ISS Affiliated Practitioners

Retired U.S. ambassador Robert Ford is a Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Syria 2011-2014, receiving wide recognition for his work defending Syrians’ human rights in the face of the Bashar Asad regime’s repression.

Prior to her career at Yale, Asha Rangappa served as a Special Agent in the New York Division of the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence investigations. Her work involved assessing threats to national security, conducting classified investigations on suspected foreign agents and performing undercover work.

Dave Rank spent 27 years as a State Department Foreign Service Officer, including his final assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission and, following the 2016 election, as the Charge’ d’Affaires (acting Ambassador) at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Before coming to Yale, Stephen Roach was Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and the firm’s Chief Economist for the bulk of his 30-year career at Morgan Stanley, heading up a highly regarded team of economists around the world.

Emma Sky served as political advisor to the Commanding General of US Forces in Iraq; as development advisor to the Commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan; as political advisor to the US Security Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process; and as Governorate Coordinator of Kirkuk for the Coalition Provisional Authority. Prior to that, Emma worked in the Palestinian territories for a decade.

Retired U.S. ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr. is a Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. His three-decade career in the State Department included service in Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.

Susan Thornton retired from the State Department after a 28-year diplomatic career focused primarily on East and Central Asia. In leadership roles in Washington, Thornton worked on China and Korea policy, including stabilizing relations with Taiwan, the U.S.-China Cyber Agreement, the Paris Climate Accord and led a successful negotiation in Pyongyang for monitoring of the Agreed Framework on denuclearization.

During her 30+ years in the Foreign Service, Amb. Bisa Williams served tours in Guinea (Conakry), Panama, Mauritius, France, the US Mission to the UN (NY), Washington, DC, including two years at the National Security Council of The White House, and Niger.

After serving as Deputy Director at the Central Bank of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo was appointed Mexico’s Undersecretary of the Budget, Secretary of Economic Programming and the Budget, and Secretary of Education. He served his country as President of Mexico from 1994 to 2000.