Domestic Policy Advisor (2021-2023), U.S. National Security Advisor (2013-2017), and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2009-2013)
Ambassador Susan Rice: Biography at a Glance
- Ambassador Susan E. Rice is the only person ever to have served in the White House as both U.S. National Security Advisor and U.S. Domestic Policy Advisor. She most recently served as Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor in the Biden Administration.
- Rice played a leading role in many critical Biden Administration accomplishments, including greatly expanding access to affordable healthcare; enacting and implementing the American Rescue Plan Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and gun violence prevention legislation; and embedding equity in the work of the federal government.
- She served as the National Security Advisor from 2013 to 2017 and served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and a member of President Obama’s Cabinet.
- Rice's insights on National Security & Foreign Policy draw upon her decades of hands-on experience and expertise, including on China and East Asia, Russia, Europe, South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.
- Her memoir, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For, became an instant New York Times bestseller, recalling pivotal moments from her upbringing and dynamic career on the front lines of American foreign policy.
- She is deeply steeped in global public health, economic development, emerging markets, conflict resolution, nascent and traditional security threats, multilateral diplomacy, and the global climate crisis.
- Rice is on the Board of Directors at Netflix and has held numerous other positions, including as a management consultant, scholar, and contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.
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Biography
Ambassador Susan E. Rice served as Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor in the Biden Administration. As Director of the Domestic Policy Council from January 2021 to May 2023, she drove the formulation and implementation of President Biden’s domestic policy agenda. Rice’s responsibilities in domestic policy spanned a vast array of issues, ranging from health care, mental health, substance use, human services, and veterans affairs to immigration, urban and rural policy, Native Affairs, LGBTQ+ issues, disability policy, racial justice and equity, artificial intelligence and online safety and privacy, diversity and inclusion, criminal justice, gun policy, democracy and voting rights, education, hunger and nutrition, housing, homelessness, and combatting hate-fueled violence.
Rice played a leading role in many critical Biden Administration accomplishments, including crafting the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism; devising and implementing the National Mental Health Strategy; making historic investments in child care, public education, Pell Grants, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as other minority-serving institutions; greatly expanding access to affordable healthcare; enacting and implementing the American Rescue Plan Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and gun violence prevention legislation; and embedding equity in the work of the federal government.
Rice served as President Obama’s U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and a member of the cabinet as well as the National Security Advisor from 2009-2017. She is the only person ever to have served as both National Security Advisor and Domestic Policy Advisor. Rice is also a New York Times best-selling author of Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For, a memoir that recalls pivotal moments from her upbringing and dynamic career on the front lines of American foreign policy.
Rice was recently reappointed to the Board of Directors of Netflix, on which she previously served from 2018-2021. In 2024, Rice was the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. During the Fall of 2023, she was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government.
From 2017-2021, Rice was a Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at American University’s School of International Service, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.
Rice was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs, and Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping at the National Security Council under President Clinton from 1993 to 2001.
Ambassador Rice received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in international relations from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar and her B.A. with honors in History from Stanford University. Ambassador Rice, a native of Washington, DC, is married and has two children.
Topics
Global Challenges, Realistic Solutions: Transatlantic Relations in an Age of Uncertainty
At a time of growing geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, and an unstable security environment, Ambassador Susan Rice — with her extensive and unique experience at the senior most levels of the U.S. government as former U.S. National Security Advisor, Ambassador to the United Nations, member of the U.S. cabinet, and Domestic Policy Advisor — offers a unvarnished and compelling perspective on the challenges shaping the global landscape today.
As Europe faces complex, vexing issues—from shifting geopolitical alliances, the fragility of NATO, the uncertainty of U.S. security commitments, an emboldened Russian and China, trade tensions, technology competition, and climate change — Ambassador Rice provides critical insights into what to expect and how Europe can best navigate in this shifting landscape.
Engaging with European leaders, policymakers, and the public, Ambassador Rice offers a candid yet nuanced understanding of U.S. foreign policy and its implications for Europe. This talk provides a unique opportunity to explore how European nations can operate more effectively in a rapidly changing world.
