Dr. Marisa Porges is Head of School at the Baldwin School. Dr. Porges previously served at the White House, as White House Fellow and a senior advisor for cybersecurity and technology policy at the National Economic Council. Prior to joining the White House, she was a Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and at the Council on Foreign Relations. In these roles, she traveled throughout the Middle East and Afghanistan, conducting research on counterterrorism—including interviews with former members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban and Syrian rebel fighters, where she sought to better understand their perspectives. Dr. Porges also served as a counterterrorism policy advisor in the U.S. Departments of the Treasury and Defense, and on active duty in the U.S. Navy, flying jets as a Naval Flight Officer.

Dr. Porges holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a doctorate from King’s College London. Her awards include the National Committee on American Foreign Policy 21st Century Leader Award and the NATO Medal for service in Afghanistan. She is widely published, including by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and other top-tier outlets and she has appeared on CNN, CSPAN, Al Jazeera and more.