Conference Speaker Biographies
Dr. Alexei Arbatov
Alexei Arbatov, Scholar-in-Residence at the Carnegie Moscow Centre, is a specialist on nonproliferation. Since 2001 he has been Vice Chairman of the YABLOKO party. He has held such significant posts as Academician and Professor at the Academy of Defense, Security and Policy of Russia and continues to act as Head of the Center for International Security of the Institute for International Economy and International Relationships of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was also Vice Chair of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Duma. His latest publication was the very well received exegesis Beyond Nuclear Deterrence: Transforming the U.S. -Russian Equation (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006).
Dr. Jacques Attali
Jacques Attali served as adviser to French President, François Mitterrand, between 1981 and 1991. Jacques Attali is founder and president of the micro-credit platform PlaNet Finance which promotes the alleviation of poverty through investment in the development of the micro-finance sector. In 1991, he was appointed as the first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He was recently appointed by President Sarkozy to Chair the Commission to Promote French Growth which produced a much debated report on France and globalization.
The Hon. Emma Bonino
Emma Bonino is Vice President of the Italian Senate and former Member of the European Parliament. Until 2007 she was Minister for Trade and European Affairs for the government of Prime Minister Prodi. Between 1994 and 1999, she was E.U. Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs. A leading voice on human rights and Europe's responsibility abroad, she has been particularly involved on issues related to the Middle East and Afghanistan. She is a Member of the Board of both the International Crisis Group and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE).
Elmar Brok
Elmar Brok is a Member of the European Parliament for the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU). He has been in office since 1980 and is currently a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a substitute member of the Constitutional Affairs Committee and a member of the delegation for relations with the United States. Elmar Brok is foreign affairs co-ordinator of the European People's Party (EPP) and member of the EPP-bureau. He was the Parliament's main Rapporteur on Enlargement and is today Rapporteur for the EU's enlargement strategy and the European Diplomatic Action Service. During the intergovernmental conferences on the Lisbon Treaty as well as for the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Treaty of Nice and the EU Constitution he was the European Parliament's representative.
Dr. Tom Burke
Founding Director of E3G, a sustainable development think tank, and Environment Policy Adviser at RioTinto, Tom Burke has been a professional environmentalist for over 30 years. He was formerly Executive Director of Friends of the Earth and has been a member of the Executive Committee of the European Environmental Bureau. In 1993, the United Nations Environment Program added him to their 'Global 500' roll of honor in recognition of his achievements.
Robert Cooper
Robert Cooper has been Director-General for External and Politico-Military Affairs at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union since 2002 where he has aided in the development and implementation of European security and defense policy. He previously served as Special Adviser on Foreign Affairs to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He is author of The Breaking of Nations (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2004), and is an acclaimed commentator on global and strategic challenges facing the E.U..
Professor Michael Cox
Michael Cox is Co-Director of IDEAS, a Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Associate Research Fellow at Chatham House and Chair of the United States Discussion Group at the Royal Institute of Affairs. His main area of expertise is in U.S. foreign policy and grand strategy but he is also a well respected commentator on British and E.U. foreign policy, especially with regards to transatlantic relations. His most recent publication was U.S. Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press, 2008), co-edited with Doug Stokes is already regarded as the most comprehensive text book on U.S. foreign policy.
Gregory B. Craig
Gregory B.Craig, Partner at Williams & Connolly LLP, is currently serving as foreign policy adviser to Senator Barack Obama. In his legal career he has recently represented the former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan with regards to the Volcker investigation into the UN's Oil-for-Food program. He also served as Counsel to former U.S. President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings. Outside of his role with Williams & Connolly LLP, Gregory B. Craig has served in government as Assistant to the President and Special Counsel between 1998 and 1999, Director of Policy Planning at the United States State Department between 1997 and 1998 and as a Senior Adviser on Defense, Foreign Policy and National Security to Senator Edward Kennedy.
Peter David
Peter David, now Foreign Editor of The Economist, has worked with the newspaper since 1984. His specialist subjects include the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Middle East. He has held a wide variety of posts whilst working with the newspaper, making him an in demand voice on current affairs.
