About ICWA

The Institute of Current World Affairs advances American understanding of international cultures and affairs by sending outstanding young professionals abroad on two-year independent writing fellowships to study countries, regions and globally important issues. Our alumni have become some of this country’s leading journalists, scholars, diplomats, activists and businesspeople. ICWA nurtures the kind of deep understanding future generations will need to ensure America’s role in the world is informed by wisdom, foresight and compassion.

 

 

We search for critical thinkers who develop insight, vision and new ways of perceiving, navigating and improving our highly globalized world. The institute frees them from the routine of their professional lives through its unique cultural immersion program launched more than 90 years ago. Fellows are given the time and resources to explore the world through self-designed programs of travel, thought and writing. They produce monthly dispatches and go on to make vital contributions to their fields.

Download our overview brochure

Learn more about how you can support ICWA fellows through a planned gift.

Contact us: 1818 N Street, NW, Suite 460, Washington, DC 20036 | 202-364-4068 | icwa@icwa.org

 

 

 

Leadership

Paul Rahe holds The Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage at Hillsdale College, where he is professor of history. He is the author of Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution; Against Throne and Altar: Machiavelli and Political Theory under the English Republic; Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic; Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect; The Spartan Regime: Its Character, Origins, and Grand Strategy; and The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Persian Challenge. His new books Sparta’s First Attic War and Sparta’s Second Attic War will be released, respectively, in the Fall of 2019 and the Fall of 2020. He writes frequently on contemporary politics and culture for the website Ricochet. He was an ICWA fellow in Turkey (1984-1986).

Gregory Feifer has observed Russia for many years, including as an ICWA fellow in 2000 – 2002. A former institute board member, he was also NPR’s Moscow correspondent who reported on Russia’s resurgence under Vladimir Putin, observing the effects of the country’s vast new oil wealth on an increasingly nationalistic society as well as the Kremlin’s rekindling of a new Cold War-style opposition to the West. He has also reported from Ukraine and many other former Soviet republics. Later, as senior correspondent at Radio Free Europe in Prague, Feifer investigated Russian influence in Europe, including the Kremlin’s use of energy as an instrument of foreign policy. Feifer’s book Russians: The Power behind the People (Twelve, 2014) explores the seeming paradoxes of life in Russia by unraveling the nature of its people and what it is in their history, desires and conception of themselves that makes them baffling to the West. His other books include The Great Gamble (HarperCollins, 2009), a history of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and Spy Handler (Basic Books, 2005) co-written with former KGB colonel Victor Cherkashin. He has written for numerous other outlets, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs and The Washington Post. Educated at Harvard University and currently an associate of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian Studies, he lives in Washington with his wife Elizabeth, son Sebastian and daughter Vanessa. Follow him on Twitter at @gfeifer.

Rebecca Picard oversees ICWA’s general operations and administration, managing the fellowship program’s budgets and recruitment, selections, orientation, launch and recovery phases. Rebecca came to ICWA equipped with a masters degree in International Policy and Development from Middlebury Institute of International Studies and extensive experience studying, working and living abroad in Germany and Turkey. In addition to international affairs, she has also worked in education, holding positions from teacher to program manager for the Center for Conflict Studies. Her background has equipped her with the international and education expertise and skills required to help ICWA pursue its mission. Prior to becoming operations director, Rebecca served as ICWA’s program officer, giving her deep familiarity with the fellowship program and enabling her to effectively manage the program’s operations.

Paul Rahe holds The Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage at Hillsdale College, where he is professor of history. He is the author of Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution; Against Throne and Altar: Machiavelli and Political Theory under the English Republic; Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic; Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect; The Spartan Regime: Its Character, Origins, and Grand Strategy; and The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Persian Challenge. His new books Sparta’s First Attic War and Sparta’s Second Attic War will be released, respectively, in the Fall of 2019 and the Fall of 2020. He writes frequently on contemporary politics and culture for the website Ricochet. He was an ICWA fellow in Turkey (1984-1986).

