Michael Wahid Hanna is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. He works on issues of international security, international law, and U.S. foreign policy in the broader Middle East and South Asia. He recently served as a co-director of The Century Foundation's International Task Force on Afghanistan, co-chaired by Thomas Pickering and Lakhdar Brahimi. He has published widely on U.S. foreign policy in newspapers and journals, including articles in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, the New Republic, and World Policy Journal, among other publications, and is a frequent contributor to Foreign Policy. He appears regularly on NPR, BBC, and al-Jazeera. He served as a consultant for Human Rights Watch in Baghdad in 2008. Prior to joining The Century Foundation, Hanna was a senior fellow at the International Human Rights Law Institute. From 1999 to 2004, Hanna practiced corporate law with the New York law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Fluent in Arabic, he was a Fulbright Scholar at Cairo University. He received a J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Law Review. Hanna is a term-member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Nader Hashemi
Nader Hashemi is the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and an Associate Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He obtained his doctorate from the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto and previously was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University and a Visiting Assistant Professor at the UCLA Global Institute. His intellectual and research interests lie at the intersection of comparative politics and political theory, in particular debates on religion and democracy, secularism and its discontents, Middle East and Islamic politics, democratic and human rights struggles in non-Western societies and Islam-West relations. He is the author of Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies (Oxford University Press, 2009) and co-editor of The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future (Melville House, 2011) and the newly released book The Syria Dilemma (MIT Press, 2013). He is frequently interviewed by PBS, NPR, CNN, Pacifica Radio, Al Jazeera and the BBC, among other media outlets
Reza Aslan
Dr. Reza Aslan will return to the podium of the Colorado Foothills World Affairs by popular demand. Dr. Aslan, an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar on the Middle East, enthralled our membership a few years ago .
After his death and resurrection, Jesus has become the most international figure in world history. Reza Aslan writes about Jesus in the context of the times in which Jesus lived.
Aslan has degrees in religion from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the Univ. of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. He is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves on the boards of directors of the Ploughshares Fund (which gives grants for peace and security issues), Narrative Four (which connects people through the exchange of stories), PEN USA (which champions the rights of writers under siege around the world), and the Levantine Cultural Center (which builds bridges between Americans and the Arab/Muslim world through the arts).
Aslan's first book the International Bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages, and was named one of the 100 most important books of the last decade. He is also the author of How to Win a Cosmic War (published in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in a Globalized Age), as well as editor of two volumes: Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East, and Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalties, Contentions, and Complexities. His most recent book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth published this July immediately leaped to the #1 spot in the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list.
In addition to Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan's books No god, but God and Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization will be for sale at the event."
Chris Finan
Chris Finan recently served as the Director for Cybersecurity Legislation and Policy on the National Security Staff in the White House. Prior to this assignment he oversaw technology development for the Plan X cyberwarfare program at Defense Advances Research Project Agency (DARPA). While Mr. Finan was on the White House staff he was responsible for assisting in the development of the administration’s cybersecurity legislation proposals, and led the executive branch negotiations with Congress. Mr. Finan also helped draft the recent Cybersecurity Executive Order.
Previously, Mr. Finan founded a technology start-up specializing in big data analytics, and developed non-profit programs to train veterans for careers in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. Mr. Finan served seven years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and intelligence officer, including a combat tour in Iraq where he worked as an intelligence officer and counterterrorism liaison to the Iraqi government. After attending public schools in northeastern Pennsylvania, Mr. Finan studied Political Science and Arabic at the United States Air Force Academy. Mr. Finan is a Truman National Security Project Fellow and has written on Internet freedom, privacy and security issues. His proposal for a military cyber-assistance campaign to establish a digital safe haven in Syria was recently featured in the New York Times.
Lawrence J. Korb
Dr. Lawrence J. Korb is a Senior Fellow at American Progress. He is also a senior advisor to the Center for Defense Information and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Prior to joining American Progress, he was a senior fellow and director of national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. From July 1998 to October 2002 he was council vice president, director of studies, and holder of the Maurice Greenberg Chair.
