from 1997 to 2000 and was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Georgetown University Medical Center from 1991 to 1997. During the 1980’s, he managed the health care consulting practice for Coopers & Lybrand and has extensive experience in the governance of health care organizations.

Mr. Ford holds a BA in history from Duke University and an MA in education from the University of Delaware and has completed additional professional training at the University of Pennsylvania. His wife is a retired government attorney and their three children all currently serve in the active duty military.

Laurie S. Fulton served as U.S. Ambassador to Denmark from July 2009 to February 2013.  She recently retired as a partner in the law firm Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C., where she practiced law for more than two decades and was recognized as one of “Washington’s Top Lawyers” by Washingtonian Magazine in 2004.     

As Ambassador, she managed U.S. relations with Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands in areas related to national security, counter-terrorism, arctic policy, piracy and international law enforcement, among others.  She co-founded Green Partnerships for Growth, a bi-lateral, public-private initiative to develop U.S.–Danish business opportunities in green technology sectors.  Ambassador Fulton organized and co-hosted the 2010 Conference on the Role of Women in Global Security for the U.S. and Nordic-Baltic countries, identifying best practices to assist women in becoming productive citizens in countries emerging from conflict, specifically Afghanistan, Liberia and Uganda.  She was recognized for leadership and advocacy for inclusion and tolerance.  Ambassador Fulton was awarded the Grand Cross of the Danish Royal Order of Dannebrog by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II.

Ms. Fulton serves on the corporate board of Y.E.S., Your Electronic Supplier A/S.  Ms. Fulton is Chair of the Honorary Advisory Board of the American-Danish Business Council.  Ms. Fulton serves on the boards of non-profit organizations, including the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council, Board of Directors of Stimson Center, Board of Trustees of the Meridian International Center, and Board of Trustees of Youth for Understanding.  She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council of American Ambassadors, and the American Society of International Law. She served on the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace from January 2004 to October 2008 and co-chaired the USIP International Advisory Council from 2008-2010. 

Laurie Fulton earned a B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, which recently awarded her a Citation for Alumnus Achievement.  Ms. Fulton earned a J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law School (GULC) and was awarded the Order of the Coif.  She has been honored with an outstanding Alumnae Award from GULC and an honorary Doctorate in Public Service from South Dakota State University.

Dan Glickman is Vice President of the Aspen Institute and Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program which is a non-partisan public policy education and civility building program for members of the United States Congress.

Mr. Glickman served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from March 1995 until January 2001. Under his leadership, the department administered farm and conservation programs; modernized food safety regulations; forged international trade agreements to expand U.S. markets; and improved its commitment to fairness and equality in civil rights.

Before his appointment as Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Glickman served for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. During that time, he was a member of the House Agriculture Committee, including six years as chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over federal farm policy issues. He was an active member of the House Judiciary Committee; chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and was a leading congressional expert on general aviation policy.

Mr. Glickman is also a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.  The BPC was formed in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell to develop and promote compromise and civility in government.

Mr. Glickman served as Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) from 2004 until 2010.

Prior to joining the MPAA, he was the Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (2002-2004).

Before his election to Congress in 1976, Mr. Glickman served as president of the Wichita, Kansas School Board; was a partner in the law firm of Sargent, Klenda and Glickman; and worked as a trial attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He received his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from The George Washington University. He is a member of the Kansas and District of Columbia bar associations..

Mr. Glickman is also on the board of directors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Communities in Schools; chairman of the Food Research and Action Center, a domestic anti-hunger organization; member of the National 4-H Council; and the Center for U.S. Global Engagement, where he is Chair of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.  He co-chairs an initiative of eight foundations, administered by the Meridian Institute, to look at long-term implications of food and agricultural policy.  He chairs an initiative at the Institute of Medicine on accelerating progress on childhood obesity. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Council on American Politics at The Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University; World Food Program-USA.  He is the co-chair of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' global agricultural development initiative.  He is also on the International Advisory Board of APCO Associates.

Melanie Cohen Greenberg is president and CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding. Before joining the AfP, she was the president and founder of the Cypress Fund for Peace and Security, a foundation making grants in the areas of peacebuilding and nuclear nonproliferation. From 2003 to 2004, she was a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, focusing on issues of justice in post-conflict peacebuilding. From 2000 to 2002, Melanie was director of the Conflict Resolution Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. She previously served as associate director of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation and deputy director of the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation.

In her work on international conflict resolution, Melanie has helped design and facilitate public peace processes in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and the Caucasus. She has taught advanced courses in international conflict resolution, multi-party conflict resolution, and negotiation at Stanford Law School and Georgetown University Law Center and is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Elliott School of George Washington University. She was lead editor and chapter author of the volume Words over War: Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflict (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000).

Melanie is a frequent writer, lecturer, teacher, and trainer in a broad range of areas related to international law, international security, and peacebuilding. In her training, she has led courses for Congressional staff, scientists at the National Institutes of Health, international lawyers, business executives, and graduate students from around the world. Recently, she helped facilitate government discussions on international legal protections for minorities in Tanzania and developed a set of training materials for government groups working on reconciliation in Kenya (both with the Public International Law and Policy Group).