Gregory Feifer has observed Russia for many years, including as an ICWA fellow in 2000 – 2002. A former institute board member, he was also NPR’s Moscow correspondent who reported on Russia’s resurgence under Vladimir Putin, observing the effects of the country’s vast new oil wealth on an increasingly nationalistic society as well as the Kremlin’s rekindling of a new Cold War-style opposition to the West. He has also reported from Ukraine and many other former Soviet republics. Later, as senior correspondent at Radio Free Europe in Prague, Feifer investigated Russian influence in Europe, including the Kremlin’s use of energy as an instrument of foreign policy. Feifer’s book Russians: The Power behind the People (Twelve, 2014) explores the seeming paradoxes of life in Russia by unraveling the nature of its people and what it is in their history, desires and conception of themselves that makes them baffling to the West. His other books include The Great Gamble (HarperCollins, 2009), a history of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and Spy Handler (Basic Books, 2005) co-written with former KGB colonel Victor Cherkashin. He has written for numerous other outlets, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs and The Washington Post. Educated at Harvard University and currently an associate of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian Studies, he lives in Washington with his wife Elizabeth, son Sebastian and daughter Vanessa. Follow him on Twitter at @gfeifer.

Rebecca Picard oversees ICWA’s general operations and administration, managing the fellowship program’s budgets and recruitment, selections, orientation, launch and recovery phases. Rebecca came to ICWA equipped with a masters degree in International Policy and Development from Middlebury Institute of International Studies and extensive experience studying, working and living abroad in Germany and Turkey. In addition to international affairs, she has also worked in education, holding positions from teacher to program manager for the Center for Conflict Studies. Her background has equipped her with the international and education expertise and skills required to help ICWA pursue its mission. Prior to becoming operations director, Rebecca served as ICWA’s program officer, giving her deep familiarity with the fellowship program and enabling her to effectively manage the program’s operations.

Trustees

Paul Rahe holds The Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage at Hillsdale College, where he is professor of history. He is the author of Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution; Against Throne and Altar: Machiavelli and Political Theory under the English Republic; Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic; Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect; The Spartan Regime: Its Character, Origins, and Grand Strategy; and The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Persian Challenge. His new books Sparta’s First Attic War and Sparta’s Second Attic War will be released, respectively, in the Fall of 2019 and the Fall of 2020. He writes frequently on contemporary politics and culture for the website Ricochet. He was an ICWA fellow in Turkey (1984-1986).

Gregory Feifer has observed Russia for many years, including as an ICWA fellow in 2000 – 2002. A former institute board member, he was also NPR’s Moscow correspondent who reported on Russia’s resurgence under Vladimir Putin, observing the effects of the country’s vast new oil wealth on an increasingly nationalistic society as well as the Kremlin’s rekindling of a new Cold War-style opposition to the West. He has also reported from Ukraine and many other former Soviet republics. Later, as senior correspondent at Radio Free Europe in Prague, Feifer investigated Russian influence in Europe, including the Kremlin’s use of energy as an instrument of foreign policy. Feifer’s book Russians: The Power behind the People (Twelve, 2014) explores the seeming paradoxes of life in Russia by unraveling the nature of its people and what it is in their history, desires and conception of themselves that makes them baffling to the West. His other books include The Great Gamble (HarperCollins, 2009), a history of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and Spy Handler (Basic Books, 2005) co-written with former KGB colonel Victor Cherkashin. He has written for numerous other outlets, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs and The Washington Post. Educated at Harvard University and currently an associate of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian Studies, he lives in Washington with his wife Elizabeth, son Sebastian and daughter Vanessa. Follow him on Twitter at @gfeifer.

Rebecca Picard oversees ICWA’s general operations and administration, managing the fellowship program’s budgets and recruitment, selections, orientation, launch and recovery phases. Rebecca came to ICWA equipped with a masters degree in International Policy and Development from Middlebury Institute of International Studies and extensive experience studying, working and living abroad in Germany and Turkey. In addition to international affairs, she has also worked in education, holding positions from teacher to program manager for the Center for Conflict Studies. Her background has equipped her with the international and education expertise and skills required to help ICWA pursue its mission. Prior to becoming operations director, Rebecca served as ICWA’s program officer, giving her deep familiarity with the fellowship program and enabling her to effectively manage the program’s operations.

Joseph Battat is a senior lecturer at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He works with graduate students—Masters, Sloan Fellows and Executive MBAs, in subject areas covering international business and management, doing business in/with China, and operations management. For twenty six years, Joe worked for the World Bank Group as a staff member [1989-2008] or as a Senior Consultant [2008-2015]. He held a number of positions, including the head of the Foreign Investment Advisory Services (FIAS) and its program manager for the Middle East, North Africa, Central/East Europe, the Former Soviet Union, China and Mongolia. FIAS advises governments of developing and emerging economies on ways to improve their investment climate to stimulate domestic and foreign investment conducive to their economic and social development. In the course of this work, he had the opportunity to work or supervise work in over 95 countries. Mr. Battat received a Master of Science in Electronics Physics from Université de Grenoble [France] in 1968, a Diploma in Political Philosophy from Beijing University [China] in 1978, and Doctorate of Philosophy in International Business and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984.

