Campbell, Kurt M.
United States

Kurt M. Campbell is Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He concurrently serves as Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and the Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Washington Quarterly, and is the Founder and Principal of StratAsia, a strategic advisory company focused on Asia. Prior to co-founding CNAS, he served as Senior Vice President, Director of the International Security Program, and the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in National Security Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Previously, Campbell served in several capacities in government, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia and the Pacific, Director on the National Security Council Staff, Deputy Special Counselor to the President for NAFTA, and as a White House fellow at the Department of the Treasury. He was also associate professor of public policy and international relations at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Assistant Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Campbell has received the Department of Defense Medals for Distinguished Public Service and for Outstanding Public Service. He serves on several boards, including Aegis Capital, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the U.S.-Australian Leadership Dialogue, the Reves Center at the College of William and Mary, STS Technologies, Civitas, the 9-11 Pentagon Memorial Fund, and New Media Strategies. Campbell is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Wasatch Group, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is coauthor of Hard Power: The New Politics of National Security, principal author of To Prevail: An American Strategy for the Campaign against Terrorism (CSIS, 2001), coeditor of The Nuclear Tipping Point (Brookings, 2004), and has contributed extensively to journals, magazines, and newspapers. He has also been a contributing writer to The New York Times, a frequent on-air contributor to NPR's “All Things Considered,” and a consultant to ABC News. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in the Chief of Naval Operations Special Intelligence Unit. He received a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and a Ph.D. in International Relations from Oxford University.

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Chavis, Benjamin
USA

Benjamin Chavis is President and CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), an organization dedicated to empowering the Hip-Hop community to utilize their commanding cultural influence for freedom, justice, and equality. In 1993, he became the youngest person ever appointed Executive Director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1997, Chavis was appointed Special Assistant to Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, a position he still holds today. He is the author of several books and studies, including An American Political Prisoner Appeals for Human Rights, Psalms from Prison and Toxic Waste and Race in the United States of America. Chavis received a B.A. in Chemistry from University of North Carolina, an M.Div. from Duke University; a D.Min. from Howard University; and completed course requirements for a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary.

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