Full Name
Victoria Nuland
Job Title
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Company
The Brookings Institution
Speaker Bio
Ambassador Victoria Nuland is senior counselor at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategic advisory and commercial diplomacy firm based in Washington, D.C. She is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, distinguished practitioner in grand strategy at Yale University, and a member of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy. She was CEO of the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan national security think tank in Washington, from January 2018 until February 2019.
A U.S. diplomat for 32 years, Ambassador Nuland served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from September 2013 until January 2017. She was responsible for U.S. policy and diplomatic relations with 50 countries in Europe and Eurasia, with NATO, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, managing a staff of nine thousand Americans and Europeans, and a $1.5 billion budget. During a tumultuous time for Europe, she was the key architect of President Obama’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including sanctions policy, and principal U.S. negotiator with Putin’s top advisor on Ukraine. She also led the U.S. teams supporting the Cyprus peace talks, working with Turkey on the counter-ISIL campaign and Syria, and promoting energy security and diversification across Europe. She holds a lifetime appointment as Career Ambassador, the State Department’s highest rank.
Prior to this, Ambassador Nuland served as State Department spokesperson from 2011 to 2013, leading press relations for Secretary Hillary Clinton and the Department, conducting daily televised press briefings, advising Secretary Clinton on public affairs and traveling with her to more than 80 countries. In previous tours, Ambassador Nuland led a 57-nation arms control negotiation as special envoy for conventional armed forces in Europe, and taught at the National War College.
From 2005-08, she served as U.S. ambassador and permanent representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, where she focused on strengthening Allied support for the Afghanistan mission and NATO’s global partnerships. Ambassador Nuland was principal deputy national security advisor to Vice President Cheney from 2003-05, and the U.S. deputy permanent representative to NATO from 2000-03.
Earlier in her career, she served in China, Mongolia, and Russia, including covering Russian politics at Embassy Moscow while the Soviet Union was breaking up. She also did two research stints at the Council on Foreign Relations, and authored a report with Senator Lugar in 1997 on Russia and NATO. Before joining State, she spent six months on a Soviet fishing trawler and a year as a legislative assistant to a U.S. congressman.
She speaks Russian and French. Her other honors include: the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service award; the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service; the Defense Distinguished Civilian Service medal; and awards from the governments of Italy, Lithuania, Albania, and Belgium. Ambassador Nuland has a bachelor's in history from Brown University.
A U.S. diplomat for 32 years, Ambassador Nuland served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from September 2013 until January 2017. She was responsible for U.S. policy and diplomatic relations with 50 countries in Europe and Eurasia, with NATO, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, managing a staff of nine thousand Americans and Europeans, and a $1.5 billion budget. During a tumultuous time for Europe, she was the key architect of President Obama’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including sanctions policy, and principal U.S. negotiator with Putin’s top advisor on Ukraine. She also led the U.S. teams supporting the Cyprus peace talks, working with Turkey on the counter-ISIL campaign and Syria, and promoting energy security and diversification across Europe. She holds a lifetime appointment as Career Ambassador, the State Department’s highest rank.
Prior to this, Ambassador Nuland served as State Department spokesperson from 2011 to 2013, leading press relations for Secretary Hillary Clinton and the Department, conducting daily televised press briefings, advising Secretary Clinton on public affairs and traveling with her to more than 80 countries. In previous tours, Ambassador Nuland led a 57-nation arms control negotiation as special envoy for conventional armed forces in Europe, and taught at the National War College.
From 2005-08, she served as U.S. ambassador and permanent representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, where she focused on strengthening Allied support for the Afghanistan mission and NATO’s global partnerships. Ambassador Nuland was principal deputy national security advisor to Vice President Cheney from 2003-05, and the U.S. deputy permanent representative to NATO from 2000-03.
Earlier in her career, she served in China, Mongolia, and Russia, including covering Russian politics at Embassy Moscow while the Soviet Union was breaking up. She also did two research stints at the Council on Foreign Relations, and authored a report with Senator Lugar in 1997 on Russia and NATO. Before joining State, she spent six months on a Soviet fishing trawler and a year as a legislative assistant to a U.S. congressman.
She speaks Russian and French. Her other honors include: the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service award; the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service; the Defense Distinguished Civilian Service medal; and awards from the governments of Italy, Lithuania, Albania, and Belgium. Ambassador Nuland has a bachelor's in history from Brown University.
