Seminars at Steamboat

Barry Eichengreen is George C. Pardee & Helen N. Pardee Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1987. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA, a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, and he previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the International Monetary Fund. His academic work focuses on, among other things, current and historical exchange rates and capital flows. Professor Eichengreen is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles. His most recent book, published in March of this year, is Money Beyond Borders: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto, a 2,500-year history of international currencies that reveals new insights about the future of the U.S. dollar—as well as crypto and central bank digital currencies.

Stephen Hawkins serves as Global Director of Research for More in Common, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to understanding and addressing political polarization, social division, and the psychological drivers behind societal fragmentation. He leads the design, execution, and interpretation of research that analyzes how societies might better understand and overcome their divisions. Mr. Hawkins’ own research focuses on: political polarization and tribalism in democratic societies; perception gaps—how people misconceive the beliefs and behaviors of those they disagree with; the psychology of common identity and division; and strategies for building social cohesion and dialogue. Mr. Hawkins’ work is widely cited in major media outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, CNN, and Fox News, and it has been presented to policymakers, civic groups, and heads of state in the U.S. and Europe.

Dr. John Nagl is a Professorial Lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He had a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Army, serving in combat in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, for which he received a Bronze Star in both conflicts, and retiring with the rank of Lt. Colonel. Since his retirement from the military, Dr Nagl has pursued academic and policy work, including as president of the Center for a New American Security, an independent, bipartisan organization that develops national security and defense policies. Dr. Nagl is renowned for his in-depth knowledge of and unique perspective on U.S. defense strategy, with a particular focus on counterinsurgency and irregular warfare, which is the use of force to achieve political results below the level of conventional armed conflict. 

Ambassador Dennis Ross, an esteemed diplomat, scholar and foreign policy expert with more than two decades of experience in Middle East and Soviet policy, is the counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. For more than twelve years, Ambassador Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process, dealing directly with the parties as the U.S. point person on the peace process in both the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He has written extensively and speaks widely on the history of the peace process in the Middle East and current Middle East developments, including the war in Iran.

Dr. Marcia McNutt was elected in 2016 as the first female president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), which is a private, nonprofit institution established by Congress to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology; and she was subsequently reelected for a second term in 2022. Dr. McNutt is a distinguished geophysicist who previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the Science journals, the premier U.S. scientific journals, and before that as director of the U.S. Geological Survey. During her tenure at the NAS, she has focused on strengthening U.S. science leadership, advancing climate change solutions, and fostering scientific accountability. 

Professor Samuel Issacharoff is a leading figure in the development of constitutional law. He has written extensively on the structure of constitutional democracy and the limits of judicial intervention in the political process, and his scholarship is widely regarded for its clarity, depth and insightful analysis. He is currently the Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law, where he specializes in constitutional law, civil rights, and the intersection of law and politics.

Professor Samuel Issacharoff speaks about the role of our constitution in our unique democracy.

Environmental, Social and Economic Impacts of Green Energy Technologies, and the Need for Public Policy

Ricardo Hausmann is the founder and Director of Harvard University’s Growth Lab and the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Under his leadership, the Growth Lab has become one of the most important centers for economic research in the world, and Hausmann himself has been especially influential in developing new theories and methodologies now widely used among economists.

Ted Mitchell is an experienced educator, innovator and policy maker. His long career in education has included roles in academia, federal education policy and organizational leadership, with a special focus on access to high-quality outcomes for all students. He is currently President of the American Council on Education (ACE).

Bruce Hoffman is a leading authority on terrorism, insurgency, and political violence, with a career that spans more than four decades of groundbreaking research, scholarship, and advice to governments and international organizations.

He is currently a tenured professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and has been the director of the university’s undergraduate Center for Jewish Civilization and also of its graduate-level Center for Security Studies and the Security Studies Master of Arts Program.

In addition, he is Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security at the Council on Foreign Relations; Senior Fellow at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY; professor emeritus of terrorism studies at St Andrews University, Scotland; and an adjunct professor at the International Institute of Counterterrorism, Herzliya, Israel, and at Charles Stuart University, Canberra, Australia. He previously held the Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation.

Ivo Daalder is a prominent global affairs expert with a career spanning academia, public service and policy analysis. He is retiring this year after 12 years as president and chief executive officer of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, an influential organization that convenes leaders and experts for discussions about the world’s most pressing issues. He also hosts the weekly podcast World Review with Ivo Daalder, featuring leading journalists from around the world discussing the week’s biggest news stories, and writes a bimonthly column From Across the Pond for Politico Europe and the Substack newsletter America Abroad.

Before leading the Chicago Council, he served as U.S. Ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. In this capacity, he played a critical role in strengthening the transatlantic alliance, overseeing NATO’s response to crises, including the conflict in Afghanistan, and promoting strategic defense initiatives that shaped European security. His tenure was marked by efforts to adapt NATO to a rapidly changing global environment – changes that are even more rapid and far-reaching today.

Ambassador Daalder has also been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, focusing on U.S. foreign policy, European affairs and international security, and on the staff of the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton, where he worked on key policy issues including European security and the Balkans.

In addition to his extensive policy experience, Daalder is a respected academic. He was educated at the Universities of Kent, Oxford, and Georgetown University, and received his Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an honorary Doctor of Civil Law from the University of Kent. For his service as US Ambassador to NATO, Daalder was honored by the governments of Germany, Latvia, and Estonia, and received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.