Speaker Bios
Dr. Alyssa Ayres is senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofits and the private sectors. Her book about India’s rise on the world stage, Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World, was published by Oxford University Press in January 2018 and was selected by the Financial Times for its “Summer 2018: Politics” list.
Dr. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. Between 2012 and 2019, he served as the dean of the school, and between 2009 and 2011, as senior advisor to the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, between 2009 and 2011. He has advised senior American policymakers, world leaders and businesses including the president, secretary of state, senior members of congress and presidential campaigns.
Dr. William J. Parker III is the CEO and president of the EastWest Institute. He was formerly the Chief of War Plans at the Pentagon. In addition to multiple combat tours, he held the post of senior advisor and strategist with the U.S. Embassies in Iraq and Pakistan. His Ph.D. work focused on planning for a pandemic, combining the clinical area of epidemiology and the strategic planning skills needed when dealing with major events. He is currently working closely with multiple governments including the U.S. to resolve the Coronavirus and its aftermath.
Shamila N. Chaudhary (moderator) is President of the American Pakistan Foundation and foreign policy practitioner specializing in U.S. foreign policy in South Asia. She is a Senior South Asia Fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based New America think tank and a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
