Richard Ponzio
Director
Dr. Richard Ponzio is Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Governance, Justice & Security Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C., where he also co-directs with ACUNS the Global Governance Innovation Network. He brings expertise in the areas of global and national democratic-building, global political economy, and the role of international institutions in responding to state fragility, global financial volatility, and population displacement. Previously, he led the Global Governance Program at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, where he directed the Albright-Gambari Commission with the Stimson Center. Earlier, Dr. Ponzio served as Senior Adviser in the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he conceptualized and coordinated Secretary Hillary Clinton’s and later John Kerry’s New Silk Road initiative. He has served in senior peacebuilding roles with the United Nations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, New York, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and the Solomon Islands. Dr. Ponzio has published widely, including Democratic Peacebuilding: Aiding Afghanistan and other Fragile States(OUP, 2011) and Human Development and Global Institutions: Evolution, Impact, Reform with Dr. Arunabha Ghosh (Routledge, 2016). Most recently, he co-edited the volume Just Security in an Undergoverned World (OUP, 2018) and co-authored and directed research for “An Innovation Agenda for UN 75: The Albright-Gambari Commission Report and the Road to 2020” (2019) and “Reimagining Governance in a Multipolar World” and co-authored “Central Asia’s Growing Role in Building Peace & Regional Connectivity with Afghanistan” (commissioned by the U.S. Institute of Peace). He received his doctorate in politics and international relations from Oxford on a Clarendon Fellowship and has master’s degrees from The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies (Geneva) and a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University.