Barry F. Lowenkron to Join GMF as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

WASHINGTON, September 8, 2014 – The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Barry Lowenkron as executive vice president and chief operating officer effective November 3.

Lowenkron joins GMF’s headquarters in Washington from the MacArthur Foundation, where he served as vice president of international programs for seven years.  In that role, he oversaw $75 million in annual grantmaking, focusing on such areas as international peace and security, human rights, conservation and sustainable development, maternal health, and secondary education for girls in the developing world.  He also oversaw MacArthur's four foreign offices: Mexico City, Moscow, New Delhi, and Abuja.  He led efforts to enhance cooperation among NGOs, foundations, and governments.  

Prior to MacArthur, Lowenkron served in five U.S. presidential administrations, with his last position being assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor.

Lowenkron's expertise and experience on transatlantic relations are deep, beginning with his public diplomacy work on U.S.-European relations in the late 1970s and early 1980s and extending to the end of the Cold War and the retooling of the transatlantic relationship to exploit new opportunities and strengthen  cooperation in addressing new challenges.  He  served as director of European security affairs for the National Security Council at the White House and as national intelligence officer for Europe on the National Intelligence Council.  He was also a special assistant to General Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  At the Department of State, he was a senior member of the Policy Planning staff under Secretaries Shultz, Powell, and Rice. 

“Barry Lowenkron will bring tremendous experience from the foundation and government worlds to GMF, as well as a passion for strengthening transatlantic relations,” said GMF President Karen Donfried.  “GMF will benefit from his deep knowledge, sound judgment, and strong management skills, and I could not be more delighted or feel more privileged than to have him joining GMF as my EVP/COO.”

From 1979 until 2005, Lowenkron was adjunct lecturer in U.S. foreign policy at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University. He has been a Ford Foundation fellow on arms control and Eastern Europe and a Hubert H. Humphrey fellow.  Lowenkron is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He received his master’s degree with distinction from the Nitze School and his bachelor’s degree with high honors from Northeastern University in Boston.