Thérèse Delpech
Thérèse Delpech is one of France's most prominent thinkers on foreign policy and security and author of Savage Century (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2007) and Iran and the Bomb (Columbia University Press, 2007). She is currently serving as Director for Strategic Studies with the Atomic Energy Commission of France and senior research fellow at Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (CERI). In 1999, she chaired the UN Advisory Board for Disarmament Matters and is currently French Commissioner to the UN for the disarmament of Iraq and a member of the council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) as well as of RAND Europe's Advisory Board.
Dr. Kemal Dervis
Kemal Dervis is the Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and chair of the United Nations Development Group. During his time with the World Bank, 1977 to 2001, he held the position of Director for the Central Europe Department. He was widely credited with Turkey's revival after the 2001 economic crisis, having served as Turkey's Minister of Economic Affairs during the aftermath. His book, General Equilibrium Models for Development Policy (Cambridge University Press, 1982), is regarded as an essential contribution to the study of development economics.
Dr. Robert Kagan
Robert Kagan is a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and foreign policy adviser to Senator John McCain. Regarded as one of the foremost commentators on the U.S. role in the world, his most recent book, The Return of History and the End of Dreams (Knopf, 2008), as well as his other publications, including Of Paradise and Power (Knopf, 2003) have achieved both academic and popular acclaim. His previous book, Dangerous Nation: America's Place in the World from its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the 20th Century, (Knopf, 2006), was the winner of the 2008 Lepgold Prize and a 2007 finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize.
Bobo Lo
Bobo Lo is a noted Russia expert. He has been the Director of the Russia and China programs with the Center for European Reform (CER) since March 2008. Prior to his role with the CER, he worked in a similar position at Chatham House and as a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Moscow Center. He has also served as the Deputy head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Moscow. This year, he published Axis of Convenience: Moscow, Beijing and the New Geo-Politics.
Tony Long
Tony Long is Director of the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) European policy office in Brussels. He is a member of several advisory boards and councils, including those of the European Policy Council (EPC), the University of East Anglia and Dow Chemical USA. Prior to his current position, he served as a Policy Advisor to WWF-UK, Assistant Director to the Council for the Protection of Rural England and as a Staff Assistant at the US Congress and Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association.
The Rt. Hon. Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson is the E.U. Commissioner for External Trade. A key figure in U.K. politics, he served as Secretary for Trade and Industry and Secretary for Northern Ireland in successive Blair governments. He played a leading role in the emergence of New Labour and the landslide victory of the Labour Party in 1997. Mandelson is also the Honorary Chair of the British think tank Policy Network.
Dr. Jessica Tuchman Mathews
Jessica Tuchman Mathews has been President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace since 1997. Previously, her career has involved posts in both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. administration. She was a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and served as Director of the Council's Washington Program. Prior to that she was Director of the Office of Global Issues of the National Security Council. She has also had a journalistic career which saw her serve on the editorial board of the Washington Post. She also founded the World Resources Institute (WRI), a leading environmental think-tank.
Michael A. McFaul
Michael A. McFaul is a Senior Associate with the Carnegie Endowment as well as a Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Foundation and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. McFaul is advisor to the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign. He is also a Senior Advisor to the National Democratic Institute (CDI). In 2001, he published Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin.
Zanny Minton-Beddoes
Zanny Minton-Beddoes, Economics Editor for The Economist, has served as an economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has collaborated with Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs as an adviser to the Minister of Finance for Poland. She has written a number of articles, papers and contributed chapters to edited volumes as well as editing Emerging Asia (Asia Development Bank, 1997).
The Hon. Douglas H. Paal
Douglas H. Paal is the Carnegie Endowment Vice President for Studies and Director of the China Program. He was previously the Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, founder and director of the Asia Pacific Policy Center (APPC) and was a Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to President George H.W. Bush and Senior Director for Asian Affairs on the National Security Council. He has also worked as a state policy planning specialist and as a senior analyst for the CIA.
The Hon. George A. Papandreou
Formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greece, George A. Papandreou is currently Member of Parliament for the First District of Salonika and President of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PA.SO.K), the left-of-center Greek Opposition Party. He was a key figure in the resolution of the Balkans War and the founding member of the Lagonisi Initiative on Cooperation in the Balkans. He continues to be regarded as one of the world's most outstanding diplomats. He is also the founding member of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, Member of the Advisory Board for the Cambridge Foundation for Peace and Vice-President of the Olympic Truce Center.