Prior to joining the council, Dr. Korb served as director of the Center for Public Policy Education and senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution; dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh; vice president of corporate operations at the Raytheon Company; and director of defense studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Dr. Korb served as assistant secretary of defense from 1981 through 1985. In that position, he administered about 70 percent of the defense budget. For his service in that position, he was awarded the Department of Defense’s medal for Distinguished Public Service. Dr. Korb served on active duty for four years as Naval Flight Officer, and retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of captain. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the State University of New York at Albany and has held full-time teaching positions at the University of Dayton, the Coast Guard Academy, and the Naval War College.
Dr. Korb has authored, co-authored, edited, or contributed to more than 20 books and written more than 100 articles on national security issues. His books include The Joint Chiefs of Staff: The First Twenty-five Years; The Fall and Rise of the Pentagon; American National Security: Policy and Process, Future Visions for U.S. Defense Policy; Reshaping America’s Military; A New National Security Strategy in an Age of Terrorists, Tyrants, and Weapons of Mass Destruction; Serving America’s Veterans; and Military Reform.
His articles have appeared in such journals as Foreign Affairs, Public Administration Review and The New York Times Sunday Magazine. Over the past decade Mr. Korb has made over 2,000 appearances as a commentator on such shows as “The Today Show,” “The Early Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Face the Nation,” “This Week,” “The News Hour,” “Nightline,” “60 Minutes,” “Larry King Live,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” and “Hannity and Colmes.” His more than 100 op-ed pieces have appeared in such major newspapers as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Christian Science Monitor.
Elizabeth Economy
Dr. Elizabeth Economy will present a timely discussion on Chinese domestic and foreign policy issues, as well as U.S.-China relations. Dr. Economy is the C.V. Starr senior fellow and director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. An award-winning author of The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future (Cornell University Press, 2004; Second Edition, 2010), Dr. Economy, has published articles in foreign policy and scholarly journals including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The Harvard Business Review; and op-eds in the New York Times and Washington Post, among others. She frequently testifies before Congress and appears on television and radio. Dr. Economy is vice chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of China and serves on the board of the China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development. She is currently writing two books: one on China's rise and its geopolitical and strategic implications and another on China’s global quest for resources with Michael Levi. She blogs on CFR’s Asia Unbound (www.blogs.cfr.org/asia).
Dr. Economy received her PhD from the University of Michigan, her AM from Stanford University and her BA with honors from Swarthmore College. In 2008, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Vermont Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children.
Dave Evans
Dave Evans spoke about various subjects from around the world. They will include: (1) Afghanistan: What 40 years of civil war portends for the future? (2) Iraq: Who won the war? (3) Syria: Get in or stay out? (4) China: When will the Middle Kingdom dominate the world? (4) Technology & Globalization: Will healthcare & education catch up with manufacturing? As the reader can see, Dave is not smart enough to avoid controversial subjects, and his talk is sure to be both enlightening and provocative!
Dave Evans is a self-described foreign affairs junkie. He has served in leadership rolls on various World Affairs Council boards for more than 40 years.
Currently, Dave serves on both the board of World Denver and the board of the Colorado Foothills World Affairs Council. At Foothills, he recruited the majority of the speakers over the past decade, but has now retired from that position.
Dave retired from Deere & Company (John Deere) and then managed a small international corporate financial consulting business.
He has worked in China, India, Europe as well as North America. He has served on the board of directors for three public companies and he manages farming operations in Iowa. Mr. Evans also writes for the blog, GlobalReasoning.org. He received a BS degree in economics from Iowa State University and an MBA degree finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Gerald Padmore
Gerald Padmore is an attorney with Cox Padmore Skolnik & Shakarchy (Denver, Colorado, USA), whose practice involves natural resources law, international business transactions and commercial litigation. He was born in Liberia and moved to the United States in 1956. After completing Yale University in 1967 and Harvard Law School in 1970, he returned to Liberia where he taught at the University of Liberia Law School and served as Liberia's Acting Minister of Finance, Deputy Minister of Finance and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs before moving to Denver in 1980.
