Isobel Coleman

Topic:

Dr. Isobel Coleman is senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and director of the Council’s Women and Foreign Policy program. Her areas of expertise include economic and political development in the Middle East, regional gender issues, educational reform, and microfinance. She recently coauthored _Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in International Security_ (Hoover Institution Press,2006).

Her forthcoming book, _Paradise Beneath Her Feet: Women and Reform in the Middle East_ (Random House, 2008), examines how women are bringing about reform in the Middle East within an Islamic framework.

Dr. Coleman’s work has appeared in publications such as:

  • Foreign Affairs
  • Foreign Policy
  • Financial Times
  • The International Herald Tribune
  • USA Today
  • The Christian Science Monitor
  • Toronto Star
  • Dallas Morning News
  • Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
  • Fletcher Forum of World Affairs

She is a frequent speaker at academic, business, and policy conferences. Her media experience includes interviews on CNN, CNN International, ABC, Good Morning America, BBC, PBS’s Frontline, al-Arabiya, Al Jazeera and NPR. She has testified before Congress on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prior to joining the Council, Dr. Coleman was CEO of a health-care services company and a partner with McKinsey & Co. in New York. She was formerly a research fellow at the Brookings Institution and an adjunct professor at American University, where she taught political economy. Dr. Coleman, a Marshall Scholar, holds a DPhil and MPhil in international relations from Oxford University and a BA in public policy and East Asian studies from Princeton University.

Upcoming Speakers

  • Monday, February 6, 2012 at Noon (Point Lookout)
    Peter van Buren
    Topic: Lessons From the "Reconstruction" of Iraq
  • Monday, March 12 (Point Lookout)
    Colonel Frederick W. Smullen
    Topic: Thinking Strategically about U.S. Foreign Policy
  • Thursday, April 19 at Noon (Point Lookout)
    Saad Ibrahim
    Topic: Egypt
  • Monday, June 11 at Noon (Point Lookout)
    James P. Farwell
    Topic: The Pakistan Cauldron

Past Speakers