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Wilson Center Appoints Duncan Wood As Vice President of Strategy and New Initiatives

 PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Ryan McKenna
Phone: (202) 691-4217
ryan.mckenna@wilsoncenter.org

January 19, 2021

 

WASHINGTON— The Wilson Center announced today the promotion of Dr. Duncan Wood to the Vice President of Strategy and New Initiatives' position. Wood begins his new position after serving for eight years as Director of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute.

This unique position within the Center is tasked with bringing new ways to meld the world of policy and politics. Central to the position are the challenges of adapting the work of a think tank to COVID and post-COVID conditions, as well as the opportunities presented by new communications and analytics technologies.

“I am excited about working with the Wilson Center leadership and the excellent programs across the center to make our work ever more relevant and impactful. The past year has shown us how important it is to adapt to changing circumstances and I believe we have shown an incredible capacity for such change. The future is bright for the Wilson Center as we enter 2021 in a position that is even stronger than it was one year ago.”

Under Wood's stewardship, the Mexico Institute has developed into the leading place for the study of the US-Mexico relationship and is one reason why The Wilson Center remained the top-rated think in Regional Studies according to the University of Pennsylvania's Global Go To Think Tank Index. The Mexico Institute continues to focus its work on issues of Rule of Law, Competitiveness, Borders, Migration, Energy, Innovation and Public Health

Wood is also Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Transparency and Anti-Corruption, an editorial advisor to Mexican newspaper El Universal, a member of the editorial board of Foreign Affairs Latinoamerica and a board member of Signos Vitales (Vital Signs), a non-partisan think tank in Mexico.

Before coming to the Wilson Center, he was a professor and director of the International Relations Program at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) Mexico City.

He has been a Fulbright Fellow, and between 2007 and 2009 was technical secretary of the Red Mexicana de Energía, a group of experts in the area of energy policy in Mexico. He has been a Senior Associate with the Simon Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D. C. and an editorial advisor to Reforma newspaper. He studied in the UK and Canada, receiving his Ph.D. in Political Studies from Queen's University, Canada in 1996.

Notes to editors:

The Wilson Centerprovides a strictly nonpartisan space for the worlds of policymaking and scholarship to interact. By conducting relevant and timely research and promoting dialogue from all perspectives, it works to address the critical current and emerging challenges confronting the United States and the world. 

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