George Perkovich
George Perkovich is Vice President for Studies-Global Security and Economic Development and Director of the Nonproliferation Program at the Carnegie Endowment where he also oversees the South Asia Project and the Trade, Equity, and Development Program. In 1999, he published the award-winning book India's Nuclear Bomb (University of California Press, 2001) and has been a key voice in the nonproliferation debate since. Perkovich served as a speechwriter and Foreign Policy Adviser to Senator Joe R. Biden Jr. from 1989 to 1990.
Vicky Pryce
Vicky Pryce is the Director General, Economics and Chief Economic Adviser at BERR (The Department for Buiness Enterprise & Regulatory Reform of the UK) as well as the Joint Head of the UK Government Economic Service. She is also a fellow of the Society of Businss Economists. Prior to her current posts, she was Partner at London Economics, Partner and Cheif Economist at the accountancy and consultancy firm KPMG, Corporate Econimst at ESSO Europe and Chief Economist at Williams& Glyn's Bank (later the Royal Bank of Scotland). She is a noted commentator on Economics.
Gianni Riotta
Gianni Riotta is one of Italy's most respected journalists and has been the Director of TG1, the main evening news journal on the public broadcaster RAI TV since September 2006. Before RAI TV, he worked as a correspondent for such notable publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde, and Foreign Policy and served as co-editor of La Stampa. He served much of his time as a correspondent in foreign countries, including a considerable amount of time in the U.S. where he studied at Columbia University.
Karim Sadjadpour
Karim Sadjadpour joined The Carnegie Endowment as an associate after four years serving as the Chief Iran Analyst at the International Crisis Group, working between Tehran, London and Berlin. He is a leading researcher on Iran, a regular commentator on BBC World and CNN, and has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The International Herald Tribune. In 2007, he gave a testimony on Iran to the U.S. Congress and has recently published a portrait of Iran's supreme leader Reading Khameinei (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2007). Sadjadpour was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Phillip Stephens
Associate Editor of The Financial Times and Senior Commentator, Phill Stephens is a well known author, commentator and broadcaster. Before joining The Financial Times, he worked as a correspondent for Reuters in London and Brussels. He is the author of Politics and the Pound and Tony Blair.
Dr. Ashley J. Tellis
Ashley J. Tellis is a Senior Associate with the Carnegie Endowment, specializing in nonproliferation, U.S. foreign policy, and U.S. national security, South Asia, India, Pakistan and China. He recently advised the U.S. Department of State on the new U.S.-India nuclear deal. Previously he was commissioned into the Foreign Service and served as Senior Adviser to the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. He also served on the National Security Council staff as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Strategic Planning and Southwest Asia. He published the works India's Emerging Nuclear Posture (RAND Corporation, 2001) and Interpreting China's Grand Strategy: Past, Present and Future with Michael Swaine (RAND Corporation, 2000).
Dr. Dmitri Trenin
Deputy Director and Senior Associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center, Dmitri Trenin, is an expert on Russia's foreign and security policy. He co-chairs the Carnegie Moscow Center's Foreign and Security Policy Program. A former military officer in the Soviet Army, he has held posts such as that of senior research fellow with the NATO Defense College in Rome and, additionally, with the Institute of Europe (Russian Academy of Sciences). He is a noted commentator on Russian foreign policy and its re-emergence and published Getting Russia Right (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) in 2007.
Professor Laurence Tubiana
Laurence Tubiana is the Director for the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). She served as Senior Adviser for the environment to former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. She is currently a member of the board of International Institute on Food and Policy Research (IFPRI) and of Centre International de recherches sur l'Agriculture et le Développement (CIRAD). The depth and extent of her experience make her one of the most significant contributors to the climate change debate in Europe.
The Hon. Pawel Zalewski
Pawel Zalewski was Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Polish Parliament from 2005 to 2007 as well as deputy leader of the ruling Law and Justice party. He continues to be a member of the Sejm. From 2002 to 2003, he sat on the executive board of the administrative region of Mazovia. Before embarking on a career in politics, he was an activist of the Polish anticommunist opposition and ran the opposing underground press.