Joan Edelman Spero is the former President of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (1997-2008) and a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (1980-81). Bill Clinton appointed her as Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Agricultural Affairs in 1993: this office was renamed the Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs in 1994. She served as Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs until 1997. She is a Director of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Trustee of Columbia University and the Brookings Institution. She is a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Atlantic Institute, and the American Academy of Diplomacy and was appointed a member of the Supervisory Board of the ING Group on April 22, 2008. Ms. Spero became an IBM director in 2004 and serves as a member of IBM’s audit committee. Spero is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Foundation Center which conducts research, education, and training on philanthropy.

She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin in 1966, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received a masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University in 1968 and a Ph.D. degree from that institution in 1973. She also studied at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and speaks fluent French.