Before beginning her work in international peacebuilding, Melanie practiced as a bankruptcy lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Houston. She is on the board of the Institute of World Affairs. She served as board chair of Women in International Security and the Alliance for Peacebuilding and has sat on the boards of Dispute Resolution Magazine, Partners for Democratic Change, and the Lawyers Alliance for World Security. Melanie holds an AB from Harvard and a JD from Stanford Law School. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two teenagers.

Katie Hall is chief executive officer and co-chief investment officer of Hall Capital Partners LLC, which she founded in 1994. She is a member of the firm's Executive Committee and Investment Review Committee. Previously, Ms. Hall was a general partner of Laurel Arbitrage Partners, a risk arbitrage investment partnership that she founded in 1989. Prior to that, she was a general partner of HFS Management Partners (predecessor to Farallon Capital Partners), HFS Partners I, and Hellman & Friedman. Ms. Hall began her career at Morgan Stanley where she worked in both the risk arbitrage and mergers and acquisitions departments.

Currently, Ms. Hall is the chair of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and is a member of the Federal Reserve Banks's 12th District Economic Advisory Council. Additionally, she is a member of the Investment Committee of the Smithsonian Institution, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and serves on the Board of Directors of NextGen Climate Action, NextGen Climate America, and The San Jose Earthquakes, a professional major league soccer team.

Previously, she served as the chair of the Board of Directors of the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO) from 2008 to 2011 and as a director from 1998 to 2011. She also served on the boards of Juma Ventures, Larkin Street Youth Center, Mills College, San Francisco Ballet Association, San Francisco Day School, St. Ignatius College Preparatory, Stanford Management Company, Thacher School, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, as well as the board and investment committee of the UCSF Foundation. Additionally, she was a director of the American Century Mountain View Funds from 2002 to 2007.

Ms. Hall graduated cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in Economics and earned an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Frank F. Islam is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, civic leader and writer. Frank has a special commitment to civic, educational and artistic causes. In all of his endeavors, he strives to create opportunities that are sustainable and uplifting for humanity -- guided by the virtues of hard work, focus, quality, innovation and kindness.

Frank currently heads the FI Investment Group, a private investment holding company that he established in 2007 after he sold his information technology firm, the QSS Group. Frank founded the QSS Group in 1994 and built it from 1 employee to more than 2,000 employees.

Frank devotes the majority of time currently to a wide variety of civic and philanthropic activities. He serves and has served on numerous boards and advisory councils including the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2013 to 2019), Board of Directors of the Strathmore Center for the Arts (2008 to 2012), and the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts (2013 to present).

Mr. Islam serves as a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) National Advisory Board. He served as a member of the Advisory committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Mr. Islam serves as a member of the Department of Commerce Industry Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC). Mr. Islam serves as a member of the Maryland Governor’s International Advisory Council and on National Democratic Institute (NDI) Chairman’s Council. He also serves as a member of the advisory board of the University of Maryland Smith School of Business. Mr. Islam serves as a member of American University in the Emirates (AUE) of board of trustees and as a member of the George Mason University School of Management Dean’s Council.

Over the past several years, Frank has established a reputation as a writer and thought leader. He has authored two books: Working the Pivot Points: To Make America Work Again (2013); and, Renewing the American Dream: A Citizen’s Guide for Restoring Our Competitive Advantage (2010). He is presently writing a third book with the working title: Education: Creating and Connecting All the Dots.

Frank blogs regularly for The Huffington Post and also writes occasional columns and articles for publications such as the International Business Times and the Economic Times of India. He hosts his own TV show “Washington Current Review” on MHz Networks and is called upon to speak frequently in a variety of business, education and non-profit venues.

Frank was an active participant in the information technology, aerospace engineering services, and systems integration business for more than twenty-five years. During his professional career, he garnered multiple industry awards for leadership, entrepreneurship and excellence. He was recognized by the Ernst and Young as Maryland Entrepreneur of the Year and the US Small Business Administration selected him as the Small Business Person of the Year of the Washington DC Metropolitan Area in 2001.

Frank received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Computer Science from the University of Colorado.

Farooq Kathwari has served as the chairman, president and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. since 1988. Mr. Kathwari serves in numerous capacities at several nonprofit organizations, including as chairman emeritus of Refugees International (RI); a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR); a member of Board of Overseers of the International Rescue Committee (IRC); a member of the advisory board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); director emeritus and former chairman and president of the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA), and a director and former chairman of the National Retail Federation (NRF). He also serves on the boards of Western Connecticut State University Foundation and Arts Westchester. He founded and chairs the Kashmir Study Group. He served as a member of President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from 2010 to 2014.

He has received several recognitions, including being inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame; the Outstanding American by Choice award from the U.S. government; the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal; the National Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee; the National Retail Federation gold medal; the International First Freedom Award from the Council for America’s First Freedom; Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award; the Anti-Defamation League’s Humanitarian Award, and the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award from the National Association of Asian MBAs. He was also recognized by Worth magazine as one of 50 Best CEOs in the United States.

