Speaker biographies

Carolyn Bartholomew is vice chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Previously, Ms. Bartholomew worked at senior levels in the U.S. Congress, serving as long-term counsel, legislative director, and most recently, chief of staff to Nancy Pelosi, Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. She also served as a professional staff member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Prior to that, she was a legislative assistant to then-U.S. representative Bill Richardson. In these positions, Ms. Bartholomew was integrally involved in developing U.S. policies on international affairs and security matters. She has particular expertise in U.S.-China relations, focused primarily on trade, human rights, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Ms. Bartholomew was a lead staff member on legislation to establish the Department of Homeland Security, and led efforts in the establishment and funding of global AIDS programs and the promotion of human rights and democratization in countries around the world. She was a member of the first presidential delegation to Africa to investigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on children, and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Congressional Staff Roundtable on Asian Political and Security Issues. In addition to U.S.-China relations, her areas of expertise also include terrorism, trade, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, human rights, U.S. foreign assistance programs, and international environmental issues.

Mauro De Lorenzo is a resident fellow in foreign and defense policy studies at AEI, where he studies entrepreneurship in developing countries as well as Chinese investment and political influence outside the Pacific region. In 2005, he worked with Afghan construction companies in Kabul, and prior to that was a research associate at both the American University in Cairo and the Makerere Institute of Social Research in Kampala, Uganda, focusing on refugee policy and the wars in Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. In 2002–03, he researched and was associate producer of a BBC documentary film about U.S. food aid to Africa and the misdiagnosis of famine.

Paul Hare is the executive director of the U.S.-Angola Chamber of Commerce
He was ambassador to Zambia from 1985–88, where, in addition to his bilateral responsibilities, he initiated the first high-level dialogue with the exiled African National Congress of South Africa, then headquartered in Lusaka. From August 1988 to July 1989, he was the principal deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of the Near East and South Asian Affairs of the Department of State. After retiring from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1991, Ambassador Hare became the vice president of the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. In October 1993, he was appointed by President Clinton as special envoy to the Angola Peace Process, and in this capacity participated in the negotiations that led to the Lusaka Protocol of November 1994. Subsequently, Ambassador Hare continued to have a close and active involvement with the implementation of the protocol, frequently traveling to Angola for meetings with the principals of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the Angolan government. He is the author of two books, Diplomatic Chronicles of the Middle East: A Biography of Ambassador Raymond Hare (University Press of America, 1993) and Angola’s Last Best Chance of Peace: An Insider's Account of the Peace Process (US Institute of Peace, 1998).

Walter Kansteiner, a founding principal of the Scowcroft Group, has more than twenty years of experience with African and emerging market business issues. He has advised corporations on a wide range of mergers, acquisitions, and privatizations throughout Africa. He has been involved with transactions in telecommunications, forestry, mining, financial services, health care, and aviation services. Mr. Kansteiner advised the buy side on the privatization of Telkom South Africa, to date the largest privatization in Africa. He rejoined the firm after serving for three years as assistant secretary of state for African affairs. In this capacity, he was responsible for U.S. foreign policy in Africa. He was also the president’s personal representative to the G8 Africa process. Before he was affiliated with the Scowcroft Group, Mr. Kansteiner was executive vice president of a commodity trading and processing company that specialized in tropical commodities (coffee, cocoa, and sugar). In addition to his business experience in emerging markets, he served in the U.S. government as the director of African affairs on the National Security Council staff. He also served as the Africa specialist on the secretary of state’s policy planning staff, and with the Department of Defense as a member of the strategic minerals task force. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, chairs the Africa Policy Advisory Panel (a Congressionally mandated advisory group), and serves on various boards in the United States and Africa.

Joshua Kurlantzick is a visiting scholar in the Carnegie Endowment’s China Program, a special correspondent for The New Republic, and a senior correspondent for The American Prospect. He assesses China’s relationship with the developing world, including southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and explores how China uses its soft power—culture, investment, academia, foreign aid, public diplomacy—to influence these countries. Additionally, Mr. Kurlantzick is a fellow at the University of Southern California School of Public Diplomacy. He previously covered international economics and trade for U.S. News & World Report, and also reported on southeast Asia for The Economist as a correspondent based in Bangkok, Thailand. Mr. Kurlantzick’s articles also have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, The American Prospect, Mother Jones, Current History, and The Washington Quarterly.

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