Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senior Adviser for Latin America Carl Meacham joins CSIS as Americas Program Director

February 19, 2013

WASHINGTON, February 19, 2013 -- The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) is pleased to announce that Carl Meacham has joined CSIS as director of its Americas Program. Meacham succeeds Stephen Johnson, who departs CSIS after over two years.

“We’re delighted to be able to welcome Carl here at CSIS,” said Dr. John Hamre, president, CEO, and Pritzker Chair at CSIS. “CSIS is committed to making an impact on U.S. policy in the Americas, and with Carl’s wide-ranging expertise on the issues facing the region, CSIS will continue to guide policymakers in understanding this complex hemisphere.”

Meacham joins CSIS from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), where he served on the professional staff for Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) for over a decade. He served as the senior adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean on the committee, the most senior Republican Senate staff position for this region. In this capacity, he has travelled extensively to the region to work with foreign governments, private-sector organizations, and civil society groups. He was also responsible for managing the committee’s relationship with the State Department regarding the Western Hemisphere and overseeing its $2 billion budget. Before he joined SFRC, Meacham had worked on the staff of two Democratic senators.

Prior to his Senate work, Meacham served at the Department of Commerce as special assistant to the deputy secretary, at the Cuban Affairs Bureau of the Department of State, and at the U.S. embassy in Madrid.

Meacham speaks fluent Spanish and was partly raised in Chile, his mother’s country of origin. He received his BA from the University at Albany, State University of New York, and holds MAs from American University and Columbia University.

“I’m excited to be at CSIS, a place with tremendous experts and a dedication to fact-based policy from both sides of the aisle,” Meacham said.

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The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization that seeks to advance global security and prosperity by providing strategic insights and practical policy solutions to decisionmakers.