Jeffrey Gedmin is editor-in-chief of The American Interest, print and online, a publication of politics, public policy, and international affairs. From 2015 to 2018, he was senior adviser at Blue Star Strategies. From 2011 to 2014, Gedmin was President and CEO of the London-based Legatum Institute. Prior to joining the Legatum Institute in early 2011, Gedmin served for four years as President and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) headquartered in Prague. Before RFE/RL, Gedmin served as President and CEO of the Aspen Institute in Berlin. Before that, he was Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, D.C and Executive Director of the New Atlantic Initiative. He is the author/editor of several books, including The Hidden Hand: Gorbachev and the Collapse of East Germany (1992). Gedmin also served as co-executive producer for two major PBS documentaries: “The Germans, Portrait of a New Nation” (1995), and “Spain’s 9/11 and the Challenge of Radical Islam in Europe” (2007). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on several advisory boards, including: Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service Masters Program, the Institute for State Effectiveness, the Kleptocracy Initiative, the International Republican Institute’s Beacon Project, the Justice for Journalists Foundation, and the Tocqueville Conversations. Together with former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Norm Eisen, Gedmin is co-chair of the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group.

Fabrice Houdart is Managing Director for Global Equality Initiatives at Out Leadership, the oldest and largest global coalition of companies working towards LGBTI equality. He was formerly a human rights officer at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York, and worked on the UN Free & Equal campaign, an unprecedented United Nations global public education campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality. In addition, he leads a project on global corporate standards for tackling LGBTI discrimination and data collection tools for Human Rights violations against LGBTI people. Previously, Fabrice was Senior Country Officer for the Maghreb at the World Bank where he worked from 2001 to 2016 and was President (2011 – 2015) of its LGBT Employee Resource Group, GLOBE. At the World Bank, Fabrice managed a “Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Development” grant that initiated the sexual minorities in development agenda. The grant, launched in 2012, provided a first estimate of the economic cost of homophobia using India as a case study, carried out a socio-economic survey of LGBTI populations in India and funded a short film on the interconnection between discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and poverty. During his career at the World Bank, Fabrice worked in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, first as a human development specialist and later as a strategy officer. He has authored analyses on Yemen, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Tunisia and provided contributions to the 2012 Gender World Development Report (WDR) and the 2011 Conflict, Security, and Development WDR. He holds a B.A. in economics and management from Dauphine University in Paris and an MBA from American University in Washington, D.C. Fabrice is on the Board of Alturi, a non-profit organization devoted to elevating the LGBTI community globally. He lives in New York City with his twin sons Maxime and Eitan. Twitter: HoudartUN, Instagram: fhoudart

Peggy Knudson is chief development officer at the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington, DC, a nonprofit created in 2001 by Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner that works to prevent catastrophic attacks and accidents with weapons of mass destruction and disruption – nuclear, biological, radiological, chemical, and cyber. From September 2014 until April 2018, Peggy was Vice President of Development at ecoAmerica, a nonprofit that works to get everyday Americans on board with climate-change solutions. And from 2004 until 2012, Peggy was Director of Development in the Foreign Policy Program of the Brookings Institution. She has also served as Senior Vice President for Development at the Center for American Progress and Vice President for Development at the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Early in her career, Peggy was an Associate Senior Editor at The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Executive Director of Women in International Security, a Marketing Manager at the Treuhandanstalt in Berlin, Germany, and Acting Director of the Berlin Office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.  Peggy holds an M.A. in International Relations and Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a B.A. (summa cum laude) in English and Journalism from the University of North Dakota. Peggy is a member of the Board of Directors of ecoAmerica and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Michael Mathison is an independent asset management consultant, after a 30 year career in the financial services industry. Michael specializes in asset management for institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and non-profits, and worked for firms such as Fidelity Investments and Chase Manhattan Bank. Michael has a BA in applied mathematics from Northwestern University, and did graduate work in neuroscience at MIT.