He received a BA in English Literature and Political Science from Kashmir University, Srinagar, Kashmir and an MBA in International Marketing from New York University. New York, NY. He has also received three honorary doctorate degrees.

Tom Korologos is a strategic advisor at DLA Piper, one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious law firms. He served as United States ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium from 2004 to 2007. In 2003 Ambassador Korologos was senior counselor to Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, Administrator, Office of Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad and in the Defense Department, Washington, D.C. He was also responsible for all CPA Congressional affairs including a key role in the passage of the President’s Iraq reconstruction supplemental budget request. Prior to going to Baghdad, from 1975 to 2003, Ambassador Korologos served as chairman of the executive committee and was co-founder of Timmons and Company, a Washington consulting firm. He served in the Nixon and Ford Administrations as deputy assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs (Senate). He also served nine years under Senator Wallace F. Bennett (R-UT). In 1980-1981 Ambassador Korologos served as director of Congressional Relations for President Ronald Reagan's transition and served both the Reagan and Bush Administrations as a volunteer assisting in various Senate confirmations. He also was director of Congressional Relations for the National Bipartisan (Kissinger) Commission on Central America. Ambassador Korologos has traveled extensively overseas as a member and chairman of the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, and from 1995 to 2002 as a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which has jurisdiction over all non-military US Government radio and TV broadcasting overseas. Earlier in his career, Ambassador Korologos was a journalist with The New York Herald Tribune, The Long Island Press, The Salt Lake Tribune and the Associated Press. Ambassador Korologos has attended every Republican National Convention since 1972, serving several times as Director of Official Proceedings. He was a senior advisor to Senator Dole during his 1996 Presidential bid. In 2001, he served in the Bush-Cheney transition and managed the confirmation of Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense as well as other nominees appointed by President Bush. Ambassador Korologos earned his B.A. at the University of Utah and his M.S. at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he received the Grantland Rice Fellowship and a Pulitzer Fellowship. He was born in 1933 in Salt Lake City, Utah and is married to Ann McLaughlin Korologos, former Secretary of Labor.

Marc Leland has served on the board of directors of the Institute of Peace and today plays a leadership role as chairman of the Institute’s International Advisory Council. As co-chairpersons of the design committee of the USIP building project, Marc and Jacqueline Leland played an important role in the selection of the architect and the approval of the initial design. Leland has served in the U.S. government as general counsel of the Peace Corps and Action, as a representative of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency to the force reduction talks in Vienna and as deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury Office of International Affairs. He has served as U.S. representative to the Paris Club, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and co-chairs of the U.S.-Saudi and U.S.-China joint economic commissions. He was also a director of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Inter-American Foundation. In the private sector, Leland has served as senior advisor to the Getty Trusts, and as director of many corporations including Avon, Zurich Financial Services, Global Asset Management, Kemper Investment Management, Caterair, Grove Atlantic Monthly Press, Noble Drilling, Strategic Investment Management and SG Warburg. He is co-chair of the German Marshall Fund, and is a member of Advisory Board of John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer.

Rafat (Ray) Mahmood moved from Pakistan to Alexandria, Virginia, in the early 1970s. With little money, he saved $5,000 to invest in a gas station in Alexandria. His hard work turned the business venture into a success, and he seized the opportunity to earn his real estate license and establish Mahmood Investment Corporation. Today he is president and CEO of the corporation. Mr. Mahmood rapidly expanded his enterprises into a broad array of developments. His projects have revitalized numerous locations, generating economic activity and creating jobs through his developments in the residential, hotel, and commercial sectors of the real estate industry. Mr. Rafat and his wife, Shaista, have made it their mission to bring people together to meet the challenges of U.S.-Pakistan relations. Mr. Rafat’s dedication to this important diplomatic work and his ability to unite people of many backgrounds have made him an indispensable presence in efforts to strengthen ties between America and South Asia. His official title, ambassador-at-large for Pakistan to the United States, with the status of minister, was given to him by Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the late Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto. Ray and Shaista Mahmood have turned their home into a hub of political discussion and hospitality. They have hosted numerous fundraisers for Pakistan-based organizations and international organizations that help the underprivileged.

Pat Mitchell’s diverse background in media includes work as a journalist, network correspondent, producer and executive. Throughout her career she has focused on the power of media and storytelling as an agent of social change; specifically, to celebrate and raise awareness of the work, ideas and aspirations of women and girls. She was the first woman to launch, produce and host her own nationally syndicated Emmy winning talk program “Woman to Woman.” As an independent producer she has documented women’s history as well as women on the frontlines of war, poverty and peacemaking. As President and Executive Producer in charge of original productions for Ted Turner’s cable networks, her documentaries and specials received thirty-seven Emmy Awards, five Peabody Awards, and two Academy Award nominations. Pat Mitchell became the first woman president and CEO of PBS, and served as president and CEO of the Paley Center for Media where she led the institution through an exciting rebranding effort and strengthened its public and industry programs and optimizing the convening power of a global constituency of media and technology leaders to explore the impact and influence of media. Among the new initiatives she launched at Paley, a series called Women@Paley which includes co-producing and co-hosting TEDWomen in partnership with the TED organization and producing/hosting SHE'S MAKING MEDIA, a series of interviews with outstanding women in media, arts and entertainment, broadcast on PBS. Mitchell is a founding member of VDAY, a global movement to end violence against women, a board member of Acumen Fund and a corporate director of AOL. She has been honored numerous times for her achievements, including the Women's Media Center Lifetime Achievement Award, given every year in her name.

