O’Neil, Vogelstein to Lead CFR Initiatives

O’Neil, Vogelstein to Lead CFR Initiatives

Shannon O’Neil will become director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy program (CSMD), and Rachel Vogelstein will become director of the Women and Foreign Policy program (WFP), replacing Isobel Coleman, who formerly directed both initiatives. Ambassador Coleman is now the U.S. representative to the United Nations for UN management and reform.

March 26, 2015 4:27 pm (EST)

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Shannon O’Neil will become director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy program (CSMD), and Rachel Vogelstein will become director of the Women and Foreign Policy program (WFP), replacing Isobel Coleman, who formerly directed both initiatives. Ambassador Coleman is now the U.S. representative to the United Nations for UN management and reform.

“We deeply appreciate Isobel Coleman’s work in building up these two programs that are critical to the Council’s and the country’s foreign policy agenda,” said CFR President Richard N. Haass. “Both programs should prosper given that Shannon O’Neil and Rachel Vogelstein bring impressive, relevant experience and expertise to their new roles and to these initiatives.”  

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O’Neil will retain her role as senior fellow for Latin America Studies. Her expertise includes U.S.-Latin America relations, trade, energy, and immigration. She was a Fulbright scholar, a Justice, Welfare, and Economics fellow at Harvard University, and has taught Latin American politics at Columbia University. Before turning to policy, O’Neil worked as an equity analyst at Indosuez Capital and Credit Lyonnais Securities. Her book, Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead, examines the dramatic changes that have occurred in Mexico in recent decades and their implications for the United States. She blogs on Latin America’s Moment. She has lived and worked in Mexico and Argentina.

The Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy program focuses on promoting and improving democratic government, strengthening markets and making them more just, and protecting and advancing human rights. CSMD fellows write for the Development Channel blog; recent posts cover subjects such as integrating women in Afghanistan’s police force, countering violent extremism, and leveraging new technology in international development. They also organize events and contribute to CFR publications, such as the book Pathways to Freedom: Political and Economic Lessons from Democratic Transitions

Vogelstein will become a senior fellow in addition to director of WFP. She has deep expertise on women and foreign policy issues. At CFR, Vogelstein’s research has explored the relationship between women’s advancement and U.S. interests. Her most recent report, Ending Child Marriage: How Elevating the Status of Girls Advances U.S. Foreign Policy Objectives, analyzed the effect of child marriage on development and stability. Prior to joining CFR, Vogelstein served as director of policy and senior advisor in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State, where she advised former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and the first-ever U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer. Following her tenure at the State Department, Vogelstein was director of women and girls’ programs in the Office of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Clinton Foundation. She is currently a professor of gender and U.S. foreign policy at Georgetown Law School.

CFR’s Women and Foreign Policy program works with leading scholars to bring the status of women into the mainstream foreign policy debate. Among its areas of focus are girls’ education, child marriage, the role of women in peacekeeping, and women’s economic empowerment. WFP fellows hold a roundtable series, which most recently have focused on the status of women and girls in Afghanistan and gender equality in the Muslim World.   

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