Board Of Directors
David Welch, Ambassador - Board Chairman
Board Chairman
Ambassador David Welch is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Partnership for a Secure America. He has a broad range of knowledge and experience in government and in business, both internationally and in the United States. Welch recently retired after 10 years (2009-2019) with Bechtel, a global engineering and construction firm, where he was a Senior Vice President and Partner, supervising international and government affairs; Bechtel’s regional representatives in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America; the Washington D.C. office; global corporate security; and internal and external corporate communications. He was a board member of the U.S.-Saudi Business Council, the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council and the U.S.-Egypt Business Council, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy. He is currently a Director of OCI NV, a global fertilizer firm with operations in the United States, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Ambassador Welch served 32 years (1977-2008) with the U.S. Foreign Service. He was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to senior positions in successive Democrat and Republican administrations. In 2008, he attained the lifetime rank, confirmed by the Senate, of Career Ambassador. When he retired from government, David was Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (2005-2008), the senior-most U.S. diplomat for the region. He served as Ambassador to Egypt (2001–2005) and Assistant Secretary for International Organizations (1998–2001). He was also acting Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia (1992-1994) during an interregnum between Ambassadors. David was on the National Security Council staff at the White House (1989-1991), and also served in Pakistan, Syria, and Jordan. He was the recipient of numerous awards during government service, including a Group Award for Valor.
David Welch is a magna cum laude graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Jim Dyer - Board Treasurer
Board Member
Jim Dyer is a Senior Advisor at Baker Donelson. He has a long history of public service, serving as clerk and staff director on the House Committee on Appropriations for 10 years and as Deputy Assistant for Legislative Affairs for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Mr. Dyer serves as a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds the distinguished public service award from the US Navy.
Mr. Dyer handled legislative affairs for the U.S. Department of State for two years and later served as a budget consultant to the Secretary of the Navy. In addition to his public sector work, Mr. Dyer has also worked extensively in the private sector. He directed government relations for the Philip Morris Companies, Inc., and for the Power Systems Division of United Technologies Corp. He is a member of the board of directors for Ford’s Theater and the Chairman’s Advisory Board at the US Institute for Peace, and also serves on the boards of the National Zoo and the U.S. Capitol Historic Society.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton and has done graduate work in Legislative Affairs at George Washington University. He also holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Scranton.
Chip Andreae - Vice Chair
Vice-Chair
Chip is the founder and President of Andreae & Associates, Inc., a Washington, DC-based consulting firm specializing since 1991 in risk management and government relations strategies for international firms operating in emerging markets and across the globe.
He worked for 15 years on Capitol Hill, including 4 years with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and 5 years as Chief of Staff for Senator Richard Lugar. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Andreae led numerous Senate staff delegations to the Near East, Latin America and Africa.
Working with the International Republican Institute, Mr. Andreae helped train newly-created political parties for two years in Bulgaria, two years in Romania, and two years in South Africa. He also has served on over a dozen election observer missions around the world on behalf of the U.S. Government.
Prior to establishing Andreae & Associates, Mr. Andreae worked for two years as Vice President and Partner of the RCF Group, a Washington-based consulting firm. He was a founding partner of Andreae, Vick & Associates for 7 years beginning in 1996. In addition to his consulting practice, Mr. Andreae has served as a Visiting Lecturer at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Mr. Andreae holds an M.A. in Government from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Political Science and History from Denison University.
Jamie Metzl - Vice Chair
Vice-Chair
Jamie Metzl is a partner in Cranemere LLC, a global private equity company, and a Senior Fellow of the Asia Society. In 2004 he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District in Kansas City. Jamie has served as Senior Fellow and Coordinator for Homeland Security Programs at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he directed the CFR Task Force on Emergency Responders, as Deputy Staff Director and Senior Counselor of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as Senior Coordinator for International Public Information and Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and as Director for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs on the National Security Council.
