FPRI Welcomes Ann Thompson as Inaugural Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor USMC Fellow

• June 12, 2017

The Foreign Policy Research Institute is thrilled to announce the appointment of Ann Thompson, a U.S. Army veteran, as the inaugural Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor USMC Fellow. Thompson will start in September of this year. This fellowship was made possible by the generous support of Jim Petrucci and Greg Rogerson of J.G. Petrucci Co., Inc.

“The Foreign Policy Research Institute could not be more delighted to host this fellowship named after an exceptional individual who so perfectly exemplifies its purpose,” said Alan Luxenberg, President of the Institute. “We are very grateful to Jim and Greg for making this possible.”

Thompson formerly served as a military intelligence officer with the 173^rd Airborne Brigade in Europe and Afghanistan and later contributed to reactivating the 207^th Military Intelligence Brigade in support of U.S. Army Africa. She has interned for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations and World Vision.

“Jim and I are thrilled to be working with FPRI on this initiative and we are honored that Thompson will be the first recipient of the Trainor Fellowship,” said Rogerson. “Thompson is a proven scholar and battle-tested warrior who will honor Lt. General Trainor through her diligent and independent approach to this challenge.”

Thompson is an avid reader and enthusiastic traveler. She plans to spend her fellowship year interacting with FPRI’s network of scholars and authors and writing immersive, deeply researched stories at the intersection of defense, diplomacy, and development.

Thompson holds an M.P.A. with a focus on Development Studies from Princeton University and a B.A. in History (with honors in Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law) from Stanford University. She is a graduate of the Program on Terrorism and Security Studies at the George C. Marshall Center; a former graduate student consultant to the Millennium Challenge Corporation; and a former fellow in the Program on Religion, Diplomacy, and International Relations at the Liechtenstein Institute. Her awards and honors include the Bronze Star Medal, Pat Tillman Military Scholarship, Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace, Van Santvoord Merle-Smith Fellowship, and Jay Bleiman Public Service Award.

FPRI is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank located in Center City Philadelphia. Its mission is to bring the insights of scholarship to bear on the foreign policy and national security challenges facing the United States. It seeks to educate the public, teach teachers, train students, and offer ideas to advance U.S. national interests based on a nonpartisan, geopolitical perspective that illuminates contemporary international affairs through the lens of history, geography, and culture.

The Fellowship is named for Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor, USMC (ret.). Lt. Gen. Trainor enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1946 and went on to serve in uniform for 39 years in various command and staff assignments, including combat service in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Lt. Gen. Trainor followed his service with a second career as a journalist and analyst of military affairs. He served as the chief military correspondent for the New York Times, and later directed the National Security Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He has also served as a Senior Fellow for National Security at the Council on Foreign Relations and is a frequent media commentator and author.

For more information about FPRI, please visit www.fpri.org or contact us at 215-732-3774.