Upcoming Speakers
Jeremy Konyndyk
October 15, 2024
Topic: Providing Humanitarian Assistance in a Conflict Zone
Jeremy Konyndyk is president of Refugees International. A committed humanitarian advocate and seasoned emergency operator, he has served in senior appointments in two U.S. administrations and in a range of U.S. and overseas NGO leadership positions.
Prior to joining Refugees International, Jeremy served in the Biden administration as USAID’s lead official for COVID-19. He oversaw USAID’s multi-billion-dollar COVID-19 assistance portfolio, led the design and implementation of the administration’s Global VAX initiative, and coordinated the U.S. government’s global donations of hundreds of millions of vaccine doses. He later served as the administration’s lead official for the global MPox response. He also served on the Biden-Harris transition teams for the Departments of State and Health and Human Services.
From 2013–2017, Jeremy served in the Obama administration as the director of USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), where he led the U.S. government’s response to international disasters. He managed a large global team with annual resources of more than $1.4 billion, responding to crises including the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the 2016 Ethiopia drought, conflict in Northern Nigeria, the Nepal earthquake, the Iraq crisis, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, resurgent conflict in South Sudan, and the war in Syria, among other crises. He also led the Agency’s preparations for the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit.
Between his administration appointments, Jeremy worked from 2017–2020 as a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, focusing on humanitarian response and pandemic preparedness research. He developed and led CGD’s “Rethinking Humanitarian Reform” initiative, exploring how the humanitarian system could meaningfully shift power and influence toward crisis-affected populations – and why it has traditionally failed in its commitments to do so.
Jeremy has worked extensively in the humanitarian NGO sector, serving as a country director in West Africa and East Africa with American Refugee Committee (now Alight), and as a policy director in Washington, DC with Mercy Corps. He began his career in the Balkans, working on the response to the 1999 war in Kosovo. He also worked with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
He is currently a member of the World Health Organization’s high level Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee, which oversees the agency’s Health Emergencies Programme and advises the WHO Director-General. He has served as the U.S. representative to the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and as the U.S. representative and chair of the OCHA Donor Support Group (ODSG).
He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland with his wife, two sons, and dog, and enjoys baking, traveling, and triathlons.
Clark Adams
November 4, 2024
Topic: Defense Diplomacy in Central Asia
Clark Adams served as the Director for Central Asian Affairs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from January 2007 until his retirement in February 2024. He and his team were responsible for the management of US defense relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In spring 2008, he was temporarily detailed to the National Security Council to serve as the Director for Central Asian Affairs, where he was responsible for all matters related to US relations with the five Central Asian states.
Previously, Mr. Adams held the position of Director for US Capabilities Development for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability Operations, where his portfolio included implementing the US Department of Defense (DoD) Directive on “Military Support to Security, Stabilization, Transition, and Reconstruction Operations” and providing Defense Department support to the 2005 national security presidential directive on irregular warfare and counterinsurgency. Mr. Adams also held the position of Deputy Director in the DoD Nonproliferation Policy office. In this role, he was the Office of the Secretary of Defense Representative to the Missile Technology Control Regime, Nuclear Suppliers Group, and the Australia Group on Chemical & Biological Weapons and worked on regional issues such as North Korean missile proliferation, Chinese nonproliferation controls, and strategic cooperation with India.
His earlier government experience includes security assistance and foreign military sales, weapon systems export policies, international defense cooperation and intelligence. He also was a research assistant at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Mr. Adams has an MS in National Security Strategy from the National War College, an MA in International Relations from The Pennsylvania State University, and a BA in Economics and Political Science also from Pennsylvania State University.
Kenneth Frankel
December 9, 2024
Topic: Latin America in Evolving Geopolitics
Kenneth Frankel has been president of the Canadian Council for the Americas (CCA) since 2014 and was previously Chairman from 2007 to 2014. He was awarded The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Governor General of Canada in 2013 for his work on behalf of the CCA and for leadership on other hemispheric public policy initiatives.
Frankel is also a Board Director of Global Americans, a think tank based in Washington D.C., and has been a Visiting Professor of Law at Ghent University (Belgium) since 2014 where he teaches international commercial negotiation. He is also an Adjunct at University of Bologna and has held Adjunct/Visiting Professorships at American University (Washington, D.C.), Western University (Canada), University of Pretoria (South Africa) and University College Cork (Ireland).
Frankel was the Legal Advisor to the Secretary General at the Organization of American States from 2008-2013. He was co-host of the podcast, “Two Gringos with Questions”, with Chris Sabatini (Chatham House / London) and a frequent commentator in media in Canada and elsewhere in the hemisphere. He was Chair of the Latin American Practice Group at Torys and held General Counsel and/or International Council positions for Alcatel in Canada, Spain, Poland and Germany.
Frankel started his career as a Law Clerk to U.S. Federal District Court Judge Eugene P. Spellman in Miami during the “Miami Vice” era. Previously, he was a research associate with Professor John Womack, Jr. (Harvard University) as a Reynolds Fellow in Mexico, and a political writer in Mexico and Central America as a Dartmouth College Public Affairs Fellow.
Frankel holds a A.B. cum laude, High Distinction from Dartmouth College in Latin American Studies and a J.D. from Northeastern University.