Krishen Mehta is a writer, teacher, and speaker on issues of global tax justice. Prior to making tax justice his main focus, he was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and served in their New York, London, and Tokyo offices. His responsibilities included PwC’s US Tax practices in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, China, and Indonesia. Krishen is non-executive Director of Tax Justice Network. He serves on the Advisory Board of Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, and is a Director of the Japan Foundation of Human Rights Watch. He is a Trustee of the Social Science Foundation a the University of Denver, and of the Institute of Current World Affairs in Washington, DC. Krishen has been an Adjunct Professor at American University, and a frequent guest speaker at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston and at Tokyo University in Japan. He has also conducted Capstone workshops for graduate students at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. From 2010-2012, Krishen was Co-Chairman of the Advisory Board of Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a research and advocacy group based in Washington, DC, and engaged on policies designed to stem illicit financial flows from developing countries. Currently, Krishen is Senior Global Justice Fellow at Yale University. He is also the Founder/Director of Asia Initiatives, a non-profit organization devoted to education and social equity in South Asia.

Susan Brind Morrow has written extensively on the origins of written language in metaphor drawn from the natural world. She is the author of The Names of Things: A Passage in the Egyptian Desert, Wolves and Honey: A Hidden History of the Natural World, and The Dawning Moon of the Mind: Unlocking Pyramid Texts. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times, The Nation, The Seneca Review, and Lapham’s Quarterly. Morrow is currently at work on a book on the religious meaning of darkness for Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Morrow is a former fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation and was an ICWA fellow in Egypt and Sudan from 1988-1990.

Jeffrey Race is a US Army veteran and author of War Comes to Long An, the canonical analysis of why the US effort in Vietnam turned out so badly. He attended Harvard University before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army’s Signal Corps. He returned to Southeast Asia as an independent researcher in South Vietnam and Thailand before returning to Harvard to complete his PhD. Race was an ICWA fellow in Southeast Asia from 1973-1976, and spent most of his life outside the US working as a management consultant, professor and research scholar.

Chandler (“Chad”) Rosenberger is Associate Professor of Sociology and International and Global Studies at Brandeis University, where he also serves as chair of the International and Global Studies program. Chad studied history and philosophy at Dartmouth College and the University of Oxford. From 1992 to 1994 he held a John O. Crane Memorial Fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs, which allowed him to write about post-Communist nationalism across Central Europe. He then earned a doctorate in comparative and historical sociology from Boston University. At Brandeis Chad teaches classes on the cultural foundations of modern politics and society. Having written about nationalism in Europe and the Middle East, Chad is now writing primarily about China and Hong Kong.

Mary Rusinow has been connected in one way or another for most of her life with Eastern Europe, particularly the countries of former Yugoslavia. Her first job was secretary to F.W (later Sir William) Deakin, the first British liaison officer sent to Tito in 1943 and Warden of St. Antony’s College Oxford. After a year as au pair in the house of Paul Reynaud, former Prime Minister of France, she returned to the College until she married Dennison Rusinow, Rhodes Scholar, former Fellow, and briefly Executive Director of ICWA. They lived in Zagreb, Belgrade and then Vienna where she became a Social Affairs Officer in the Branch for the Advancement of Women at the United Nations until Denny’s job took him back to Pittsburgh. Mary was able to attend the UN World Conference on Women in 1995, travelling there on the Peace Train which took 23 days from Helsinki to Beijing.

Pascal Saura is a senior knowledge and learning officer at The World Bank and a former cultural and education adviser with the Embassy of France in the United States. Having earned an Agrégation de Lettres modernes in 1993, Pascal Saura taught literature at the university level in France and at the Washington International School. From 2002 to 2010, he led educational initiatives throughout the English-speaking network of the Alliance Française, and created a program that, still today, connects millions of students with French schools around the world. In 2010, he joined the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), serving as project manager for the World Bank Group expertise network, SkillFinder, and developing the knowledge management strategy for the world’s largest multilateral source of financing for water in developing countries.

