International Advisory Council

International Advisory Council

Chair of the Advisory Board

The Honourable Ana Palacio

A lawyer by profession, specializing in international and European Union law, arbitration and mediation, Ana Palacio has held the most senior positions in the governing bodies of the Madrid Bar, as well as the European Bar (first vice president and president elect, 2000-2002). She served as Spain’s Foreign Minister (2002-2004) and, at the time, held the most senior post ever filled by a woman in the Spanish government. As Prime Minister Aznar’s representative to the European Convention and the Convention’s Presidium (2001-2002), On top of her commitment to the AJC Transatlantic Institute, Ms. Palacio sits on the International Advisory Board of different think tanks and public institutions, among others: Council on Foreign Relations (US and EU), Notre Europe, Institut Montaigne, Aspen Institute Italia, Instituto de Empresa (IE). Ms. Palacio holds degrees in Law, and Political Science and Sociology; her performance in hAmer degree studies merited the Award for Academic Achievement (Premio Extraordinario Fin de Carrera).

Advisory Board Member

Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and a partner in Creative Engagement, an advisory firm that helps governments, corporations, and non-profits reach their key audiences in innovative ways. Craig spent 18 years as president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), an organization that promotes better understanding and cooperation between North America and Europe on transatlantic issues. Under his leadership, the GMF opened 8 offices in Europe and built a vast array of offerings for policy makers and government and business leaders. Kennedy began his career in 1980 as a program officer at the Joyce Foundation in Chicago and grew to become the president of that organization. He left the Joyce Foundation to work for Richard J. Dennis, a Chicago investor and philanthropist and at the same time created a consulting firm working with nonprofit and public sector clients before coming to the German Marshall Fund in 1995. In 1974, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Civilization Studies from the University of Chicago, and in 1980 he completed a joint degree program, acquiring a Master of Arts in Social Work and a Master of Business Administration.

Advisory Board Member

Professor William Poorvu

Professor William Poorvu is the Class of 1961 Adjunct Professor in Entrepreneurship, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He taught and was responsible for the real estate courses there for 35 years. He was the school’s first adjunct professor, its first adjunct professor with a named chair and the first non-tenured professor at Harvard University to be given Emeritus status. Prof. Poorvu also was on the faculty of the Graduate School of Design for many years. Among his community activities, Prof. Poorvu is a Life Trustee and former Vice Chair and Treasurer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a Trustee and Treasurer of the Gardner Museum and Vice Chair of the National Public Radio Foundation. He has chaired or co-chaired all three of their investment committees. He is a member of the Carnegie Corporation Investment Committee and a former member of the Yale University Investment Committee and of the Yale University Council. He has served on various government commissions including the State Department's Overseas Presence Advisory Panel. Prof. Poorvu received his BA from Yale University in 1956 and his MBA in 1958 from Harvard Business School.

Advisory Board Member

Ambassador John Negroponte

Ambassador John Negroponte joined the US diplomatic service in 1960, and as the Vietnam war raged he was assigned to the US embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam. From 1971 to 1973, reporting directly to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, he was the National Security Council (NSC)’s senior officer for Vietnam. In 2001, answering the call from President George W. Bush, he became America’s Ambassador to the United Nations, where he was successful in winning unanimous support for a resolution demanding Saddam Hussein to comply with the UN. In 2004, as the restoration of Iraq’s sovereignty was publicly announced, Negroponte was appointed Ambassador to that nation. In 2005, Ambassador Negroponte was named to the newly-created position of Director of National Intelligence for the United States. In this job, he oversaw all American intelligence agencies, and provided daily intelligence briefings for the President, a duty that had previously been performed by the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He left that position in 2007 to become Deputy Secretary of State, second-in-command to Secretary Condoleezza Rice.

Advisory Board Member

The Honorable Robert Wexler

The Honorable Robert Wexler is the President of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. He served as a Democratic member of Congress for seven terms, representing Florida’s 19th district in the US House of Representatives before retiring in January 2010 to lead the Center. Throughout his tenure in Congress, Congressman Wexler has been an outspoken advocate for the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel, and a leading proponent of Israel’s right to self-defense and the need for a just and comprehensive resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. At President Clinton’s invitation, he was the only member of the House of Representatives present during the signing of the Wye River Peace Agreement. In addition, Congressman Wexler was one of two Congressmen to travel to the International Court of Justice at the Hague to oppose the Palestinian case against Israel’s construction of a security barrier. Congressman Wexler served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and as a member of the Middle East Subcommittee. He worked to strengthen the transatlantic alliance, build security and economic bonds with the European Union and the nations of Europe.

Advisory Board Member

Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat

Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat has held a number of key senior government positions, including chief White House domestic policy adviser to President Carter (1977-1981); US Ambassador to the EU, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Under Secretary of State for Economic, and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton Administration (1993-2001). During the Clinton Administration, he had a prominent role in the development of key international initiatives, including the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. On behalf of victims of the Holocaust, Ambassador Eizenstat successfully negotiated major agreements with European countries, covering restitution of property, payment for slave and forced laborers, recovery of looted art, bank accounts, and payment of insurance policies. Ambassador Eizenstat currently heads Covington & Burling LLP’s international practice. His work includes resolving international trade problems with the US and foreign governments. He has received seven honorary doctorate degrees from universities and academic institutions and was named “The Leading Lawyer in International Trade” in Washington, DC by Legal Times in 2007.

Advisory Board Member

The Honourable Dan Glickman

Daniel Robert "Dan" Glickman is an American businessman and politician. He served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1995 until 2001, prior to which he represented the Fourth Congressional District of Kansas as a Democrat in Congress for 18 years. In 1976, he was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat from Kansas, defeating an eight-term Republican incumbent. Glickman was a leading congressional expert on general aviation policy and wrote landmark legislation providing product liability protection for small airplane manufacturers. In his final term, he was the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be the Secretary of Agriculture, where he served from 1995 to 2001. After Clinton's term ended, Glickman became the director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. Mr Glickman was Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) from 2004–2010. He serves as a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he focuses on public health, national security, and economic policy issues. He also co-chairs BPC's Democracy Project and co-leads the center's Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative.