Washington, DC—The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace announced today the establishment of the James Family Chair. The position is endowed through the generous contribution of Carnegie Trustee Catherine James Paglia and her family’s Robert and Ardis James Foundation. Andrew S. Weiss, vice president for studies for Russia and Eurasia, is the inaugural holder of the James Family Chair
“I’m deeply grateful for Cathy’s leadership,” said Harvey Fineberg, chair of the Carnegie Board of Trustees. “The generosity of Cathy and her family makes possible the kind of independent, strategic, and regionally grounded work on Russia, its neighborhood, and its role in the world, that this moment demands.”
Weiss said, “My colleagues in the Russia and Eurasia Program and I are deeply moved by Cathy’s thoughtfulness and indebted to her support of our efforts to shape the debate about, and policy approaches to, this deeply complicated part of the world.”
“Cathy and her family are philanthropists for peace in the very best tradition of Andrew Carnegie,” said Carnegie President William J. Burns. “We are deeply grateful for all that Cathy has done, and continues to do, to advance our mission.”
Catherine James Paglia has been a director of Enterprise Asset Management Inc.—a New York-based, privately held real estate and asset management company—since September 1998. She previously spent eight years as a managing director at Morgan Stanley, and ten years as a managing director of Interlaken Capital, and has also served as chief financial officer of two public corporations. She is the chair of the Carnegie Board’s Development Committee.
“My family and I are privileged to support Carnegie in its important work of advancing the cause of international peace,” said Paglia. “We welcome Andrew Weiss as the inaugural holder of the James Family Chair, recognizing the significance of the work that he and his colleagues in the Russia and Eurasia Program have done to advance dialogue in this area.”
Prior to joining Carnegie in 2013, Weiss was director of the RAND Corporation’s Center for Russia and Eurasia and executive director of the RAND Business Leaders Forum. He previously served as director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian affairs on the National Security Council staff, as a member of the U.S. State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, and as a policy assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during the administrations of presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush.
Press Contact: Meshal DeSantis | +1 202 939 2233 | mdesantis@ceip.org