He has written and lectured on legal topics relating to natural resources law, mineral development and taxation, political risk, dispute resolution and concession and investment agreements in African and other developing countries. His work has involved transactions in several African countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), as well as in Ecuador, China, Japan, and other countries.
Mr. Padmore has negotiated international mineral and other agreements both as counsel to governments and as counsel to private investors. He was selected (jointly with a Canadian law firm) to implement a World Bank project designed to improve the mineral, fiscal, environmental and related laws of the Republic of Guinea so as to enhance new mineral investments in that country. He also advised the government of Guinea on aspects of its mineral agreements with foreign investors, and the Government of Kenya through a U.N. project on revising its mining law.
His practice also involves complex commercial and business litigation in United States state and federal courts. He has successfully represented claimants against a major international insurance firm that involved proceedings both in the United States and in Europe, and defendants in securities class action or other alleged fraud cases in which he obtained either dismissals or favorable settlements.
Mr. Padmore is listed in Naifeh and Smith's The Best Lawyers in America, 1997-1998 and 1999-2000, in Martindale-Hubbell's Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, and in The International Who's Who of Mining Lawyers published by Law Business Research Ltd. of London, England.
The Governor of Colorado, with the advice and consent of the Colorado Senate, appointed him to the Colorado Transportation Commission on which he served from 1990 through 1997, and as its Chairman in 1996 and 1997. He also served as Chairman of the Webb-Waring Institute for Biomedical Research in Denver from 1994-1996.
He is currently Chairman of the Denver World Trade Center Institute, a director of the Denver World Trade Center Association, a trustee of the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver, and a Director and Vice President of the Denver Council on Foreign Relations.
Isobel Coleman
Isobel Coleman is senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York, where she directs CFR’s civil society, markets, and democracy initiative and the women and foreign policy program. Her areas of expertise include democratization, civil society, economic development, regional gender issues, educational reform, and microfinance.
She is the author and coauthor of numerous publications, including Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East (Random House, 2010), Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President (Brookings Institution Press, 2008), and Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in International Security (Hoover Institution Press, 2006).
Over the centuries and throughout the world, women have struggled for equality and basic rights. Their challenge in the Middle East has been intensified by the rise of a political Islam that too often condemns women's empowerment as Western cultural imperialism or, worse, anti-Islamic. In her new book, Paradise Beneath Her Feet, Isobel Coleman shows how Muslim women and men are fighting back with progressive interpretations of Islam to support women's rights in a growing movement of Islamic feminism.
Coleman journeys through the strategic crescent of the greater Middle East to reveal how activists are working within the tenets of Islam to create economic, political, and educational opportunities for women. Coleman argues that these efforts are critical to bridging the conflict between those championing reform and those seeking to oppress women in the name of religious tradition.
Dr. Coleman's writings have also appeared in publications such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, and Forbes, and online venues such as TheAtlantic.com and CNN.com. She is a frequent speaker at academic, business, and policy conferences. In 2010, she served as the track leader for the Girls and Women Action Area at the Clinton Global Initiative.
Prior to joining the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Coleman was CEO of a healthcare services company and a partner with McKinsey & Co. in New York. A Marshall scholar, she holds a BA in public policy and East Asian studies from Princeton University and MPhil and DPhil degrees in international relations from Oxford University. She serves on several non-profit boards, including Plan USA and Student Sponsor Partners.
Christopher de Bellaigue
Christopher de Bellaigue is a journalist who has worked on the Middle East and South Asia since 1994. De Bellaigue is the Tehran correspondent for The Economist and is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, Granta, and The New Yorker, among other publications. His work mostly chronicles developments in Iran and Turkey. He lives in London with his wife Bita Ghezelayagh, who is an Iranian architect, and two children. He converted to Iranian Shiism sect of Islam in the early part of this decade.
De Bellaigue obtained a BA and MA in Oriental Studies from the University of Cambridge, where he was a student at Fitzwilliam College. His first book, In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran, was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize. In 2007-2008, he was a visiting fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, where he began work on an anticipated biography of the Iranian prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh.