Constance Whiteside is a Cultural & International Relations Specialist in Washington DC with extensive experience involving the European Union and its member countries, Embassies, Cultural Institutes and U.S. institutions.  As Senior Outreach Officer at the European Union Delegation to the United States she advised senior officials and created directives for the Delegation’s cultural policy and U.S. relations. She brought together leaders of the Delegation, the Embassies and Washington cultural and educational institutions to create the European Month of Culture, an annual program of more 100 diverse events reaching over 100,000 people.  Building upon these relationships she developed programming using culture to create dialogue on global issues.  As tenured Associate Clinical Professor Of Medicine at the University Of California Davis School Of Medicine, she was Director of Internal Medicine clinics. She helped students and young physicians develop effective skills with diverse international and immigrant populations.  She was visiting Faculty and Guest Lecturer at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford University, where she researched effective health promotion and is the author of multiple publications.  She is also an historical harpist who created a decade of early music Festivals in Washington D.C. and is Director of the early music ensemble Armonia Nova.   She holds a B.S. with Honors in Biology, Stanford University; Doctorate of Medicine, The Medical College of Pennsylvania (Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society); and a graduate of Stanford Faculty Development Program, Stanford University School of Medicine.  Follow her on Twitter @CWCulture

Chi-Chi Zhang is the product experience lead at Google News, one of the world’s most popular news apps with over 100 million monthly active users in 127 countries. At Google, she founded the Google News Speaker Series in an effort to educate the tech community about the news industry and the work of journalists. Prior to Google, Chi-Chi was a Strategic Partnership Manager for edX.org, a Harvard-MIT founded educational technology platform. As a passionate educator, she developed edX’s go-to market strategy in China and led strategic partnership development with leading universities across China. In 2017, Chi-Chi received the President’s Volunteer Service for her teaching work with Citizen Schools in Boston. As a journalist, Chi-Chi spent seven years as a producer for CNN, reporter for the Associated Press and fellow for ICWA across four cities in China and Greater China. She is frequent speaker on technology and news including events hosted by the Asian American Journalists Association, Pulitzer Center, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Chi-Chi was an institute fellow in China in 2013 – 2015.

Joseph Battat is a senior lecturer at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He works with graduate students—Masters, Sloan Fellows and Executive MBAs, in subject areas covering international business and management, doing business in/with China, and operations management. For twenty six years, Joe worked for the World Bank Group as a staff member [1989-2008] or as a Senior Consultant [2008-2015]. He held a number of positions, including the head of the Foreign Investment Advisory Services (FIAS) and its program manager for the Middle East, North Africa, Central/East Europe, the Former Soviet Union, China and Mongolia. FIAS advises governments of developing and emerging economies on ways to improve their investment climate to stimulate domestic and foreign investment conducive to their economic and social development. In the course of this work, he had the opportunity to work or supervise work in over 95 countries. Mr. Battat received a Master of Science in Electronics Physics from Université de Grenoble [France] in 1968, a Diploma in Political Philosophy from Beijing University [China] in 1978, and Doctorate of Philosophy in International Business and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984.

Jeffrey Gedmin is editor-in-chief of The American Interest, print and online, a publication of politics, public policy, and international affairs. From 2015 to 2018, he was senior adviser at Blue Star Strategies. From 2011 to 2014, Gedmin was President and CEO of the London-based Legatum Institute. Prior to joining the Legatum Institute in early 2011, Gedmin served for four years as President and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) headquartered in Prague. Before RFE/RL, Gedmin served as President and CEO of the Aspen Institute in Berlin. Before that, he was Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, D.C and Executive Director of the New Atlantic Initiative. He is the author/editor of several books, including The Hidden Hand: Gorbachev and the Collapse of East Germany (1992). Gedmin also served as co-executive producer for two major PBS documentaries: “The Germans, Portrait of a New Nation” (1995), and “Spain’s 9/11 and the Challenge of Radical Islam in Europe” (2007). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on several advisory boards, including: Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service Masters Program, the Institute for State Effectiveness, the Kleptocracy Initiative, the International Republican Institute’s Beacon Project, the Justice for Journalists Foundation, and the Tocqueville Conversations. Together with former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Norm Eisen, Gedmin is co-chair of the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group.

