Former Ambassador Kornbluh Joins CFR

Ambassador Karen Kornbluh, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, joined the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) this month as a senior fellow for digital policy. Ambassador Kornbluh will participate in the CFR Initiative on Digital and Cyberspace Policy, which studies how to keep the global Internet open, secure, and resilient in the face of unprecedented challenges and threats.

"Formulating a comprehensive digital policy that promotes and protects the full range of American economic, security, and diplomatic interests is of both the highest priority and the highest difficulty. We are excited that someone of Ambassador Karen Kornbluh’s experience and knowledge has joined the CFR to work in this critical area," said CFR President Richard N. Haass.

At the OECD, Ambassador Kornbluh worked with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to develop the first global Internet Policymaking Principles and launched the OECD’s Gender Initiative and the Middle East-North Africa Women’s Business Forum. With the Treasury Department, she helped guide OECD efforts to set international tax rules.

Previously, Ambassador Kornbluh served as policy director in the office of Senator Barack Obama and on his presidential campaign. In the Clinton administration, she served as deputy chief of staff at the Treasury Department and as director of legislative affairs at the Federal Communications Commission.

Prior to her government service, Ambassador Kornbluh was a management consultant at Telesis Corp. and an economist at Townsend-Greenspan & Co., Inc. She also founded the New America Foundation’s Work and Family Program and is an expert on women and families.

Ambassador Kornbluh earned her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College, and she was awarded a master’s of public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.