At the White House, he spearheaded the President’s initiative on International Public Information, drafted Presidential Decision Directive PDD-68 on the same subject, and coordinated United States Government international information campaigns for Iraq, Kosovo, and other crises. He was a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) from 1991 to 1993, where he helped establish a nation-wide human rights investigation and monitoring unit for Cambodia.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former White House Fellow, he holds a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from Oxford University, a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, and is a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University. Jamie Metzl has appeared widely on national media, including on Meet the Press and the Today show, he has written a book on human rights in Southeast Asia, and his other writing has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and many other publications. He has completed three ironman triathlons and 20 marathons. His novel The Depths of the Sea was published by St. Martin’s Press in May 2004.
Andrew Semmel - Board Member
Board Member
Since January 2008, Dr. Semmel has been a private consultant at AKS Consulting.
Dr. Semmel joined the Department of State in Spring 2003 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Nuclear Nonproliferation in the Department’s Bureau of Nonproliferation and continued in that role in the newly formed Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. His primary responsibilities included the development and execution of policies and initiatives to stem the spread of nuclear weapons, associated technologies and know-how, including export controls.
From September 2001 to January 2003, he served as the Executive Director of the U.S.-China Security Review Commission. He was responsible for the Commission’s public hearings, research, briefings, foreign travel, and the preparation of an annual report of findings and recommendations to the Congress on the security implications of economic and financial relations between the U.S. and China.
He served on the personal staff of Senator Richard G. Lugar from 1987 to 2001, where he was the Senator’s senior Legislative Assistant for Foreign Policy. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and has been a Tenured Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. He has also been an Adjunct Visiting Professor in the Master of Science in Foreign Service Program (MSFS) at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he took a position with the Department of Defense as a Foreign Affairs Specialist in the Defense Security Assistance Agency (DSAA). He served as Chief of the Analysis Division of DSAA until he moved to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February 1985.
He enjoys jogging, fishing, hiking, gardening, most sports, film, reading and cooking. He is married and has an adult son
Graeme Bannerman - Board Member
Board Member
Graeme Bannerman is a Scholar at the Middle East Institute. As such, he frequently provides commentary on Middle Eastern issues for numerous American and international media outlets including the BBC, Canadian National television, NBC, CBS, PBS News Hour, Fox News, al-Hurra, al-Jazeera, and others. He is Vice Chairman of the Board of Hands along the Nile and serves on the Board of Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.
Prior to joining the Middle East Institute, he founded and served as President of Bannerman & Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm. Bannerman & Associates, Inc. worked with a variety of international clients primarily in the Middle East.
He served on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1979 until 1987. His last position was Committee Staff Director. From 1979 through 1984, he was the Committee’s professional staff member responsible for the Middle East and South Asia.
Before working for the Senate, he was employed by the Department of State, as a Middle Eastern Affairs Analyst and on the Policy Planning Staff. He worked on Arab-Israeli affairs during the time of Camp David and the negotiation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
Dr. Bannerman taught at several institutions including Georgetown University, George Washington University, and The American University in Beirut. He holds a doctorate in Modern Middle Eastern History from the University of Wisconsin, a MA in South Asian studies from the University of Wisconsin, a MA in Modern Middle Eastern history from The American University in Beirut, and a BA degree from Northwestern University.
Thomas Miller, Ambassador - Board Member
Board Member
Tom Miller is currently the President/CEO of International Executive Service Corps, a non-profit that furnishes expertise to the developing world to train in best business practices. In addition, in 2011, Tom was appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be the Chair of the Board of the International Commission on Missing Persons, an internationally acclaimed organization that identifies missing persons in many countries by using DNA-matching and other techniques. In 2009, Tom was President and CEO of the United Nations Association of the U.S. From 2005-08, he served as CEO of Plan International, a large nongovernmental organization that works in 66 countries to improve the lives of children in developing countries.
