Advisory Board
Robert W. Jordan, Chair
Diplomat-in-Residence and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University, Robert Jordan also serves on the SMU faculty as adjunct professor of political science. He is Vice Chair of the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2001 to 2003 and is the author of Desert Diplomat: Inside Saudi Arabia Following 9/11. Jordan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Panel of Distinguished Neutrals on the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, and the Advisory Board of the Bilateral U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce. He was a partner in the law firm Baker Botts, heading the Middle East practice based in Dubai. Jordan is past president of the Dallas Bar Association and the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations.
Brian C. McK. Henderson
Founding Partner, Henderson International Advisors, Brian C. McK. Henderson is a senior advisor for Rockefeller Capital Management and chairman of the Chatham House Foundation. He has devoted more than four decades to the international and domestic financial services industry. Henderson spent a major part of his career at Merrill Lynch & Co., including as Chairman of Global Public Sector and Vice Chairman, Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Henderson served 14 years with Chase Manhattan Bank, where his assignments ranged from the Institutional European Banking Division to Director and Vice President for Sub-Saharan Affairs. He has been Vice Chairman of the Atlantic Council of the United States, serves as an Independent Director for Bank of Africa/BMCE Group, and is on the advisory board of the Spanish law firm Cremades & Calvo Sotelo. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Christopher Sabatini
Christopher Sabatini is senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House in London. In 2015, he established Global Americans, a New York City-based think tank focused on Latin America. From 2005 to 2014, he served as senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of Americas (AS/COA). He was also founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine Americas Quarterly. Previously, he served as director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the National Endowment for Democracy and a diplomacy fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, working at the Center for Democracy and Governance of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Sabatini holds a Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia.
Patrick M. Walsh
Admiral Patrick M. Walsh (Ret.) is the former Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, served as the 35th Vice Chief of Naval Operations, and Commander of the US Naval Forces Central Command, and the US 5th Fleet (U.S. Pacific Fleet). Walsh has been a special assistant to the director of Office of Management and Budget as a White House Fellow. He also chaired the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law at the US Naval Academy, served as the executive assistant to the chief of Naval Personnel, and reported to the Joint Staff for his first flag assignment as the deputy director for Strategy and Policy. Walsh was named vice president of United States Navy and Marine Corps Services for the Government Services business of Boeing Global Services. He serves as Chairman of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations and as a board member of the EastWest Institute. A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Walsh earned his MA and PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.