"Kevin Ryan, Jim Smith Head Center’s Research, Communications Efforts"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Winter 2010-11

Kevin Ryan, a retired brigadier general with extensive experience in political-military affairs, missile defense, intelligence, and US-Russian military relations, has been named executive director for research at the Belfer Center.

Ryan was a senior fellow with the Belfer Center from 2005 to 2008 and was vice president of business development at iRobot Corporation from 2008 to 2009.  He returned to the Belfer Center in September 2009 to lead the Center's U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism, which seeks to improve joint US-Russian understanding of the threat of nuclear terrorism and actions to prevent a successful nuclear attack by terrorists.

"Kevin Ryan brings extensive military experience to the executive director role and will be critical in helping the Belfer Center pursue solutions to the major international security challenges we face," Belfer Center Director Graham Allison said. "His leadership experience includes both high-level military and public policy roles, making him an ideal person for the position."

Ryan replaces Eric Rosenbach, who is managing director of national security for the Markle Foundation.

James Smith, a longtime journalist with extensive international experience, is the Center's new communications and outreach director.

As foreign editor of the Boston Globe, Smith led the paper's coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as conflicts in the Middle East and South Asia. At the Globe, he also served as the national political editor during the 2008 presidential election and created a popular blog that looked at Boston's connections to the world and the world's connections to Boston. Smith worked previously for the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press, reporting from locations that included Mexico, South Africa, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, and The Hague.

Allison praised Smith as a "gifted foreign correspondent who spent time in South Africa working for the Associated Press, a South Africa newspaper group, and other positions, while acquiring an MBA at South Africa's top business school, University of the Witwatersrand."

Smith replaces Sasha Talcott, who is attending business school at MIT Sloan School of Management.

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.

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