Meghan L. O’Sullivan is the Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School and will be the Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs beginning July 1, 2023. Dr. O’Sullivan’s scholarship is at the nexus of traditional disciplines, with particular expertise on how the energy transition and geopolitics intersect. She is an award-winning author and her third book, Windfall: How the New Energy Abundance Upends Global Politics and Strengthens America’s Power, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2017.
O’Sullivan has served in multiple senior policymaking roles and has advised national security officials in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Dr. O’Sullivan is a member of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s Foreign Policy Advisory Board. Between 2004 and 2007, she was special assistant to President George W. Bush and was deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan during the last two years of her tenure. O’Sullivan has been on public company and non-profit boards. She is a Partner at the strategic consulting firm, Macro Advisory Partners, and is the Chair of the North American Group of the Trilateral Commission
She is on the board of Raytheon Technologies and the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a member of the International Advisory Group for the British law firm, Linklaters, a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, a consultant to energy companies, and a senior advisor at WestExec Advisors. She is a trustee of the International Crisis Group and a member of the board of The Mission Continues, a non-profit organization to help veterans. She is also a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and on the advisory committee for the Women’s Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute as well as Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy. Dr. O’Sullivan was awarded the Defense Department’s highest honor for civilians and, three times, the State Department’s Superior Honor Award. She has a B.A. from Georgetown University and a master’s and doctorate from Oxford University.