West Coast Think Tank Taps Geoffrey Garrett as New President

Business Wire, May 25, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- The 1,290-member, West Coast-based Pacific Council on International Policy today named Geoffrey Garrett, Ph.D., its new president, effective July 1, 2005. He replaces the organization's founding president, Abraham Lowenthal, Ph.D., who is returning to research and writing and will continue as professor of international relations at the University of Southern California (USC).

"We are immensely pleased that Geoff has agreed to serve as our new president and we are confident he will lead the Pacific Council to the next level of achievement and influence," said Council Co-chair and former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. "He brings to the task first-rate academic credentials, superb leadership skills, successful institution-building experience, and expertise in the impact of globalization."

In addition to assuming the Pacific Council presidency, Garrett will join the faculty of USC's College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences as professor of international relations.

Established in cooperation with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council was founded in 1995 to promote better understanding and action by West Coast and Pacific Rim leaders. The Council is headquartered on the campus of USC in Los Angeles.

Since 2001, Garrett, 46, has been vice provost and dean of international programs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Prior to that, he held several positions at Yale University, including director of ethics, politics and economics, director of the Leitner Program in International Political Economy, and professor of political science. He also has served on the faculties of Oxford University, Stanford University, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Garrett earned a B.A. from the Australian National University, and holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University. He is author of "Partisan Politics in the Global Economy" and has written widely on the global political economy.

"The Pacific Council's growth during its first 10 years has been very encouraging and reflects the vision and commitment of our founding chairman, Robert F. Erburu, and our founding president, Abe Lowenthal," said Council Co-chair John E. Bryson. "Geoff is ideally qualified to build on that solid foundation."

"Geoff Garrett will bring great talent to the Pacific Council and will take the organization in new and promising directions," said outgoing Council president Lowenthal.

The Council's work includes convening workshops and conferences on significant international issues as well as conducting high-level, bi-national studies to strengthen relations between the U.S. and its international neighbors. The Council will soon release a study of U.S.-India relations jointly conducted with the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and headed by former Ohio Governor and U.S. Ambassador to India, Richard Celeste, and India's former ambassador to the United States, Abid Hussain. The project examined India-U.S. tensions caused by the loss of American jobs in software and information technology hardware companies to lower-cost firms in India. Study findings will be released in Washington, D.C., in late June.

"Globalization issues such as the international outsourcing of U.S. jobs often trigger deep anxieties among Americans," said incoming Pacific Council President Garrett. "The challenge the Pacific Council has accepted is to help us understand clearly and respond constructively to this irreversible trend."

Based in Los Angeles, the Pacific Council on International Policy is an independent, not-for-profit, international leadership forum established in 1995 in cooperation with the Council on Foreign Relations and the University of Southern California. Its 1,290 members seek to promote better understanding and more effective action by private and public sector leaders from the western United States and the Pacific Rim.