Jamie Metzl

Jamie Metzl is Executive Vice President of Asia Society. He is responsible for overseeing the institution's strategic directions and overall program activities globally.

An expert on Southeast Asian history and politics, Dr. Metzl has extensive government experience including service in the White House, the Department of State, and the U.S. Senate. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's Fifth Congressional District in Kansas City.

Dr. Metzl's government appointments have included Deputy Staff Director and Senior Counselor of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senior Coordinator for International Public Information and Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the Department of State, and Director for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs on the National Security Council. At the White House, he coordinated U.S. government international public information campaigns for Iraq, Kosovo, and other crises. A Khmer speaker, he was a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) from 1991 to 1993, where he helped establish a nation-wide human rights investigation and monitoring unit for Cambodia.

Dr. Metzl has appeared widely on national media, including Meet the Press and the Today show. The author of a book on human rights in Southeast Asia, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and many other publications. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Founder and Co-Chair of the Board of the Partnership for a Secure America, a former White House Fellow, and a former Aspen Institute Crown Fellow. He holds a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from Oxford University, a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, and is a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.

Dr. Metzl has completed four ironman triathlons and 20 marathons. His novel, The Depths of the Sea, was published by St. Martin's Press in May 2004.