Paula Dobriansky Keynote Speaker

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky is a foreign policy expert and diplomat specializing in national security affairs. She is Vice Chair of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security (Atlantic Council) and sits on several corporate and advisory boards, including Rubicon (NASDAQ: RBCN) and Veracity Worldwide. She is also Co-Chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Commission on Ukraine’s Economic Reconstruction.

Dobriansky brings over 30 years of government and international experience across senior levels of business, diplomacy, and defense. She was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Thomson Reuters. In this position, she was responsible for designing and implementing a corporate approach for engagement in Washington, D.C. and other key capitals around the globe and was instrumental in the development of Thomson Reuters’ financial regulatory strategy. Dobriansky was also an integral part of the management team, which was focused on enhancing the demand for Thomson Reuters’ products and services in both the private and public sectors. During this time, she was also appointed the Distinguished National Security Chair at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Ambassador Dobriansky served as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs from 2001 to 2009. Among her primary accomplishments, she established and led the U.S.-India, U.S.-China, and U.S.- Brazil Global Issues Fora — which advanced crucial work and international 2 cooperation on environment, energy, health, development, and humanitarian issues. In this context, protection of U.S. intellectual property rights was one of the key issues which was addressed. Additionally, she was head of delegation and lead negotiator on U.S. climate change policy.

In February 2007, as the President’s Envoy to Northern Ireland, Dobriansky received the Secretary of State’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, for her contribution to the historic devolution of power in Belfast. She has held many Senate-confirmed, senior level positions including Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council, the White House, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Deputy Head of the U.S. Delegation to the 1990 Copenhagen Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and Associate Director for Policy and Programs at the United States Information Agency.

Ambassador Dobriansky has also served on key government boards including the Defense Policy Board, the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board and as Chair of Exim Bank’s Council on China Competition. She now serves as a member of the Council.

From 1997- 2001, Ambassador Dobriansky was Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington Office of the Council on Foreign Relations and was the first George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies. During this time, she also served on the Presidentially-appointed U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

She is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy, Ambassador Dobriansky is a Trustee of the Trilateral Commission and on the Advisory Board of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Previous boards include the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, Smith Richardson Foundation, National Endowment for Democracy (Vice Chair), George Mason University Board of Visitors and the World Affairs Councils of America as Chairman of the National Board.