He wrote "Rebel Land: Among Turkey's Forgotten People", an account of the three years he lived in Varto, after publishing an essay in the New York Review of Books about the Turkish "deportations and massacres" of Armenians in 1915 and being told by Professor James R. Russell that he was engaging in genocide denial and scolded by editor Robert Silvers for acting as an "apologist" for the Turks.
In 2012, de Bellaigue's book about Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mossadegh, Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Tragic Anglo-American Coup, was published.
Steven Clemons
Steven Clemons was appointed as Washington editor-a-large of The Atlantic and editor-in-chief of AtlanticLIVE, the magazine's live events series, in June 2011. He is an American journalist and blogger and is the publisher of the popular political blog, The Washington Note, and a former staff member of Senator Jeff Bingaman. Clemons is also Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation where he previously served as Executive Vice President, and the former director of the Japan Policy Research Institute. He characterizes himself as a "progressive realist".
Clemons is the former executive vice president of Economic Strategy Institute, former executive director of the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom, and served as Senator Jeff Bingaman's Senior Policy Advisor on Economic and International Affairs. He has also served on the advisory board to the Center for U.S.-Japan Relations at the RAND Corporation. Earlier in his career, Clemons was the executive director of the Japan America Society of Southern California from 1987 to 1994.
In 1993, Clemons was the technical advisor for the film Rising Sun, which starred Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. Clemons also had a role as a talk show host. He also had a role in the film State of Play, starring Ben Affleck.
Clemons also serves on the Board of Advisors of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland and the Clarke Center at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
T.R. Reid
T. R. Reid will provide a summary and a review of the major provisions of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. Ried will then provide two different outlooks for Obamacare based on (1) the reelection of Barack Obama and (2) a Mitt Romney victory with a Republican majority in both the House and the Senate. He will also discuss the shortcomings in the American healthcare system compared to other industrialized countries.
Thomas R. Reid, is author of the NY Times bestselling book, The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care. The book gives of an overview of health care systems in several different countries and contrasts them with health care model followed in the United States. The countries whose system is discussed are: France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada and a specific example from India. Reid visited all these countries personally and chose them as they exemplify specific kinds of health care system models.
Reid, a Classics major at Princeton University, served as a naval officer, taught, and held various positions before working for The Washington Post. At the Post, he covered congress and four Presidential election campaigns, and was chief of the Post's London and Tokyo bureaus. He has also taught at Princeton and the University of Michigan. Reid is now the Post's Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief. He was the 2007 Kaiser Family Foundation media fellow in health, and he is a member of the boards of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and the University of Colorado College of Medicine. Reid has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence during his stellar career.
Christopher Hill
Ambassador Christopher R. Hill is the Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at The University of Denver, a position he has held since September 2010. Christopher Robert Hill is a former career diplomat, a four-time ambassador, nominated by three presidents, whose last post was as Ambassador to Iraq, April 2009 until August 2010.
Prior to Iraq, Hill served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2005. Earlier, He was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. Previously he served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2000-2004), Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (1996-1999) and Special Envoy to Kosovo (1998-1999). He also served as a Special Assistant to the President and a Senior Director on the staff of the National Security Council, 1999-2000.
Earlier in his Foreign Service career, Ambassador Hill served tours in Belgrade, Warsaw, Seoul, and Tirana, and on the Department of State's Policy Planning staff and in the Department’s Operation Center. While on a fellowship with the American Political Science Association he served as a staff member for Congressman Stephen Solarz working on Eastern European issues. He also served as the Department of State's Senior Country Officer for Poland.
Ambassador Hill received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the Bosnia peace settlement, and was a recipient of the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Hill served as a Peace Corps volunteer where he supervised credit unions in rural Cameroon, West Africa.
Ambassador Hill graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine with a B.A. in Economics. He received a Master's degree from the Naval War College in 1994. He speaks Polish, Serbo-Croatian, and Macedonian.
Zachary Karabell
Dr. Zachary Karabell is President of River Twice Research, where he analyzes economic and political trends. He is also a Senior Advisor for Business for Social Responsibility. Previously, he was Executive Vice President, Head of Marketing and Chief Economist at Fred Alger Management, as well as Portfolio Manager of the China-US Growth Fund, which won both a Lipper Award for top performance and a 5-star designation from Morningstar.
