Development efforts take decades, not years. It therefore makes sense that the development community should spend more time thinking about not only the challenges and opportunities of today, but of those likely to manifest in the coming decades.
In a session meant to set the strategic context for later discussions, this panel will cover a broad range of topics such as demographics, geopolitics, emerging technologies, information environment, governance, and more. In particular, the panel will tackle the question of whether past proven routes to economic and human development have been foreclosed by shifts in the global operating environment from Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to rising economic protectionism.
Featuring:
Philip Auerswald
Philip Auerswald is an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government. His work is about entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation in a global context. He is most recently the author of The Code Economy: A Forty-Thousand-Year History (Oxford University Press, 2017), a book about how the advance of code has driven the development of human society over the span of millennia. He currently serves as the cochair and executive director of the Global Entrepreneurship Research Network, an initiative of the Kauffman Foundation. He is also the cofounder and coeditor of Innovations, a quarterly journal about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges published by MIT Press. In June 2013 he led the launch of the National Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, an organization dedicated to using the National Mall in Washington DC as a platform to celebrate and support entrepreneurship and innovation. He has blogged and written op-eds for Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The International Herald Tribune, and The San Francisco Chronicle; has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and Slate; and has interviewed on CBS News Sunday, NPR, and Fox, among other outlets. Prior to joining the faculty at George Mason University, Professor Auerswald was a lecturer and assistant director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. His previous books include The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs Are Transforming the Global Economy (Oxford University Press, 2012); Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and Taking Technical Risk: How Innovators, Executives, and Investors Manage High-Tech Risks (MIT Press: 2001). He was also the editor of Iraq: 1990-2006: A Diplomatic History Through Documents (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and other collections related to United States foreign policy.
Dr. Suzanne Fry
Suzanne Fry is a political analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency and a member of its Senior Analytic Service. From 2013 to 2019, she was Director of the Strategic Futures Group at the National Intelligence Council (NIC), where she was responsible for long range and global issues analysis. In this capacity, she was the principal author and program manager of Global Trends: Paradox of Progress, the NIC’s flagship unclassified assessment of the future strategic landscape. Prior to joining the NIC, Ms. Fry worked a range of governance, instability, and strategic warning issues worldwide and led the US Intelligence Community’s Political Instability Task Force. Ms. Fry received her PhD in Politics from New York University and BA in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Anne A. Witkowsky
Anne A. Witkowsky served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability and Humanitarian Affairs from 2014 to 2016 where she had policy responsibility for humanitarian assistance and disaster response; defense support to the security of U.S. embassies; peacekeeping and stability operations; and international humanitarian law, rule of law and protection of human rights. From 2009-2013 she served in leadership positions in the Bureau of Counterterrorism at the State Department, as the Principal Deputy Coordinator (Acting) for more than a year, helping to run the Bureau, and as the Deputy Coordinator for Homeland Security and Multilateral Affairs. As the Deputy Coordinator she oversaw State’s terrorist designations and sanctions, terrorist screening and interdiction arrangements, and homeland security matters that affect foreign partners, such as transportation and cargo security. Earlier Ms. Witkowsky was affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a Senior Fellow. She led and contributed to a range of projects on international and homeland security, authoring and contributing to a number of publications. She was the Executive Director for two high level studies: the Commission on Science and Security and the Commission on the Embassy of the Future. Ms. Witkowsky served as a Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council (NSC) staff from 1993-2000, where she was responsible for conventional arms control and European security. Ms. Witkowsky has also held positions in the Office of Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasian Affairs and in the Office of European Security Negotiations at the Department of Defense. She has received Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service, and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Ms. Witkowsky earned her bachelor’s degree in Russian and East European studies from Yale University, with a semester study of Russian in the USSR. She received her master’s in public administration, with a concentration in international security, from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of the Marshall Legacy Institute.
Moderator: Samuel Brannen
Sam Brannen leads the Risk and Foresight Group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and is a senior fellow in the International Security Program. He has previously served as a long-range strategic planner and adviser to senior leaders in government and business. The newly established Risk and Foresight Group is charged with providing decisionmakers with insights into the forces of change reshaping the global environment, from shifting demographics to emerging technologies. Brannen returned to CSIS in fall 2018 after spending four years as director of A.T. Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council, where he advised CEOs on the business implications of global macro-trends and conducted 5- to 10-year assessments of countries, sectors, and industries. Previously at CSIS, he was a senior fellow and led research on unmanned systems, shifting geopolitics, and defense strategic planning. Brannen also held multiple positions at the Pentagon, including advising on strategy and foresight issues and serving as country director for Turkey in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Trinity University in Texas.
