Ambassador James K. Glassman (retired)

former under-secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs and chairman of Glassman Advisory

James K. Glassman served as U.S. under-secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs from 2008–2009, leading the government-wide global strategic communications effort. From 2007–2008, he was chairman of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America and other government-sponsored TV, radio and internet broadcasting. He was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate for both positions and holds the lifetime rank of ambassador.

From 2009–2013, he served as the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, the policy arm of the Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas. He recently ended a three-year term as a member of the Investor Advisory Committee of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He was a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute from 1996–2016, specializing in economic and technology policy.

He is currently chairman and CEO of Glassman Enterprises LLC, a communications strategy firm whose past and current clients include several Fortune 100 companies, mainly in the field of healthcare, as well as nonprofits. Previously, he was an advisor to Intel, AT&T and Sprint.

In September, he was named chairman of the Commission to Re-Ignite the Fight to End Smoking, which will produce a report in the fall of 2021 on reinvigorating the cessation effort.

Glassman has had a long career in media. He was the host of three weekly public affairs programs, two on PBS (TechnoPolitics and Ideas in Action) and one on CNN (Capital Gang Sunday). He has appeared on all the major networks.

He was editor-in-chief and co-owner of Roll Call, the congressional newspaper; president of the Atlantic Monthly; publisher of the New Republic; executive vice president of U.S. News & World Report; and, for 11 years, weekly investment columnist for the Washington Post. He currently writes a monthly investment column for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

Over the past 15 years, he has written more than 2,000 articles—on economics, finance, technology and foreign policy—for such publications as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of three books on investing and has spoken at such forums as the National Press Club, the Detroit Economic Club and Chatham House (London).

Glassman is a member of the board of trustees of the Shakespeare Theatre Company and a director of the Making Every Vote Count Foundation, an organization that educates Americans on the importance of the popular vote for president.

Glassman is a graduate of Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and was managing editor of the university daily, The Crimson.

He is married to Beth Ourisman Glassman and has two children, two step-children and five grandchildren. He lives in Washington, D.C.