Educated at Columbia, Oxford, and Harvard, where he received his Ph.D., he is the author of several books, including Superfusion: How China and America Became One Economy and Why the World’s Prosperity Depends On It, A Visionary Nation: Four Centuries of American Dreams and What Lies Ahead, The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election, and Peace Be Upon You: The Story of Muslim, Christian and Jewish Coexistence.
In 2003, the World Economic Forum designated Dr. Karabell a “Global Leader for Tomorow.” He sits on the board of the World Policy Institute and the New America Foundation, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Karabell is a regular commentator on national news programs, such as CNBC, CNN and Fox News, and a contributor to such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Foreign Affairs.
Daniel B. Wright
Daniel B. Wright is founder, President, and CEO of GreenPoint Group. Dr. Wright assists clients through his three decades of China experience building bridges between people, resources, and public policy, 8 of those years in China.
Dr. Wright was formerly Senior Vice President and China practice head of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm based in Washington, DC. Previously Dr. Wright served at the U.S. Treasury Department as Managing Director for China and the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) where he provided strategic counsel to the Secretary of Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and SED Special Envoy Alan F. Holmer for this Cabinet-level economic exchange with China. Dr. Wright worked exclusively on China policy issues, developing and coordinating interagency strategies to achieve prioritized objectives with Cabinet-level Chinese agencies. He co-led in the development of the U.S.-China Ten Year Energy and Environmental Cooperation Framework, designing outreach initiatives with key stakeholders in China’s government and private sector and their U.S. counterparts. Dr. Wright worked closely with the office of then-Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and her successor, Vice Premier Wang Qishan (counterparts to Treasury Secretary Paulson), since effective engagement and support from the Vice Premier’s office was a critical factor in reaching the breakthrough agreements associated with the Strategic Economic Dialogue.
Prior to his appointment in March 2007, Dr. Wright was Vice President and Washington D.C. Office Director of the National Bureau of Asian Research since 2004. From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Wright served as the Executive Director of the Hopkins-Nanjing Program of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the premier educational joint-venture program between the U.S. and China.
Dr. Wright has been a visiting scholar at Qinghua University’s School of Public Policy and Management. He studied Chinese and Chinese literature at Beijing University, the Beijing Foreign Language Institute, and the Beijing Languages Institute. He speaks frequently on China and has published two books: The Promise of the Revolution: Stories of Fulfillment and Struggle in China’s Hinterlandand Wo Kan Zhongguo (China Through My Eyes.
Dr. Wright earned his Ph.D. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University SAIS, his M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and his B.A. from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Wright is based in Washington, DC and travels to China on a monthly basis. Dr. Wright reads, writes, and speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese.
David J. Firestein
David J. Firestein is EWI's Vice President for the Strategic Trust-Building Initiative and Track 2 Diplomacy; in this capacity, he leads EWI's China, Russia and United States programs. A career U.S. diplomat from 1992 to 2010, Firestein is an expert in China, Russia, public diplomacy and U.S. politics. In his Foreign Service career, he served at the U.S. embassies in Beijing (5 years) and Moscow (4 years). Firestein speaks near native-level Chinese and fluent Russian and has interpreted for senior U.S. officials in both languages.
Firestein is the author or co-author of three books on China, including two China-published bestsellers: Pacific Reflections: Essays on Chinese and American Society and Culture (1997); and Here and There: 81 Conversations about China and America (2004). In 1995-1996, Firestein wrote a column for the Beijing Youth Daily; he was the first foreigner ever to have a column in a PRC newspaper. From 2000 to 2002, Firestein wrote over forty articles, mostly on U.S. politics and society, for Russian newspapers and magazines. In all, he has published some 130 articles in Chinese and Russian publications, including the Global Times, the China Youth Daily, the Legal Times, Noviye Izvestiya and other major periodicals. In the United States, Firestein’s recent commentary has appeared in the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman.
Firestein’s career highlights include domestic Foreign Service stints at the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (as deputy executive director and senior advisor), the State Department's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) office, and the China desk. From 2007 to 2009, Firestein was also an elected at-large member of the Board of Governors of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the Foreign Service’s union and professional association; in this capacity, he represented about 9,000 State Department Foreign Service constituents.