Fabrice Houdart is Managing Director for Global Equality Initiatives at Out Leadership, the oldest and largest global coalition of companies working towards LGBTI equality. He was formerly a human rights officer at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York, and worked on the UN Free & Equal campaign, an unprecedented United Nations global public education campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality. In addition, he leads a project on global corporate standards for tackling LGBTI discrimination and data collection tools for Human Rights violations against LGBTI people. Previously, Fabrice was Senior Country Officer for the Maghreb at the World Bank where he worked from 2001 to 2016 and was President (2011 – 2015) of its LGBT Employee Resource Group, GLOBE. At the World Bank, Fabrice managed a “Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Development” grant that initiated the sexual minorities in development agenda. The grant, launched in 2012, provided a first estimate of the economic cost of homophobia using India as a case study, carried out a socio-economic survey of LGBTI populations in India and funded a short film on the interconnection between discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and poverty. During his career at the World Bank, Fabrice worked in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, first as a human development specialist and later as a strategy officer. He has authored analyses on Yemen, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Tunisia and provided contributions to the 2012 Gender World Development Report (WDR) and the 2011 Conflict, Security, and Development WDR. He holds a B.A. in economics and management from Dauphine University in Paris and an MBA from American University in Washington, D.C. Fabrice is on the Board of Alturi, a non-profit organization devoted to elevating the LGBTI community globally. He lives in New York City with his twin sons Maxime and Eitan. Twitter: HoudartUN, Instagram: fhoudart

Peggy Knudson is chief development officer at the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington, DC, a nonprofit created in 2001 by Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner that works to prevent catastrophic attacks and accidents with weapons of mass destruction and disruption – nuclear, biological, radiological, chemical, and cyber. From September 2014 until April 2018, Peggy was Vice President of Development at ecoAmerica, a nonprofit that works to get everyday Americans on board with climate-change solutions. And from 2004 until 2012, Peggy was Director of Development in the Foreign Policy Program of the Brookings Institution. She has also served as Senior Vice President for Development at the Center for American Progress and Vice President for Development at the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Early in her career, Peggy was an Associate Senior Editor at The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Executive Director of Women in International Security, a Marketing Manager at the Treuhandanstalt in Berlin, Germany, and Acting Director of the Berlin Office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.  Peggy holds an M.A. in International Relations and Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a B.A. (summa cum laude) in English and Journalism from the University of North Dakota. Peggy is a member of the Board of Directors of ecoAmerica and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Michael Mathison is an independent asset management consultant, after a 30 year career in the financial services industry. Michael specializes in asset management for institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and non-profits, and worked for firms such as Fidelity Investments and Chase Manhattan Bank. Michael has a BA in applied mathematics from Northwestern University, and did graduate work in neuroscience at MIT.

Krishen Mehta is a writer, teacher, and speaker on issues of global tax justice. Prior to making tax justice his main focus, he was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and served in their New York, London, and Tokyo offices. His responsibilities included PwC’s US Tax practices in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, China, and Indonesia. Krishen is non-executive Director of Tax Justice Network. He serves on the Advisory Board of Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, and is a Director of the Japan Foundation of Human Rights Watch. He is a Trustee of the Social Science Foundation a the University of Denver, and of the Institute of Current World Affairs in Washington, DC. Krishen has been an Adjunct Professor at American University, and a frequent guest speaker at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston and at Tokyo University in Japan. He has also conducted Capstone workshops for graduate students at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. From 2010-2012, Krishen was Co-Chairman of the Advisory Board of Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a research and advocacy group based in Washington, DC, and engaged on policies designed to stem illicit financial flows from developing countries. Currently, Krishen is Senior Global Justice Fellow at Yale University. He is also the Founder/Director of Asia Initiatives, a non-profit organization devoted to education and social equity in South Asia.

Susan Brind Morrow has written extensively on the origins of written language in metaphor drawn from the natural world. She is the author of The Names of Things: A Passage in the Egyptian Desert, Wolves and Honey: A Hidden History of the Natural World, and The Dawning Moon of the Mind: Unlocking Pyramid Texts. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times, The Nation, The Seneca Review, and Lapham’s Quarterly. Morrow is currently at work on a book on the religious meaning of darkness for Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Morrow is a former fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation and was an ICWA fellow in Egypt and Sudan from 1988-1990.

Jeffrey Race is a US Army veteran and author of War Comes to Long An, the canonical analysis of why the US effort in Vietnam turned out so badly. He attended Harvard University before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army’s Signal Corps. He returned to Southeast Asia as an independent researcher in South Vietnam and Thailand before returning to Harvard to complete his PhD. Race was an ICWA fellow in Southeast Asia from 1973-1976, and spent most of his life outside the US working as a management consultant, professor and research scholar.

