David E. Wade is a Lecturer at Yale University and a Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where he works on global climate change, global oceans, and foreign policy issues. He is also a public affairs strategist advising leading global corporations, universities, and organizations, drawing on over two decades spent at the highest levels of the State Department, on Capitol Hill, and on two national presidential campaigns.
Wade was the Chief of Staff to the US Department of State for more than two years. Foreign Policy Magazine described Wade as "the driving force behind the Department's day to day operations.” Wade was awarded the State Department's highest honor, the Distinguished Honor Award, and appointed to serve on the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.
For five years from 2008 through January, 2013, Wade served in the Senate as a Chief of Staff, overseeing and directing John Kerry’s operation as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as well as his broader political operation, including Kerry’s work on President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign presidential debate prep.
Wade is a veteran of two presidential campaigns, serving as the National Traveling Press Secretary for John Kerry for President and Kerry-Edwards 2004, and the national spokesperson and traveling communications chief for the successful 2008 vice presidential campaign of Joe Biden.
Wade’s opinion and analysis columns have been published in The Atlantic, Reuters Opinion, Foreign Policy, Slate, The Boston Globe, The Hill, Politico, and The Boston Herald.
He is a 1997 graduate of Brown University, and was a 1996 Harry Truman Scholar and 2011 John C. Stennis Fellow. He serves on the Advisory Board to Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and the Board of Directors of The American Security Project. He is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. A Connecticut native, Wade now lives outside Washington, DC with his wife and two young sons.