John Norton Moore is the Walter L. Brown Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. He also directs the University’s Center for National Security Law and the Center for Oceans Law & Policy and was the Director of the Graduate Law Program at Virginia for more than twenty years. Viewed by many as the founder of the field of national security law, Professor Moore chaired the prestigious American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security for four terms. He is the author or editor of over 45 books and over 180 scholarly articles. He served for two decades on the editorial board of the American Journal of International Law and is currently an honorary editor of the Journal, in addition to serving on the editorial board of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Law Institute (Life Member), the American Society of International Law, the Order of the Coif, Phi Beta Kappa, and numerous other professional and honorary organizations. In addition to his scholarly career, Professor Moore has a distinguished record of public service. Among seven Presidential appointments, he has served two terms as the Senate-confirmed chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace and, as the first chairman, set up the organization. He also served as the counselor on International Law to the Department of State, and as ambassador and deputy special representative of the President to the Law of the Sea Conference, chairman of the NSC Interagency Task Force on the Law of the Sea, and as a member of the United States’ legal team before the International Court of Justice in the Gulf of Maine and Nicaragua cases. Professor Moore served as a member of the Director of Central Intelligence’s Historical Review Board from 1998-2002. In the recent past, he has served as a consultant to both the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He has also been a member of the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere, the United States Delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Presidential Delegation of the United States to observe the elections in El Salvador. In 1990, he served, with the Associate Attorney-General of the United States, as the Co-Chairman of the United States-USSR talks on the Rule of Law. He also served as the legal advisor to the Kuwait Representative to the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Boundary Demarcation Commission. Currently he is also a consultant to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society.

Andre is a private investor. He serves as the Executive Chairman of C5 Partners, a specialist technology investment company. He also serves as the Deputy Chairman of the Advisory Council of Cranemere Inc, a permanent capital industrial investment company.

He founded and served as the Group CEO of the Good Governance Group (G3) (2004-2014), a consulting firm that advises global companies and international law firms on foreign direct investment, compliance and cybersecurity.

He serves as a trustee of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, a charity focused on wildlife conservation. Andre is also a Council Member of the African Union Foundation, a charitable organisation emerging from the African Union which works to mobilise domestic resources for Africa’s development. Andre is Founder and Chairman of the Leadership Technology Centre, a charitable organisation which aims to facilitate the provision of technologies and services to community and charity leaders.

Andre is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa.

Stephen Rademaker heads the international practice of the Podesta Group, a Washington-based public affairs firm.  He also serves as National Security Project Advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center. He came to these positions following a long career in public service in all three branches of government.  Among his accomplishments in public service, he had lead responsibility, as a House staffer, for drafting the legislation that created the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as well as a variety of bills promoting the enlargement of NATO, peace in the Balkans, and combatting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Serving as an Assistant Secretary of State from 2002 through 2006, Stephen headed at various times three bureaus of the State Department, including the Bureau of Arms Control and the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.  He directed the Proliferation Security Initiative, as well as nonproliferation policy toward Iran and North Korea, and led strategic dialogues with Russia, China, India and Pakistan. He also headed U.S. delegations to the 2005 Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the 2003 Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the 2002 Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention, and many other international conferences.

Stephen concluded his career on Capitol Hill in 2007, serving as Senior Counsel and Policy Director for National Security Affairs for then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN). In this role, Stephen helped manage all aspects of the legislative process relating to foreign policy, defense, intelligence and national security. He earlier served as Chief Counsel for the House Select Committee on Homeland Security of the U.S. House of Representatives and for nearly ten years on the staff of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, including as Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel.

During President George H. W. Bush’s administration, Stephen served as General Counsel of the Peace Corps, Associate Counsel to the President in the Office of White House Counsel, and as Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council.  After leaving government in 2007, Stephen continued to serve as the U.S. representative on the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, and he was subsequently appointed by House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to the U.S. Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

He has a B.A., a J.D., and an M.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and is the father of four children.