A 29-year career diplomat, Tom’s experience in the Foreign Service spanned many continents. From 2001-04, he served as U.S. ambassador to Greece, where he focused on the security concerns of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and domestic counter-terrorism. From 1999-2001, as U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, he worked on helping the country recover after a devastating war. From 1997-99, he was Special Coordinator for the Cyprus negotiations (rank of ambassador). He was also posted to Thailand as well as the State Department in Washington, where he focused on North Africa, the Middle East, and counter-terrorism issues.
A native of the Chicago area, Tom holds a Ph.D. in Political Science, two Masters degrees and a B.A., all from the University of Michigan.
Ronak Desai - Board Member
Board Member
Mr. Desai is an emerging scholar in the fields of law and foreign policy. He has written and published extensively in these arenas, with his writing focused on US-India relations, international security, sanctions enforcement, governance, and corruption.
Previously, he was an attorney at the law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington D.C. Prior to this, Mr. Desai was a Law and Security Fellow working at New America’s International Security Program (ISP). While there, he supported the ISP’s goal of providing evidence-based analysis of tough security challenges facing policymakers and the public. Additionally, before his time at New America, Mr. Desai spent two years on Capitol Hill, working as a Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi.
Formerly, Mr. Desai was an attorney at O’Melveny & Meyers LLP in Washington DC where his practice includes a wide range of litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. He has represented clients in front of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the Department of Commerce, and the House and Senate Ethics Committees. He has also litigated in state and federal court on both the trial and appellate levels. He conducts white collar, export control, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations for individual and multinational clients around the world.
In addition to his private sector work, Mr. Desai has also worked extensively in the public sector. Over the past decade, he has garnered exhaustive experience on Capitol Hill, most recently serving as a legislative fellow at the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Border Security and International Law in the United States House of Representatives. In 2006, Mr. Desai was involved in efforts to help secure Congressional approval for the landmark US-India Civilian Nuclear Deal, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush that same year.
Mr. Desai is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Belfer Center’s India and South Asia Program at Harvard University. He is also member of the Aspen India Strategy Group and a Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. He teaches a popular course on US foreign policy toward South Asia at the Johns Hopkins University.
Mr. Desai earned his Bachelors of Arts degree in International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. In 2011, he earned joint public policy and law degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Law School, from which he graduated magna cum laude.
Peter Cleveland - Board Member
Board Member
Peter Cleveland is Vice President of Global Government Affairs at the largest contract semiconductor company in the world. Responsibilities involve overseeing policy, legislative, legal, regulatory and standards matters. TSMC manufactures leading edge silicon and is highly valued with a $400 billion market capitalization.
Previously, Mr. Cleveland worked at Intel as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. He also served on Capitol Hill for sixteen years for lawmakers on the Senate Finance and Foreign Relations Committees and Chief of Staff for California Senator Dianne Feinstein. Mr. Cleveland’s past experience includes advising clients as an attorney in private practice. He graduated from Columbia University (BA) and Georgetown University (JD), and he is a Member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars and Council on Foreign Relations.
Over a twenty-five year career, Mr. Cleveland was elected to chair the BOD of trade associations — such as the Information Technology Industry Council and the Trans Atlantic Business Council — and helped drive industry consensus on challenging issues, including: U.S. tariffs on Chinese product impors, immigration reform, IP protection, free trade agreements and tech export controls.
Additionally, Mr. Cleveland has published op-eds on technology law and made TV media appearances on key subjects, and he was cited in Politico’s annual survey for many years as a top corporate representative in Washington, DC.
Lynne Weil - Board Member
Board Member
Lynne Weil is Director of External Affairs at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Prior to joining CSET, Lynne spent a dozen years on Capitol Hill – moving from congressional fellow to Senate Foreign Relations Committee press secretary to communications director for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs – and four years in the Executive Branch, as a State Department senior advisor and a senior executive with the Broadcasting Board of Governors, now the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Lynne teaches policy skills to graduate students as adjunct faculty at American University’s School of International Service and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She’s a member of the PYXERA Global board of directors. Previously, Lynne was a journalist for NPR, the BBC, The New York Times and others. She earned an MPP at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a B.A. in Communication Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).