WACNH Global Forum: Shaping America's Role in a Changing World

WACNH Global Forum:

Shaping America's Role

in a Changing World-

With 28th U.S. National Security Advisor

Jake Sullivan

The world is changing rapidly—and the most critical global challenges of our time are unfolding right now. From great-power competition and global security to economic uncertainty and the future of American leadership, the decisions shaping our world demand informed, civil dialogue. The World Affairs Council of New Hampshire invites you to be part of that conversation at our annual Signature Event, the Global Forum—the state’s largest gathering of globally minded citizens.

This year, WACNH is honored to welcome Jake Sullivan, former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, for a timely moderated conversation titled “Shaping America’s Role in a Changing World.” Drawing on firsthand experience at the highest levels of U.S. foreign policy, Sullivan will examine the critical global issues defining this moment—including geopolitical competition, international security, diplomacy, and America’s evolving role on the world stage—and offer insights into what lies ahead.

At the Global Forum, global issues become local. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of how high-level decisions made in Washington, DC affect communities, businesses, and individuals here in New Hampshire and across the globe. You’ll also engage with community leaders, professionals, and engaged citizens who believe that informed discussion and principled leadership are essential in an increasingly complex world. As a proudly nonpartisan organization, WACNH welcomes the full community to this important conversation.

All proceeds from the Global Forum directly support the mission of the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire, helping ensure that vital global conversations, educational programs, and community events remain accessible across the state.

Reserve your seat and join us for an evening of insight, connection, and purpose. Be part of the conversation shaping America’s role in a changing world.

Event Schedule:

5:00pm - Doors Open, Pre-Event Reception

5:30 pm - Global Citizen Award Presentation

5:30pm - Private Reception Starts (West Wing of NHIOP)

6:00pm - Event Begins

7:30pm - Program Concludes

8:00pm - Post Event Dinner

About the Speaker

Jake Sullivan is the Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Senior Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy

at the University of New Hampshire.

He was the 28th Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2021 to

January 2025. In the Obama Administration, he served as National Security Advisor to then-Vice President Biden, Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, and Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In the years between government service, Sullivan was a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he helped conceive a bipartisan task force project on a foreign policy for the middle class. He held teaching posts at the University of New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, and Yale Law School. And he co-founded and co-chaired the advisory board for National Security Action. 

He holds a B.A. in political science and international studies from Yale College; a M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a J.D. from Yale Law School. He clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer of the Supreme Court of the United States. He grew up as the second of five children in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is a proud product of the Minneapolis public schools. He lives with his wife, Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander, in New Hampshire.