Mr. Charles S. Robb serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees of The MITRE Corporation. He first joined the board in 2001, was elected vice chairman in 2006, and became chairman in 2014. Previously, he served as Virginia's 64th Governor (1982 to 1986), following a term as Lieutenant Governor (1978 to 1982). He later served as a United States Senator (1989 to 2001), before joining the faculty of George Mason University (GMU) as a Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy. While in the Senate, he became the first member ever to serve simultaneously on all three national security committees (Intelligence, Armed Services, and Foreign Relations). He also served on the Finance, Commerce, and Budget Committees. Before becoming a member of Congress, Mr. Robb chaired the Southern Governors' Association, the Democratic Governors' Association, the Education Commission of the States, the Democratic Leadership Council, Jobs for America's Graduates, the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors, and the Virginia Forum on Education. He also served as president of the Council of State Governments. During the 1960s, he served on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1991. He began as the Class Honor Graduate from Marine Officers Basic School in 1961 and ended up as head of the principal recruiting program for Marine officers in 1970. In between, he served in both the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, and his assignments included duty as a military social aide at the White House and command of an infantry company in combat in Vietnam. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia (U.Va.) in 1973, clerked for Judge John D. Butzner, Jr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals, and practiced law with Williams and Connolly prior to his election to state office. Between his state and federal service, he was a partner at Hunton and Williams. Since leaving the Senate in 2001, he has served as chairman of the Board of Visitors at the United States Naval Academy; co-chairman (with Sr. Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals) of the President's Commission on Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD); and co-chairman (with former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton) of a major landowner's alliance formed to help finance the extension of Metrorail to Tysons Corner and Dulles Airport. He has also been a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board; the Secretary of State's International Security Advisory Board (chairman, WMD-Terrorism Task Force); the FBI Director's Advisory Board; the Iraq Study Group; the Critical Incident Analysis Group; and the Afghanistan Study Group. He was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University and at the Marshall Wythe School of Law at William & Mary. He also served on the Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force on Pakistan and Afghanistan and the boards of the Space Foundation; the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy; and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He is currently a co-chairman of the Aspen Institute/Rockefeller Commission to Reform the Presidential Appointments Process and a member of the Center for Infrastructure Protection Advisory Board; the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress Advisory Board; the Robertson Foundation Advisory Board; the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy Advisory Board at U.Va.; and the Homeland Security Policy Institute Advisory Board at George Washington University. He also serves on the boards of the Bipartisan Policy Center (co-chairman of the Iranian Nuclear Development Task Force); the Concord Coalition; the Pew/Peterson Foundation's Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; the Research Strategies Network; the National Museum for Americans in Wartime; Strategic Partnerships LLP; GMU's Critical Infrastructure Protection Program; and works on occasional advisory projects with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In 2010, he was appointed as an independent director on the board of the Invacare Corporation. He is married to Lynda Johnson Robb. They have three daughters and three grandchildren.

David J. Rothkopf is CEO and editor of the FP Group, where he oversees all editorial, publishing, event and other operations of the company, publishers of Foreign Policy Magazine. He is also the president and CEO of Garten Rothkopf, an international advisory company specializing in global political risk, energy, resource, technology and emerging markets issues based in Washington, DC. In addition, Mr. Rothkopf is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, chairman of the National Strategic Investment Dialogue and serves or has recently served as a member of the advisory boards of the Center for Global Development, the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is the author of numerous books including most recently "Power, Inc.,” "Superclass" and "Running the World." His next book, “National Insecurity” will be published in October, 2014. He writes a weekly column for Foreign Policy, a regular column for CNN and is a frequent contributor to leading newspapers, magazines including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, CNN, Newsweek, Time, and many others. Previously he served as CEO of Intellibridge Corporation, Managing Director of Kissinger Associates and later as both U.S. deputy under secretary of Commerce for International Trade and as acting under secretary in which capacity he directed the activities of the 2400 person International Trade Administration during the Clinton Administration.

