Features

The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh Welcomes its New President

In late June, Steven E. Sokol joined the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh as its President and Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Dr. Schuyler Foerster, who led the organization for the past 13 years. Sokol has 20 years of experience working with foundations, think tanks, and NGOs in Europe and the United States, and has spent over ten years working at non-partisan membership-based organizations focusing on a range of domestic and foreign policy issues.

In his new role, Sokol will oversee all Council operations, including the development and implementation of some 175 programs that reach over 17,000 people annually. Through these programs – plus a weekly radio show and webcasts – the Council seeks to foster informed, independent, and critical thinking about important global issues as they affect the nation, the region, and Pittsburgh.

Before joining the Council, Sokol served as Vice President and Director of Programs at The American Council on Germany (ACG) in New York, where he oversaw the substantive programs and activities in Europe and the United States. In addition to his work at the ACG, Sokol launched the Political Salon which brings together mid-career professionals in New York City to discuss pressing foreign policy issues and global concerns. Prior to the ACG, Sokol was the Deputy Director of the Aspen Institute Berlin. He has also worked for a non-profit consulting company and as a Program Officer at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

He is currently working on a Doctorate in Law and Policy at Northeastern University and holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. Sokol has also studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Freie Universität in Berlin.

Click here to listen to KQV's recent live-line interview with the Council's new President and CEO.

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About Us
World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh
To promote, on a non-partisan basis, understanding of important international issues, throughout the community and with a special focus on the region's secondary schools. Learn more about the Council.

"America's success abroad is founded on the rock of an informed and involved public. …World Affairs Councils play an extraordinarily important role in connecting the American people to American foreign policy." - Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell