Robert Malley

Robert Malley

Robert Malley was appointed US Special Envoy for Iran on January 28, 2021.  Prior to that, he served as President and CEO of the International Crisis Group.

Under the President Barack Obama, he served as Special Assistant to the President, Senior Advisor to the President for the Counter-ISIL campaign, and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf Region in 2015-2016 and, before that, as Senior Director for the Gulf Region and Syria.

Before joining the National Security Council staff in February 2014, Mr. Malley founded and directed the International Crisis Group’s Middle East and North Africa Program from January 2002.  Prior to that, he was a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Until January 2001, Mr. Malley was Special Assistant to President Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs and Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. Mr. Malley first joined the National Security Council staff in August 1994 as Director for Democracy. In July 1997, he became Executive Assistant to the National Security Advisor from July 1997 to September 1998, acting as an informal chief of staff for Samuel R. Berger.

Mr. Malley served as a law clerk to Justice Byron R. White of the United States Supreme Court in 1991-1992.

Mr. Malley is a graduate of Yale University, Harvard Law School and Oxford University, England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He is the author of “The Call from Algeria: Third Worldism, Revolution and the Turn to Islam” and of articles published in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Le Monde, and several other publications.

* Currently not serving on the Board given new government commitments

Thomas R. Pickering Chairman

Thomas R. Pickering

Thomas R. Pickering holds the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. In a diplomatic career spanning five decades, he was U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Pickering also served on assignments in Zanzibar and Tanzania. From 1997 to 2001, he was U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. From 1989 to 1992, he was Ambassador and Representative to the United Nations in New York. He also served as Executive Secretary of the Department of State and Special Assistant to Secretaries William P. Rogers and Henry A. Kissinger from 1973 to 1974. Prior to that, he was briefly the President of the Eurasia Foundation. Following his retirement from government, he served as Senior Vice President for the Boeing Company, and is currently Vice Chairman at Hills & Company, which provides advice and counsel to a number of major US enterprises. In 1983 and in 1986, Pickering won the Distinguished Presidential Award and, in 1996, the Department of State’s highest award – the Distinguished Service Award. He is a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1984, he was awarded an honorary doctor-in-laws degree from Bowdoin College, and has received similar honours from 12 other universities. Along with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, Ambassador Pickering led a State-Department-sponsored panel investigating the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

Advancing a dignified Israeli-Palestinian peace, an end to occupation and mutual security for both peoples. Presenting policymakers in the United States, MENA and the broader international community with analysis and policy options to promote de-escalation and prevent and resolve conflicts in the region. Guided by an eminent international board and senior advisors.