Antonio J. Soave is the current chairman and CEO of Capistrano Global Advisory Services ("CGA"). In this capacity he has assisted myriad businesses to expand their operations abroad, establish joint ventures and conduct acquisitions on a global scale. He has done so in a number of business sectors including, but not limited to, the following: infrastructure, rail, construction, oil & gas, automotive, agriculture, biotech, high-tech and heavy manufacturing. He is also active in business restructuring and foreign capital / equity financing, as well as corporate turn-around activities. His geographic areas of competence and specialization are the Middle East, Europe and South America. In 2008 and the beginning of 2009, and while operating CGA, Antonio served as the chairman and executive director of the School of Business at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. While at Benedictine, he created the first ever International Business Advisory Council (I-BAC) comprised of twenty-five (25) high-level business and financial leaders from around the globe. He was also the founder of the Journal of International Business and the creator of the Global Financial Summit (GFS) that was held on the campus of the Benedictine College in April of 2009. Its objective was to proactively avert another global financial crisis. Antonio is the Immediate Past Chairman of the International Business Council (IBC), a national/international non-profit organization that promotes a mission of "peace through commerce." The IBC mentors students at the University of Notre Dame, University of San Diego and Benedictine College. Antonio is also the founder and former CEO of RGI International, a boutique investment banking and marketing consulting firm with offices in the U.S., Europe and South America. Antonio was responsible for guiding RGI for over a decade, and he became a leader in the consolidation of large manufacturing facilities around the globe. In 1998, Antonio teamed up with the WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort to create the World Youth Soccer Academy™ at Disney's Wide World of Sports® Complex. This was a four-year operation that led to the creation of a worldwide youth soccer camp, as well as a children's television program, a line of sports gear for kids, and an Internet portal for international understanding. Due to his extensive writing in law school, Antonio later became known as a prolific writer, analyst and business/political commentator on issues concerning international business transactions and foreign affairs. He is the author of various articles, journals, screenplays and novellas. His works include: The Journal of International Law and Practice (4 volumes), My Beloved Croatia (political biography), Doing Business in Brazil, Restoring Wealth and Qatar 2022. During the early years of his professional career, Antonio was an adjunct professor of international economics and finance at the Walsh College of Business in Troy, Michigan. He was also an intern at The White House in the Office of Public Liaison's Department of Foreign Policy and Defense under President Ronald Reagan. While at The White House he worked on issues such as the political transition in Nicaragua, the plight of the "captive nations" (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), and the resolution of conflicts in Angola and Mozambique. In the late '90's, Antonio received an honorary "knighthood" from the Antiche Tradizioni Veronesi in Verona, Italy for his work in improving business relations between Italy and the United States. Antonio has a B.A. in International Studies from The American University in Washington, D.C., a Juris Doctor from the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University, and a LLM (Masters of Law) in International Law from the University of San Diego. He is a former high school All-American athlete in the sport of soccer and he plays ice hockey as a hobby.

Charles Duryea Smith IV has worked for universities, non-profits, the federal government, and the United States Institute of Peace.

With Senator Spark M. Matsunaga, chairman of the presidential Commission on Proposals for the National Academy of Peace and Conflict Resolution, he wrote the final report, which included the US Institute of Peace Act. Hired by the USIP board as general counsel, he helped develop the original programs, created the endowment, and established the rule of law initiative. He wrote the introduction to the Institute’s ground-breaking 3-volume publication, Transitional Justice.

He was a staff member of two additional presidential commissions: the Hesburgh commission on immigration and refugee policy and the commission on Japanese-American internment. He was a Peace Corps volunteer and, much later, the Peace Corps inspector general. As IG, he managed a professional staff of auditors, program evaluators, and investigators; submitted over 300 reports to the director and semi-annual reports to Congress; and testified on agency issues.

His publications include The Hundred Percent Challenge: Building a National Institute of Peace; Ratification of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (with John Norton Moore, used in Senate ratification); Right to Counsel in Criminal Cases: The Mandate of Argersinger v. Hamlin (with Sheldon Krantz); Employer Sanctions and Other Labor Market Restrictions on Alien Employment (with Juan Mendez); and Information Management … for Migration Systems, Data Standards, and Process Improvement (editor, National Academy of Public Administration’s report to the Department of Defense).

He is a graduate of Phillips Academy (Andover), has degrees from Oberlin College, BA, Washington University, MA (English literature), and Boston University law school, JD, and did graduate work at Harvard law school

Gillian Sorensen is a 2014 fellow in Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative. Prior to that, she had a long career with the United Nations. From 1997-2003 she was assistant secretary-general for External Relations on appointment by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, responsible for outreach to NGOs and academic, religious and political leaders and others committed to peace, justice, development and human rights. From 1993-1996 she was special advisor for Public Policy to Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali where she led the planning of the UN's 50th anniversary and coordinated the UN50 Summit. She is an experienced public speaker and often represented the UN in this country and abroad addressing audiences as diverse as Rotary International, the Air Force Academy, university students and faculty, and leaders of civil society. Ms. Sorensen served the United Nations Foundation from 2003-2023 as national advocate/senior advisor delivering more than 800 presentations to audiences both expert and new to UN matters. The Foundation was launched by CNN founder Ted Turner to assist, support and partner with the UN and others in the promotion and protection of peace. She earlier served as New York City Commissioner for the United Nations and Consular Corps on appointment by Mayor Edward I Koch where she led the city's liaison office with the world's largest diplomatic corps. Responsibilities included matters related to diplomatic security and immunity, housing and education and other business and cultural contacts between the host city and over 30,000 diplomats. Known for her skills as a consensus builder and negotiator, she was described by the New York Times as the "Diplomat's Diplomat." Gillian Sorensen is a graduate of Smith College and studied at the Sorbonne. In 2002 she was a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School Institute of Politics. She serves on the Board of the International Rescue Committee and the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Women's Foreign Policy Group and the Women's Forum. She has been honored for her work by the UN Ambassadors; the New York Consular Corps; Rotary International; the United Nations Association; the International Chamber of Commerce; the New York Bar Association and Roots of Peace, an honor presented at the US State Department. In addition to her public service, she has been active in politics and was a delegate to three national Presidential conventions. She is the widow of the late Theodore C. Sorensen, attorney, writer and Special Counsel to President John F. Kennedy.

Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, a writer, activist, and television interviewer and producer, is known for her involvement in the fields of art, design, architecture and public policy. She has held public positions in the US, including director of the Department of Cultural Affairs in New York City, on the board of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and as a Commissioner of the American Battle Monuments Commission. Diamonstein-Spielvogel was a White House Assistant, and help create the White House Fellows and the Presidential Scholars Program. She was the first Director of Cultural Affairs in New York City, and was the longest serving Landmarks Commissioner, serving under four New York City Mayors. She has also served as a Member of the NYC Cultural Affairs Commission, where she was Chair/Founder of the Mayor's Awards of Arts and Culture, and was a Commissioner on the NYC Art Commission (now the Public Design Commission). She is currently the Chair of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center and the NYC Landmarks50 Alliance, and the Vice Chair of the N.Y. State Council on the Arts. In September 2013, she was elected a Democratic National Committeewoman from New York State for a four-year term. Diamonstein-Spielvogel was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the Board of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she served as Chair of the subcommittee that commissioned all of the original art created for the museum. In 1992, she was appointed to the United States Commission of Fine Arts by President Bill Clinton, and was the first woman Vice Chair of the CFA. Since 1995, Diamonstein-Spielvogel has been the Chair of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center (HLPC), creating a Cultural Medallion program documenting notable occurrences, distinguished individuals and other important aspects of New York City’s cultural, economic, political and social history. Among other programs, the HLPC initiated, created, designed and financed all of the terra cotta street signs in each of New York City's Historic Districts. In 2012, she became the Chair of NYC Landmarks50, a group collaborating to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the New York City Landmarks Law. She was a founding board member of the High Line, a disused elevated rail line, which has been transformed into a mile-long public park. President Barack Obama named her a Commissioner of the American Battle Monuments Commission, which has responsibilities related to the design, construction, and maintenance of military memorials throughout the world. In 2010, Diamonstein-Spielvogel was appointed a director of the Trust for the National Mall in Washington D.C. In July 2013, she was named to lead the American delegation in Busan, Korea and was the keynote speaker at the ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War, attended by leaders and veterans of 21 participant nations. Diamonstein-Spielvogel served as an interviewer/producer for seven television series about the arts, architecture, design, crafts, and public policy for the Arts & Entertainment Network, and other programs for national networks including CBS and NBC. Nearly two hundred of her television interviews are now available on iTunes U and YouTube, digitized by the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Video Archive at Duke University. Diamonstein-Spielvogel has also been a contributing author to publications including The New York Times, Vogue, Ladies Home Journal, Harper's Bazaar, the Partisan Review, Art News, and many others.

Richard C. “Rip” Sullivan, Jr. is a shareholder at the law firm of Bean, Kinney & Korman, practicing in the area of commercial litigation. He has represented clients in Virginia and federal courts for nearly thirty years.

Rip represents a wide variety of clients including banks, construction and real estate firms, technology companies, government contractors and nonprofits.

In addition to his law practice, Rip is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 48th District. He is also active in numerous community, civic and professional organizations. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Rip led the national organization which successfully lobbied Congress and the White House to create the U.S. Institute of Peace.

He lives in McLean, Virginia with his wife Beth.  They have four grown children.

M. Mary Green Swig is president and CEO of Mary Green Enterprises, a trendsetter in the design and manufacture of men’s and women’s silk apparel. She has earned many prestigious design and fashion awards, including such honors as her recent selection as one of the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World. In 1985 she extended her collections to include a men's line, known as Mansilk. She has been the recipient of several industry awards for design excellence. Mrs. Swig has traveled extensively, specializing in Asia, and is regarded as an expert on trade in China. She co-authored the bestselling book, How to Be an Importer and Pay for Your World Travel. Mrs. Swig serves on the board of The Stephen Stills Foundation and the Solar Electric Light Fund, and is a past member of the board of the American Oceans Campaign. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.

Steven L. Swig, Esq., is cofounder and president emeritus of Presidio World College, a business school offering an MBA program in sustainable management. He serves as chairman of the board of both the Swig Company, a multifaceted real estate firm, and Mary Green Enterprises, a men's furnishings and women's lingerie design and manufacturing company. Mr. Swig serves on wide range of boards, including those of the American Conservatory Theater, the American Himalayan Foundation, the American Jewish Committee, the Solar Electric Light Fund, the Americans for Cures Foundation (promoting advocacy for stem cell research), the Stephen Stills Foundation, the American Associates of Ben Gurion University, and the Tech Museum of Innovation. Mr. Swig is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of Santa Clara School of Law. Formerly with the law office of Joseph Alioto, he was partner and managing director of Titchell, Maltzman & Mark; executive vice-president of Swig, Weiler & Dinner Development Co.; and of counsel with Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin.

