Bennett Freeman Named First Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow in Business and Foreign Policy

For immediate release

Contact: Lisa Shields, Director of Communications, 212.434.9888

March 20, 2002 – The Council on Foreign Relations has named Bennett Freeman, a former senior official at the State Department in the Clinton Administration and at General Electric, as its first Bernard L. Schwartz Fellow in Business and Foreign Policy.

Freeman will join the Council’s new Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, which conducts policy-related research on issues that combine economics with other dimensions of foreign policy. “Bennett brings the whole package to this position – high-level experience in business and in government,” said Council President Leslie H. Gelb.

Freeman will analyze current and future impacts of business on U.S. foreign policy, and vice-versa, and explore ways for government to make better use of business and how it can be further engaged in foreign policy.

Freeman served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs. Previously, Freeman was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief Speechwriter for Secretary of State Warren Christopher in the first Clinton Administration. Prior to his government service he served as Manager-Corporate Affairs for General Electric. Freeman is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and holds an M.A. in Modern History from the University of Oxford.

This fellowship is funded by Bernard L. Schwartz, Chairman and CEO of Loral Space & Communications Ltd. In explaining his gift, Mr. Schwartz said, “capitalism can be a major force for peace and prosperity, but its full potential can be realized only through sophisticated cooperation between business and government.”