About the Speakers

Robert Zoellick has led an exemplary career, strengthening some of the most vital organizations and enterprises in the world. He has been the president of The World Bank Group since July 1, 2007.

Zoellick served in President George W. Bush's cabinet as U.S. Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005 and as Deputy Secretary of State from 2005 to 2006. From 1985 to 1993, Zoellick worked at the Treasury and State departments in various capacities, as well as briefly in the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff. In 2006 and 2007, he served as Vice Chairman, International of Goldman Sachs Group. Zoellick holds a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, a master's degree in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College.

James A. Thomson is a transformational figure in the history of the RAND Corporation and has been part of the RAND family for more than 30 years.

Thomson became RAND's fourth president in 1989, a post in which he served longer than any of his predecessors. He embraced the role after serving in a variety of positions, including director of RAND's research programs in national security, foreign policy, defense policy, and arms control; vice president in charge of RAND Project AIR FORCE; and executive vice president. He brought into each of these roles a wealth of experience in government and academia that made him uniquely suited to help RAND grow in the post–Cold War era. He had been a member of the National Security Council staff at the White House, where he was primarily responsible for defense and arms control matters related to Europe; and he served on the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense throughout the mid-1970s. In an earlier phase of his career, he was an experimental nuclear physicist.

Thomson helped redefine RAND as a research organization that serves decisionmakers at all levels of government, and reaches beyond government to the private and nonprofit sectors. RAND greatly expanded its international reach under his leadership, fostering today's substantial presence in Europe and the Middle East. During his tenure, the Pardee RAND Graduate School became the largest Ph.D. program in policy analysis in the world.

Francis Fukuyama is one of the leading public intellectuals of our time. He has distinguished himself as a political economist, a groundbreaking philosopher and author, and an innovative professor.

Fukuyama served twice as a member of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff during the 1980s—first as a regular member specializing in Middle East affairs and then as deputy director for European political-military affairs. In the early ’80s, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Egyptian-Israeli talks on Palestinian autonomy. Later on, from 2001 to 2004, he served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. The author of more than a dozen books, including several best-sellers, Fukuyama's work has been published in many languages; his 1992 title The End of History and the Last Man has appeared in more than 20 foreign editions. An entrepreneur at heart, Fukuyama founded The American Interest in 2005 and serves as editorial board chairman to this day.

Fukuyama is also a cherished member of the RAND family; currently a RAND trustee, he previously was a member of RAND's political science department and served on the Pardee RAND Graduate School Board of Governors.