Meet our Next Speaker
Ambassador Christopher Hill
October 13, 2025
Topic: Foreign Policy Challenges in Uncertain Times
Ambassador Christopher R. Hill is a professional American diplomat who has served under seven presidents since entering the U.S. Foreign Service in 1977. Hill is a five-time ambassador across multiple regions in Senate-confirmed positions, including as ambassador to Iraq, the Republic of Korea, Poland, North Macedonia and most recently to the Republic of Serbia until January 2025.
He was also Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. As the senior U.S. negotiator, Hill led U.S. efforts at the Six Party Talks to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in 2005-2009. Earlier, he was a lead State Department negotiator in Dayton, Ohio, the process that ended the war in Bosnia. Later, he was the U.S. special envoy in negotiations that led to the end of the Kosovo war. In addition, Hill served as a senior director in the National Security Council staff and as a special assistant to President Clinton.
He earned a BA at Bowdoin College and MA from the Naval War College. Outside of the foreign service he was the Dean of the Korbel School at the University of Denver and taught at Columbia University. He began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa.
Meetings open to members and members’ guests only. Unless otherwise noted, all meetings take place at Elk Hall, 210 Rankin Street in Rockland. The speaker begins promptly at noon and lunch is served from 1 PM.
Audios of Past Presentations
Listed below are links to recent presentations. Click to listen:
- Mohamed Bouabdallah and Carla Canales: Soft Power — An Essential Element of Foreign Relations
- Farah Pandith: SOFT POWER — How We Win: The Threat from Hate and the Power of Compassion
- Sherri Goodman: Arctic Security in a Changing Environment and Sherri’s Slides: Threat Multiplier
- Kenneth Frankel: How Current US Policies Create Uncertainty in Western Hemisphere Relations
- Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman: Adrift: The UN, Multilateralism, and US Disengagement
- Joshua Landis: Syria and the Middle East
- Martin Mühleisen on The IMF and World Bank in the New Geopolitical Environment
- Admiral Michael Rogers on Current Hot Spots of the World
- Henry Haggard on The US-Korea Relationship in Transition
- Ambassador Douglas Lute on The Future of NATO
- James Bosworth on Mapping Latin America’s Current Politics
- Clark Adams on Defense Diplomacy in Central Asia and Clark’s slides: Defense Diplomacy
- John Lee on China and Indo-Pacific Security
- Dr. Steven Koonin on The Realities of Climate and Energy. and Steve’s slides: Realities slides
- Dr. Elizabeth Cameron on National Security in an Age of Pandemic Threats
- Ambassador Lawrence Butler: NATO at 75—Relevant, Obsolete, or Dangerous?
- Jack Goldsmith on The Decline of Congress in the Conduct of Foreign Affairs, and accompanying slides
- Robert Einhorn on Nuclear Non-proliferation
- Matthew Goodwin on Brexit, Trump, Le Pen, and National Populism
- Ambassador Anne Hall: The Baltic Nations — Profiles in Courage
- Ambassador Jake Walles: The Israel-Gaza Conflict
- Heather Cox Richardson: Democracy Awakening
- John Deutch: Challenges to Future Climate Policy
- Thomas Blanton: The Downsides of Government Secrecy
- Shanthi Kalathil: Challenges to Democracy in the Age of Misinformation
- Ambassador Charles Ray: Why Africa Matters
- Tom Ricks: First Principles: What America’s Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country
- Amna Nawaz: On the Frontlines: Reporting Overseas and Here at Home
- Christopher Costa: Counterterrorism and the Future Terrorism Threat
- Susan Landau: The Reality of Cyberwar — In Ukraine and Elsewhere
- Jon Wolfsthal: Is a New Era of Nuclear Danger Upon Us?
- Amb. Derek Mitchell: Democracy and International Security
- Admiral Michael Rogers: Russia and Ukraine
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