Robert Zoellick

Upon graduation from Harvard Law School, Zoellick served as a law clerk for Judge Patricia Wald on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Zoellick served in various positions at the Department of the Treasury from 1985 to 1988. He held positions including Counselor to Secretary James Baker, Executive Secretary of the Department, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Policy.

During George H. W. Bush's presidency, Zoellick served with Baker, by then Secretary of State, as Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs, as well as Counselor to the Department (Under Secretary rank). Zoellick served as Bush's personal representative or "sherpa" for the G7 Economic Summits in 1991 and 1992. He led the US Delegation to the Two Plus Four talks on German reunification.[13] For his achievements in this role, the Federal Republic of Germany awarded him in 1992 the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit.

James A. Baker's book "The Politics of Diplomacy" notes that Zoellick was one of Secretary Baker's "inner circle" . . . "combin[ing] Midwest common sense with policy sophistication." He was a "superb manager, policy analyst, and writer," Baker's "second brain" and "gatekeeper" and his "right hand man on NAFTA," the North American Free Trade Agreement. In August 1992, Zoellick was appointed White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President.[10]

Business, academia, and politics (1993–2001)

After leaving government service, Zoellick served from 1993 to 1997 as an Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Fannie Mae. Afterwards, Zoellick was John M. Olin Professor of National Security at the U.S. Naval Academy (1997–98); Research Scholar at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government; and Senior International Advisor to Goldman Sachs.[14]

From 1996 to 1999, he served as director of the Aspen Strategy Group.[15] He served as an elected member of the board of the Council on Foreign Relations.[16]

From fall 1998 to May 1999, Zoellick headed the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).[17] He resigned when founder David Abshire chose not to retire.

In the 2000 presidential election campaign, Zoellick served as a foreign policy advisor to George W. Bush as part of a group, led by Condoleezza Rice, which she termed The Vulcans, after her home town of Birmingham, Alabama.[18] James Baker designated him as his second-in-command—"a sort of chief operating officer or chief of staff"—in the 36-day battle over recounting the vote in Florida.[19]

Zoellick was named U.S. Trade Representative in Bush's first term; he was a member of the Executive Office, with cabinet rank. According to the U.S. Trade Representative website, Zoellick completed negotiations to bring China and Taiwan into the World Trade Organization (WTO); developed a strategy to launch new global trade negotiations at the WTO meeting in Doha, Qatar; shepherded Congressional action on the Jordan Free Trade Agreement and the Vietnam Trade Agreement; and worked with Congress to pass the Trade Act of 2002, which included new Trade Promotion Authority.[11] "Zoellick is indisputably one of the most successful members of the first Bush cabinet."[20]

Some groups claimed he promoted the Central American Free Trade Agreement over the objections of labor, environmental, and human rights groups.[21]

Zoellick and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, 2005

Zoellick played a key role in the U.S.-WTO dispute against the European Union over genetically modified foods. The move sought to require that the European Union comply with international obligations to use science-based methods in continuing its moratorium on the approval of new genetically modified crops within the E.U.[22]

Zoellick with then Premier of South Australia Mike Rann in November 2005

Zoellick (right) with Jan Pronk, the United Nations' special representative to Sudan.

On January 7, 2005, Bush nominated Zoellick to be Deputy Secretary of State.[23] Zoellick assumed the office on February 22, 2005. Zoellick agreed to serve as Deputy Secretary of State for not less than one year.

He was seen as a major architect of the Bush administration's policies regarding China. In an important speech September 21, 2005, Zoellick challenged China "to become a 'responsible stakeholder' in the international system, contributing more actively than in the past to help shore up the stability of the international system from which it ha[d] benefited so greatly."[24] In his "thoughtful and influential speech...Zoellick correctly argued that China had benefited greatly from the security and prosperity created by a stable, rule-based international economic and political order. But China had contributed a disproportionally small amount to maintain that order. Zoellick recognized that one of the great challenges facing diplomats in the United States, Europe, and Japan was to persuade China to do more to contribute to the global commons."[24]

In addition, Zoellick chartered a new direction in the Darfur peace process.[25] He made four trips to Sudan during his time as Deputy Secretary. He supported expanding a United Nations force in the Darfur region to replace African Union soldiers. He was involved in negotiating a peace accord between the government of Sudan and the Sudan Liberation Army, signed in Abuja, Nigeria, in May 2006. Zoellick was seen by many as the administration's strongest voice on Darfur. His resignation catalyzed groups, such as the Genocide Intervention Network, to praise his record on human rights issues.[26]

On 30 May 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Zoellick to replace Paul Wolfowitz as President of the World Bank.[27]

On 25 June 2007, Zoellick was approved by the World Bank's executive board.[1][28]

On 1 July 2007, Zoellick officially took office as President of the World Bank.

In a major speech at the National Press Club in Washington on October 10, 2007, Zoellick formulated what he described as "six strategic themes in support of the goal of an inclusive and sustainable globalization" which he proposed should guide the future work of the World Bank:

First, the World Bank Group faces the challenge of helping to overcome poverty and spur sustainable growth in the poorest countries, especially in Africa...

Second, we need to address the special problems of states coming out of conflict or seeking to avoid the breakdown of the state...

Third, the World Bank Group needs a more differentiated business model for the middle income countries...

Fourth, the World Bank Group will need to play a more active role in fostering regional and global public goods that transcend national boundaries and benefit multiple countries and citizens...

Fifth, one of the most notable challenges of our time is how to support those seeking to advance development and opportunities in the Arab World...

Finally, while the World Bank Group has some of the attributes of a financial and development business, its calling is much broader. It is a unique and special institution of knowledge and learning. It collects and supplies valuable data. Yet this is not a university – rather it is a "brain trust" of applied experience that will help us to address the five other strategic themes.[29]

During Zoellick's time at the World Bank, the institution's capital stock was expanded[30] and lending volumes increased to help member countries deal with the global financial and economic crisis;[30] assistance was stepped up to deal with the famine in the Horn of Africa;[31] a major increase in resources was achieved for the institution's soft loan facility, the International Development Association (IDA), which lends to the poorest countries;[32] and a reform was carried out to the World Bank's shareholding, Executive Board and voting structure, to increase the influence of developing and emerging economies in the World Bank's governance.[33]

In "The Quiet Revolutionary who saved the World Bank", Financial Times commentator Sebastian Mallaby wrote that during his term Zoellick had "driven remarkable change... adapt[ing] nimbly to the new world that globalisation has wreaked." Zoellick made advances in the use of open data, promoted senior officials from developing countries, addressed climate change, expanded aid during the financial crisis and obtained a capital increase, with developing countries providing more than half.[34]

After leaving the World Bank, Zoellick took up the position as a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs on July 1, 2012.[35] From September 2013 through 2016, he served as Chairman of International Advisors to Goldman Sachs.[36]

During the 2012 United States presidential election, Zoellick was appointed to lead the national security portion of Republican candidate Mitt Romney's transition team should he be elected President of the United States. Zoellick was considered a "heavyweight with impressive government experience" who was likely to be part of any Romney administration "economic brain trust."[37]

Anonymous sources supposedly affiliated with Romney's transition project[38] claimed he hoped to be appointed as Romney's United States Secretary of State. This speculation was also fueled by Politico in August 2012, when it was reported that 'in diplomatic circles it is seen as very likely' that Zoellick "could get the top job" as Secretary of State in a potential Romney cabinet.[39] However, other anonymous "former Romney advisers" stated to Foreign Policy that foreign policy transition team members would not necessarily receive certain jobs in Romney's potential administration.[38] This speculation about Zoellick's possible role in a Romney administration was moot when Romney lost the election to incumbent Barack Obama.[38]

Zoellick has served as a board member for a number of private and public organizations, including Alliance Capital, Said Holdings, Rolls-Royce, the Precursor Group, and Laureate International Universities. Since 2013, he has been a member of the board of directors of the Peterson Institute for International Economics,[40] and since 2018 of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.[41] He is an independent director of Robinhood [42] and a trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society [43] He is also a member of Washington, D.C., based think tank, The Inter-American Dialogue.[44] He chairs the Global Tiger Initiative[45] and is a member of the Global Leadership Council of Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian agency.[46] He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Jack Dorsey announced on July 19, 2018, that Zoellick would be a member of Twitter's Board of Directors.[47] As of April 22, 2022, Zoellick had neither posted on Twitter nor liked any other tweet.[48]

Since 2 August 2013, Zoellick has been a board member of Temasek Holdings - Singapore's Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Previously, he was a member of the advisory board of AXA, of Viventures, a venture fund, and a director of the Aspen Institute's Strategy Group. He has also served on the boards of the German Marshall Fund and the European Institute and on the World Wildlife Fund Advisory Council. He was a member of Secretary William Cohen's Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee.[49]

He is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State's highest honor, the Alexander Hamilton Award of the Department of the Treasury, and the Medal for Distinguished Public Service of the Department of Defense.

In 1992, he received the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his eminent achievements in the course of German reunification. In 2002, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. The Mexican and Chilean governments awarded him their highest honors for non-citizens, the Aztec Eagle and the Order of Merit, for recognition of his work on free trade, development, and the environment.

In 2016, he received the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Excellence in Diplomacy Award.[50]

In 2017, he was a recipient of the Economic Club of Minnesota's Bill Frenzel Champion of Free Trade Award.[51]

Served as non-executive chairman of the board of AllianceBernstein, May 2017-May 2019.[52]