Chandler (“Chad”) Rosenberger is Associate Professor of Sociology and International and Global Studies at Brandeis University, where he also serves as chair of the International and Global Studies program. Chad studied history and philosophy at Dartmouth College and the University of Oxford. From 1992 to 1994 he held a John O. Crane Memorial Fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs, which allowed him to write about post-Communist nationalism across Central Europe. He then earned a doctorate in comparative and historical sociology from Boston University. At Brandeis Chad teaches classes on the cultural foundations of modern politics and society. Having written about nationalism in Europe and the Middle East, Chad is now writing primarily about China and Hong Kong.

Mary Rusinow has been connected in one way or another for most of her life with Eastern Europe, particularly the countries of former Yugoslavia. Her first job was secretary to F.W (later Sir William) Deakin, the first British liaison officer sent to Tito in 1943 and Warden of St. Antony’s College Oxford. After a year as au pair in the house of Paul Reynaud, former Prime Minister of France, she returned to the College until she married Dennison Rusinow, Rhodes Scholar, former Fellow, and briefly Executive Director of ICWA. They lived in Zagreb, Belgrade and then Vienna where she became a Social Affairs Officer in the Branch for the Advancement of Women at the United Nations until Denny’s job took him back to Pittsburgh. Mary was able to attend the UN World Conference on Women in 1995, travelling there on the Peace Train which took 23 days from Helsinki to Beijing.

Pascal Saura is a senior knowledge and learning officer at The World Bank and a former cultural and education adviser with the Embassy of France in the United States. Having earned an Agrégation de Lettres modernes in 1993, Pascal Saura taught literature at the university level in France and at the Washington International School. From 2002 to 2010, he led educational initiatives throughout the English-speaking network of the Alliance Française, and created a program that, still today, connects millions of students with French schools around the world. In 2010, he joined the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), serving as project manager for the World Bank Group expertise network, SkillFinder, and developing the knowledge management strategy for the world’s largest multilateral source of financing for water in developing countries.

Constance Whiteside is a Cultural & International Relations Specialist in Washington DC with extensive experience involving the European Union and its member countries, Embassies, Cultural Institutes and U.S. institutions.  As Senior Outreach Officer at the European Union Delegation to the United States she advised senior officials and created directives for the Delegation’s cultural policy and U.S. relations. She brought together leaders of the Delegation, the Embassies and Washington cultural and educational institutions to create the European Month of Culture, an annual program of more 100 diverse events reaching over 100,000 people.  Building upon these relationships she developed programming using culture to create dialogue on global issues.  As tenured Associate Clinical Professor Of Medicine at the University Of California Davis School Of Medicine, she was Director of Internal Medicine clinics. She helped students and young physicians develop effective skills with diverse international and immigrant populations.  She was visiting Faculty and Guest Lecturer at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford University, where she researched effective health promotion and is the author of multiple publications.  She is also an historical harpist who created a decade of early music Festivals in Washington D.C. and is Director of the early music ensemble Armonia Nova.   She holds a B.S. with Honors in Biology, Stanford University; Doctorate of Medicine, The Medical College of Pennsylvania (Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society); and a graduate of Stanford Faculty Development Program, Stanford University School of Medicine.  Follow her on Twitter @CWCulture

Chi-Chi Zhang is the product experience lead at Google News, one of the world’s most popular news apps with over 100 million monthly active users in 127 countries. At Google, she founded the Google News Speaker Series in an effort to educate the tech community about the news industry and the work of journalists. Prior to Google, Chi-Chi was a Strategic Partnership Manager for edX.org, a Harvard-MIT founded educational technology platform. As a passionate educator, she developed edX’s go-to market strategy in China and led strategic partnership development with leading universities across China. In 2017, Chi-Chi received the President’s Volunteer Service for her teaching work with Citizen Schools in Boston. As a journalist, Chi-Chi spent seven years as a producer for CNN, reporter for the Associated Press and fellow for ICWA across four cities in China and Greater China. She is frequent speaker on technology and news including events hosted by the Asian American Journalists Association, Pulitzer Center, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Chi-Chi was an institute fellow in China in 2013 – 2015.

Honorary Trustees

Chi-Chi Zhang is the product experience lead at Google News, one of the world’s most popular news apps with over 100 million monthly active users in 127 countries. At Google, she founded the Google News Speaker Series in an effort to educate the tech community about the news industry and the work of journalists. Prior to Google, Chi-Chi was a Strategic Partnership Manager for edX.org, a Harvard-MIT founded educational technology platform. As a passionate educator, she developed edX’s go-to market strategy in China and led strategic partnership development with leading universities across China. In 2017, Chi-Chi received the President’s Volunteer Service for her teaching work with Citizen Schools in Boston. As a journalist, Chi-Chi spent seven years as a producer for CNN, reporter for the Associated Press and fellow for ICWA across four cities in China and Greater China. She is frequent speaker on technology and news including events hosted by the Asian American Journalists Association, Pulitzer Center, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Chi-Chi was an institute fellow in China in 2013 – 2015.

Robert A. Levinson is chief executive officer, president and executive chairman of Levcor International Inc. He served as president, chief executive officer and Chairman of Carlyle Industries Inc., (formerly Belding Hemingway Inc.) from May 1998 to January 2003. From November 1979 to July 1986, he served as President of Dillon Yarn Corporation. From 1977 to December 1987, Mr. Levinson served as chairman of the Board of Directors of Sheldon Petroleum. Mr. Levinson was a Member of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Museum from 1968 to 1994, where he served as Chairman from 1972 to 1984. From 1979 to May 1, 1995, Mr. Levinson served as Chairman of the Board of Andrex Industries Corp. Mr. Levinson served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of The National Committee of U.S.- China Relations Inc. Mr. Levinson served as Chairman and Member of the Advisory Board of The National Dance Institute. He serves as Chairman Emeritus and Member of the Board of The Harlem School of the Arts. Mr. Levinson was on the Board of Overseers of the Hood Museum and Hopkins Performing Arts Center at Dartmouth for 12 years, and a Member of the New York-Beijing Sister City Advisory Committee. He is on the Advisory Committee of the Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange at Columbia University. Mr. Levinson graduated from Dartmouth with an A.B. degree in February of 1946 and received an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth in September of the same year. He attended the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he did additional graduate work.

Peter Bird Martin is executive director of the John Hazard Institute, a 501(c)(3) public charity that provides international comparative law fellowships to study the law, law language, and law culture of countries crucial to U.S understanding of international affairs. Peter Martin was an ICWA fellow in sub-Saharan Africa (1953 to 1955). He then spent 23 years as a writer, senior editor and magazine inventor at Time Incorporated. He was the Executive Director of the Institute of Current World Affairs from 1978-2006.

Edmund Sutton is retired from JP Morgan & Co. From 1985 to 1999 he was president of JP Morgan Overseas Capital Corp. He is also a trustee of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York Council for the Humanities.

Robert A. Levinson is chief executive officer, president and executive chairman of Levcor International Inc. He served as president, chief executive officer and Chairman of Carlyle Industries Inc., (formerly Belding Hemingway Inc.) from May 1998 to January 2003. From November 1979 to July 1986, he served as President of Dillon Yarn Corporation. From 1977 to December 1987, Mr. Levinson served as chairman of the Board of Directors of Sheldon Petroleum. Mr. Levinson was a Member of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Museum from 1968 to 1994, where he served as Chairman from 1972 to 1984. From 1979 to May 1, 1995, Mr. Levinson served as Chairman of the Board of Andrex Industries Corp. Mr. Levinson served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of The National Committee of U.S.- China Relations Inc. Mr. Levinson served as Chairman and Member of the Advisory Board of The National Dance Institute. He serves as Chairman Emeritus and Member of the Board of The Harlem School of the Arts. Mr. Levinson was on the Board of Overseers of the Hood Museum and Hopkins Performing Arts Center at Dartmouth for 12 years, and a Member of the New York-Beijing Sister City Advisory Committee. He is on the Advisory Committee of the Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange at Columbia University. Mr. Levinson graduated from Dartmouth with an A.B. degree in February of 1946 and received an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth in September of the same year. He attended the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he did additional graduate work.

Peter Bird Martin is executive director of the John Hazard Institute, a 501(c)(3) public charity that provides international comparative law fellowships to study the law, law language, and law culture of countries crucial to U.S understanding of international affairs. Peter Martin was an ICWA fellow in sub-Saharan Africa (1953 to 1955). He then spent 23 years as a writer, senior editor and magazine inventor at Time Incorporated. He was the Executive Director of the Institute of Current World Affairs from 1978-2006.

Edmund Sutton is retired from JP Morgan & Co. From 1985 to 1999 he was president of JP Morgan Overseas Capital Corp. He is also a trustee of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York Council for the Humanities.