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is president emeritus and University Professor of Public Service at The George Washington University. He served as GW’s 15th president for nearly two decades, from 1988 to 2007. Trachtenberg came to GW from the University of Hartford, where he had been president for 11 years. He also held positions as vice president and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Boston University, and served as the special assistant to the U.S. Education Commissioner, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He is a partner of Korn/Ferry International. Trachtenberg is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Phi Beta Kappa, the Bankinter Foundation in Madrid and the Ditchley Foundation in England. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Trachtenberg has published six books: Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail And How to Prevent It published by Johns Hopkins University Press; BMOC: A University President Speaks Out on Higher Education published by Simon and Schuster’s Touchstone Press; Write Me A Letter: The Wit and Wisdom of Stephen Joel Trachtenberg; Reflections on Higher Education; Thinking Out Loud: A Decade of Thoughts on Higher Education; and Speaking His Mind: Five Years of Commentary on Higher Education. He is co-editor of two books: The Art of Hiring in America's Colleges & Universities and Letters to the Next President, published by The Korn/Ferry Institute. Trachtenberg has served on numerous boards such as the DC Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trade and the Federal City Council. He was a member of the Board of the Loctite Corporation, MNC and Riggs Banks. Trachtenberg chaired the Rhodes Scholarships Selection Committee for Maryland, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University, Juris Doctor from Yale University, and Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University. In addition, he holds 20 honorary doctoral degrees, including a Doctor of Laws from his alma mater, Columbia University. Trachtenberg and his wife, Francine Zorn Trachtenberg, have two sons and four grandchildren.

Wayne H. Valis is the founder and president of Valis Associates, an independent public policy consulting and advocacy company, working with trade and professional  associations, corporations, public interest groups, the White House, Executive Branch agencies, and Members of Congress to create and manage coalition efforts on the environment, expanded international trade, and regulatory process streamlining.

Mr. Valis has an unsurpassed knowledge of the inner workings of the White House and U.S. Executive Branch.  Prior to founding Valis Associates in 1983, Valis personally served three U.S. Presidents: Nixon, Ford, and Reagan.  From 1981-83, he served as Special Assistant to President Reagan for liaison with business, working on the Economic Recovery Program. In addition, he assisted then-Vice President George Bush on regulatory reform issues. 

From 1973-74, Valis was Staff Assistant to President Nixon, working first on the Domestic Policy Council and later with the Watergate defense team. From 1974-77, he was Director of Planning and Research, Office of Public Liaison, for President Ford.

Prior to 1972, Valis was the editor of The Intercollegiate Review, a scholarly journal published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) in Wilmington, Delaware.  In 1984, he was elected to ISI’s Board of Trustees, and served as Vice Chairman of the Board and Chairman of its Finance Committee.

Additionally, Valis has written numerous articles and reviews as well as two books, The Future under President Reagan and The Lincoln Magna Carta: an Icon of Freedom for the Twenty First Century.

J. Robinson West is a senior adviser with CSIS Energy and National Security Program. The former chairman and founder of PFC Energy (1984-2013), he has advised chief executives of leading national and international oil and gas companies on corporate strategy, portfolio management, acquisitions, divestitures, and investor relations.

Before founding PFC Energy in 1984, Mr. West served in the Reagan administration as assistant secretary of the interior for policy, budget, and administration (1981-1983), with responsibility for U.S. offshore oil policy. His duties included preparation of the department's $6-billion budget and general administrative oversight of its 75,000 employees. He conceived and implemented the five-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing schedule and managed the $14-billion per year OCS policy, the largest nonfinancial auction in the world at that time. Between 1977 and 1980, Mr. West was a first vice president of Blyth, Eastman, Dillon & Co., Inc., an investment banking firm. Prior to that, he served in the Ford administration as deputy assistant secretary of defense for international economic affairs (1976-1977) and on the White House staff (1974-1976). In 1976, he received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Civilian Service.

Mr. West has served on many government boards and commissions in several administrations. In 2003 and again in 2008, he was nominated by the president to be a director of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and was confirmed by the Senate. In 2004, he was elected chairman of the USIP Board. He has served as vice chairman of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, as a trustee of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Liability Fund, and as a member of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, the Industry Policy Advisory Committee on Multilateral Trade Negotiations, and the National Advisory Committee on Handicapped Children. Currently, he is cochairman of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a board member of the Center for the National Interest, and on the Board of Advisors of the National Interest Magazine. He is also a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Council on Foreign Relations.

In addition, he is president of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art. Mr. West received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a J.D. from Temple University, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.

Nancy Zirkin is the executive vice president for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation’s oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, consisting of nearly 200 national organizations. While Zirkin officially joined the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in 2002, she has been a part of its various lobby efforts, including task forces on education reform, hate crimes, affirmative action and judicial nominations, since the 1990s. During the mid-1970s, Zirkin worked at several public interest organizations, including Common Cause and the Women's Equity Action League, but gained significant experience at the American Association of University Women (AAUW) where she became director of public policy and government relations. She distinguished herself there by rising to chief lobbyist and managing the coordination of the Equal Rights Amendment, Women's Vote Project and Civil Rights Act of 1991. Under Zirkin's leadership, along with Wade Henderson, president of LCCR, and Karen McGill Lawson, president of LCCREF, LCCR has grown to nearly four times its originally 10-person size, creating the infrastructure necessary to support the organization's growing institutional needs.