A nation must think before it acts.
The Currency of Power: Economics and National Security in US Foreign Policy
Robert Zoellick is the former president of the World Bank (2007-12) and former Deputy Secretary of State (2005-06), and he possesses a long record of public service.
Currently Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ International Advisors, he serves on the boards of Temasek, Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, and Laureate International Universities, as well as on the international advisory board of Rolls Royce. Zoellick is also a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is a member of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy and the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
He served in President George W. Bush’s cabinet as U.S. Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005. From 1985 to 1993, Zoellick worked at the Treasury and State departments in various capacities, including as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury and Under Secretary of State, as well as briefly in the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff. He was the lead U.S. negotiator in the 2 + 4 process for Germany’s unification, serving under Secretary James A. Baker III.
The German Government awarded Zoellick the Knight Commanders Cross for his work on unification. The Mexican and Chilean Governments presented him their highest honors for non-citizens the Aztec Eagle and the Order of Merit, respectively.
Zoellick holds a J.D.magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor’s degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from Swarthmore College.
Recent recipients of the Benjamin Franklin Award include Henry A. Kissinger, Gen. James Mattis, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, Robert D. Kaplan, Walter Russell Mead, and the late Fouad Ajami.