Morton Abramowitz is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. He is on the boards of the International Rescue Committee, the International Crisis Group, and Human Rights in North Korea, and is on the advisory council of theNational Interest quarterly journal and Foreign Policy magazine.
Formerly, he was president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and has held numerous positions in the Department of State. He also served as acting president of the International Crisis Group—a multinational, nongovernmental organization headquartered in Brussels and Washington, focusing on crisis prevention. Prior to joining the Carnegie Endowment in August 1991, he was ambassador to Turkey.
He also has served as assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research; United States ambassador to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Negotiations in Vienna; ambassador to Thailand; deputy assistant secretary of defense for inter-American, East Asian, and Pacific affairs; special assistant to the secretary of defense; special assistant to the deputy secretary of state; and political adviser to the commander-in-chief, Pacific.
He is coauthor (with Stephen Bosworth) of Chasing the Sun: Rethinking East Asian Policy (The Century Foundation Press, 2006) and editor of The Century Foundation Press books The United States and Turkey: Allies in Need (2003) and Turkey’s Transformation and American Policy (2000).
Conflict and Humanitarian Crises Initiative - Leadership
Maureen White is a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. She was the Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Issues in the Office of the Special Representation to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the U.S. Department of State from 2009-2013. In the Clinton Administration, she represented the U.S. Government at the United Nations Children’s Fund from 1997-2001. In addition, she was National Finance Co-Chair of the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign 2008 and served as National Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2001-2006. Prior to that, she had a career in international economic research in New York, London, and Tokyo.
She serves on the boards of numerous organizations involved in international humanitarian issues including the International Rescue Committee, the National Democratic Institute, and the Center for Global Development, the International Women’s Health Coalition. Other boards include the American Academy in Berlin and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Social Justice Advisory Board.
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Madeleine K. Albright is Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and Chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. Dr. Albright was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States.
In 1997, she was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. From 1989 to 1992, she served as President of the Center for National Policy. Previously, she was a member of President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council and White House staff and served as Chief Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie.
Dr. Albright is a Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Dr. Albright serves on the Boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Institute and the Center for a New American Security. In 2009, Dr. Albright was asked by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to Chair a Group of Experts focused on developing NATO’s New Strategic Concept.
Dr. Albright is the author of four New York Times bestsellers: her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir, (2003); The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006); Memo to the President: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership (2008); and Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (2009).
George C. Biddle is the IRC’s executive vice president and provides executive oversight to the IRC’s U.S. programs, international programs and advocacy departments, which combined operate in 42 countries worldwide and in 23 cities across the U.S. He served as acting president from May to July 2002.
Prior to joining the IRC in 2000, Mr. Biddle was the vice president of the International Crisis Group, an organization that works through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. He was also president of the Institute for Central American Studies, an organization he founded in 1989 to assist post-cold war Central America in its transition from violent conflict to peace and democracy. He serves on several non-profit boards, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds an A.B. degree from Harvard and an M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins.
George Rupp is a senior fellow at Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs; adjunct professor of religion, public health, and international affairs at Columbia University; and a founding principal at NEXT: Network for Executive Transition, a consulting partnership for academic, cultural, and social service organizations.
Dr. Rupp served as president of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) from 2002 to 2013. As the IRC's chief executive officer, Dr. Rupp led a staff of more than 12,000 colleagues and oversaw the agency’s relief and development operations in over 40 countries.
Before joining the IRC, Dr. Rupp was president of Columbia University. During his nine-year tenure, he focused on enhancing undergraduate education, on strengthening the relationship of the campus to New York City. Prior to his time at Columbia, Dr. Rupp served as president of Rice University. Before going to Rice, Dr. Rupp was Professor of Divinity and dean of the Harvard Divinity School.
Born in New Jersey of immigrant parents, Dr. Rupp is fluent in German. A scholar of religion, he has studied and conducted research for extended periods in both Europe and Asia. He was awarded an A.B. from Princeton University in 1964, a B.D. from Yale Divinity School in 1967, and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1972.
Dr. Rupp is an expert on similarities and differences within and among religious traditions, including the relationship of religious communities to conflict and post-conflict development. He is the author of numerous articles and five books, including Globalization Challenged: Conviction, Conflict, Community (2006). His articles have appeared in academic journals and his opinion columns in news outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
He has served as chair of the Association of American Universities and as co-president of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and he currently serves on the boards of the Committee for Economic Development, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Institute for International Education, and the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.