During his 37-year Foreign Service career, Ryan Crocker served as U.S. Ambassador to some of the most volatile countries in the world: Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Syria. Most of these countries are in the Middle East, which has been a region of ongoing conflict since the end of World War II. The region has also been of strong interest for the U.S. given its strategic location between Europe and the rest of Asia, and the important role it plays in the global fight on terrorism.

Join Asia Society Texas Center for a conversation with Ambassador Crocker on his thoughts regarding the current U.S. administration's approach to foreign policy in the Middle East and the path forward to a peaceful and sustainable future.

Schedule

5:45 p.m. | Reception
6:30 p.m. | Program

About the Speaker

Ryan Crocker is a Diplomat in Residence at Princeton University. He is on a leave of absence from Texas A&M, where he is an executive professor and former dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service. He was a career Foreign Service Officer who served six times as an American Ambassador (listed in order of service with first most recent): Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon. Three of these appointments were under Republican administrations and three under Democratic administrations. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, in 2009. Other recent awards include the inaugural Bancroft Award, presented by the Naval Academy in 2016. Also in 2016, he was named an Honorary Fellow of the Literary and Historical Society at University College, Dublin where he was presented the annual James Joyce Award. He is an Honorary Marine.

About the Moderator

Edward “Eddie” R. Allen is a co-founder and Senior Partner of Eagle Global Advisors, an investment advisory firm based in Houston, Texas. He serves on the management committee and all investment committees of the firm. In addition to serving as a co-manager of the Eagle MLP Strategy Fund, he is a portfolio manager for a variety of institutional and high net worth clients. Eddie is a co-creator of many of the portfolio strategies and proprietary investment management tools of the firm.

Eddie received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and his B.S.E. in Engineering from Princeton University. Eddie holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is also a member the CFA Society of Houston. Before entering the investment advisory business, Eddie served as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Houston.

Eddie currently serves as Chairman of the Asia Society Texas Center and is on the board of the Asia Society Global organization. He also currently serves on the boards of The Menil Collection and The Chinquapin School. He is a past board member of St. John’s School and past Chair and President of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Asia Society Texas Center Business & Policy Programs, Endowed by

Huffington Foundation

Bank of America, Muffet Blake, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and United Airlines are presenting sponsors of Business and Policy programs at Asia Society Texas Center. Lead support for Business & Policy programs comes from Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, BP America, Cathay Bank Foundation, Anne and Albert Chao, Mandy and William Kao, The Southmore, and Wells Fargo. Generous funding also provided by the Friends of Asia Society Texas Center, a premier group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing the best in public programming.

Business & Policy Presenting Sponsors