Board of Directors
Susan E. Rice, Ph.D
The Brookings Institution
Susan E. Rice is a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies and Global Economy and Development Programs at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., where her work encompasses a wide range of issues related to U.S. foreign and national security policy. Her long term research focuses on global poverty, weak states and transnational security threats. Her other areas of expertise include terrorism, U.S. foreign assistance, conflict resolution and post-conflict issues, the United Nations, peace and stability operations, and African affairs.
In 2004, Dr. Rice took a leave of absence from Brookings to serve as Senior Advisor for National Security Affairs on the Kerry-Edwards campaign.
Prior to this, Dr. Rice was Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1997-2001. In this capacity, she formulated and implemented overall U.S. policy towards 48 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, including political, economic, security and humanitarian issues. She oversaw management of 43 U.S. Embassies, over 5000 U.S. and Foreign Service national employees, a Bureau operating budget of over $100 million and a program budget of approximately $160 million, annually.
From 1995-1997, Dr. Rice also served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) and, from 1993-1995, as Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping at the NSC. Prior to her White House tenure, Rice was a management consultant at McKinsey and Company in Toronto, where she served clients in oil and gas, steel, transportation, retail, public/non-governmental and pulp/paper sectors.
Dr. Rice was the co-recipient of the White House’s 2000 Samuel Nelson Drew Memorial Award for distinguished contributions to the formation of peaceful, cooperative relationships between states. She was awarded the Chatham House-British International Studies Association Prize for the most distinguished doctoral dissertation in the United Kingdom in the field of International Relations. Dr. Rice is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on several boards including the National Democratic Institute, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and the Internews Corporation.
Dr. Rice received B.A. in History from Stanford and an M.Phil. from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She also received a D.Phil. (Ph.D) in International Relations from Oxford. She is married to Ian Cameron and has two children.
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