The Hon. Paula Dobriansky

  • Ambassador and former Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Chair of the National Board of the World Affairs Councils of America. From 2010 to 2012, she was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Thomson Reuters, responsible for designing and implementing a corporate approach for engagement in Washington DC and other key capitals around the globe and instrumental in the development of the company’s financial regulatory strategy. During this time, she also held the Distinguished National Security Chair at the U.S. Naval Academy.

From May 2001- January 2009, Ambassador Dobriansky served as Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. She established and led the U.S.-India, U.S.-China and U.S.-Brazil Global Issues Fora, which advanced our cooperation on environment, health and humanitarian issues. In February 2007, she was appointed the President’s Special Envoy to Northern Ireland and contributed to the peace process resulting in the historic devolution of power in Belfast. For her leadership and achievements in these positions, she received the Secretary of State’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal.

Other high level government appointments which she held include: Associate Director for Policy and Programs at USIA, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Deputy Head of the US Delegation to the 1990 Copenhagen Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council, the White House. From 1997-2001, she served on the Presidentially appointed U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

Ambassador Dobriansky also served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington office of the Council on Foreign Relations and was the Council’s first George F. Kennan senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian studies. She has a B.S.F.S summa cum laude from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an M.A. and Ph.D in Soviet political/military affairs from Harvard University and has received four honorary doctoral degrees. A recipient of various international honors including Poland’s Highest Medal of Merit, Ukraine’s Order of Merit and Hungary’s Commander’s Cross Order of Merit, Ambassador Dobriansky has also been awarded the Foreign Policy Association Medal.