RUSI Announces New Director General

The Director General of RUSI, Professor Michael Clarke announced in May that he would be standing down from his post this year and the Chairman of the Institute, the Rt Hon William Hague, is pleased to announce that Professor Clarke's replacement has now been confirmed.

The new Director General will be Dr Karin von Hippel, presently Chief of Staff to General John Allen, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. Karin has worked in the US State Department for nearly six years, before which she worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and at King's College in London. She has also worked extensively for the United Nations and the European Union.

Welcoming the appointment, RUSI’s Chairman William Hague said that after a very thorough and highly competitive selection process he was delighted to welcome Karin to her new role at RUSI. ‘She has all the qualifications to take RUSI through the next stage of its development to be among the best research-led think-tanks in the world. The Institute is very fortunate to have secured someone with her range of skills and depth of experience as the next Director General.’

He added: ‘I would like to thank Michael Clarke for his tremendous leadership of RUSI over the last eight years. Under his stewardship RUSI has established itself as one of the country's pre-eminent think-tanks across a broad spectrum of security challenges, and he leaves excellent foundations upon which I and the new Director General can build.’

Dr Karin von Hippel said: ‘I’m honoured to have been selected to lead such a prestigious institution and to build on Professor Clarke’s many accomplishments. RUSI has an incredibly deep bench of expertise in defence and international security issues. I’m looking forward to working with the entire RUSI team to promote practical and innovative solutions to complex security challenges, as well as enhance the impact of RUSI scholarship and initiatives internationally.’

The current Director General, Professor Michael Clarke said: ‘It was a tough decision in the spring to decide to stand down from the best job in London that I have loved doing for the past eight years. But it is important to renew the impetus and the approach to achieving RUSI's long term goals and RUSI is in very good hands with Karin. The next stage of the Institute's development will be exciting and decisive and I know that Karin will drive it forward with flair and all her hard-won experience.’

Dr Karin von Hippel will take over as Director General from 1 December this year.

Notes to Editors

1. [[{"fid":"11884","view_mode":"teaser","fields":{"format":"teaser","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Dr Karin von Hippel","og_roles_permissions[und]":"0"},"type":"media","attributes":{"title":"Dr Karin von Hippel","style":"float: right;","class":"panopoly-image-original media-element file-default file-teaser"},"link_text":null}]]Karin von Hippel is Chief of Staff to General John Allen, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to that, she was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Operations in the Bureau for Conflict and Stabilization Operations and led the transition planning process for the creation of CSO. She was also a Senior Adviser in the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism.  Before coming to State, she spent five years as Co-Director of the CSIS Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project. She was also a senior research fellow at the Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College London, and spent several years working for the United Nations and the European Union in Somalia and Kosovo. She has advised the UN on peacekeeping, peacebuilding and its humanitarian system, USAID on the development potential of Somali remittances, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on the role of development cooperation in discovering the root causes of terrorism. She has been a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Fragile States and has direct experience in over two dozen conflict zones. Her numerous publications cover the full conflict spectrum, and include Democracy by Force (Cambridge, 2000), which was short-listed for the RUSI Westminster Medal in Military History. She received her Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics, her M.St. from Oxford University, and her B.A. from Yale University.
2. RUSI is an independent think-tank for defence and security. RUSI is a unique institution; founded in 1831 by the Duke of Wellington, it embodies nearly two centuries of forward thinking, free discussion and careful reflection on defence and security matters.
3. Any further enquiries, please contact : Saqeb Mueen / +44(0)20 7747 2618 / +44 (0) 7917 373 069 / smueen@rusi.org