Elise Lewis, Council Membership and Fellowship Affairs Executive, Named New Vice President

June 3,1999, New York City - Elise Carlson Lewis has been promoted to Vice President for Membership and Fellowship Affairs, Leslie H. Gelb, President of the Council on Foreign Relations announced today.

“Elise Lewis has earned her way to this position through hard work and creativity,” said Mr. Gelb. “I am happy to be able to acknowledge the importance of her work with this appointment.”

Elise Lewis joined the Council a dozen years ago working in the Membership Office on critical efforts at the Council, including the Task Forces on Minorities and Women, and the International Affairs Fellowship Program. During 1993-94, she was Special Assistant to newly appointed Council President Leslie H. Gelb. She helped establish a new Council Program on Enhancing Minority Opportunities in International Affairs funded by the Ford and Mellon foundations.

In December 1994, she was appointed Director of Membership & Fellowship Affairs and is responsible for the membership and term membership programs, as well as the various Council fellowship programs, including the International Affairs Fellowship (IAF); IAF in Japan, sponsored by Hitachi, Ltd.; Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship; and fellowships for senior members of the U.S. Military, CIA and the State Department. Prior to joining the Council, she worked on educational and cultural exchange programs in South Asia.

She received a B.A. from Vassar College and has undertaken graduate study at Baruch College, CUNY and New York University.

The Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921 and based in New York, is a national nonpartisan membership organization and think tank dedicated to fostering America’s understanding of other nations through study and debate.