Among Firestein's major awards and honors are the 2006 "Secretary of State's Award for Public Outreach," MGIMO’s 2001 “Teaching Excellence Award,” the 1997 "Linguist of the Year Award" (for accomplishments in Mandarin Chinese in the U.S. Foreign Service), and designation, also in 1997, as one of Peking University's "50 Most Distinguished Foreign Alumni." Also in 1997, the Beijing Youth Daily described Firestein as “arguably the most influential American in China” with respect to how Chinese viewed the United States.
Firestein is a frequent lecturer and speaker on U.S.-China relations, U.S.-Russia relations, public diplomacy, U.S. politics, and country music (especially, the political communication effect of American country music). In the latter field, his 2005 article, “The Honky Tonk Gap: Country Music, Red State Identity, and the U.S. Election of 2004” is considered a seminal contribution.
Firestein holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in international relations and master's degrees from the University of Texas in public affairs and Asian studies
William O’Grady
William O’Grady, Chief Investment Strategist, Confluence Investment Management, will offer his outlook for 2012, discussing what he sees as the key geopolitical issues that will affect the world and the markets this year.
Bill joined Confluence Investment Management in November 2008 and previously served as Vice President and Chief Investment Strategist for Wachovia Securities. As Chief Investment Strategist, Bill provided short-term asset allocation advice for Wachovia's Advisory Services Group. In addition, Bill managed Wachovia's Global Macro Asset Allocation program, an ETF-based alternative asset program.
Prior to this, Bill served in a variety of positions in his 19-year tenure at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. including Chief Global Investment Strategist, Assistant Director of Market Analysis, and Manager of Futures Research. Bill also served as a member of the A.G. Edwards Investment Strategy Committee. Prior to joining A.G. Edwards, Bill was the international economic and administrative officer of Mercantile Bank in St. Louis, developing country risk analyses for international lending activities.
In all, Bill has more than 20 years of experience following the energy, foreign exchange and futures markets. Bill is known for his geopolitical commentary along with his energy and currency background and is frequently quoted by such national media outlets as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, CNBC, CBS News, Dow Jones News Service and Investor's Business Daily. Bill earned a Bachelor's degree in History and Public Administration from Avila College and a Master's degree in Economics from St. Louis University.
Stewart M. Patrick
Dr. Stewart M. Patrick is senior fellow and director of the program on international institutions and global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Dr. Patrick’s areas of expertise include multilateral cooperation in the management of global issues; U.S. policy toward international institutions, including the United Nations; the challenges posed by fragile, failing, and post conflict states; and the integration of U.S. defense, development, and diplomatic instruments in U.S. foreign and national security policy.
From 2005 to April 2008, Dr. Patrick was research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD). He directed CGD’s research and policy engagement on the intersection between security and development, with a particular focus on the relationship between weak states and transnational threats, as well as on the policy challenges of building effective institutions of governance in fragile settings. Dr. Patrick also served as a professorial lecturer in international relations/conflictmanagement at the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. !From September 2002 to January 2005, Dr. Patrick served on the secretary of state’s policy planning staff, with lead staff responsibility for U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and a range of global and transnational issues. His portfolio included conducting analysis and providing recommendations for U.S. policies on weak and failing states, post conflict reconstruction, development, refugees and migration, international law enforcement, and global health affairs.
Prior to government service, Dr. Patrick was a research associate at New York University’s (NYU) Center on International Cooperation. In that capacity, he designed and ran two multi-scholar research programs on post conflict reconstruction and on multilateralism and U.S. foreign policy. Dr. Patrick also taught U.S. foreign policy at NYU as an adjunct professor of political science.
Dr. Patrick graduated from Stanford University and received his doctorate in international relations, as well as two masters’ degrees, from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes scholar. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of five books, including Weak Links: Fragile States, Global Threats, and International Security (Oxford University Press, May 2011). Dr. Patrick has also authored numerous articles and chapters on the subjects of multilateral cooperation, state building, and U.S. foreign policy.