Advisory Council

The Honorable T.M. Franklin Cownie | Mayor, The City of Des Moines

Frank Cownie has served as mayor of the City of Des Moines since 2004. Prior to 2004, he served as an at-large council member, helped create the 2020 Character Plan, chaired the Des Moines Planning and Zoning Commission, and served as president of Downtown Des Moines, Inc. Mayor Cownie is a current member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He is co-chair of the Capital Cities Task Force and co-chair of the Homelessness Awareness Task Force.

Edie Fraser | Chair of Diversity Practice & Managing Director, Diversified Search Ray & Berndtson

Edie Fraser serves Diversified Search Ray & Berndtson, the largest woman-owned executive search firm in America with offices in more than 34 countries and in more than 60 locations. She has been honored with a myriad of awards for her support of global diversity and women. In the field of communication, she received the esteemed Silver Anvil for a specialized international campaign on US and Japan communications and trade promotion. Fraser was former Director of Health Communications Planning for the Federal Government (then HEW), and Consumer Director for a global public relations firm. She served as an African Desk Officer at the Peace Corps and worked for the poverty program of the USA. Fraser is a board member of the Committee of 200, Count-Me-In and Make Mine a $Million, Women's Center in Nigeria, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, to name a few. She is a member of the United Nations Association.

Thomas Fox | Consultant

Since early 2001, Thomas Fox has been an independent consultant with several international consulting firms, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private foundations. He is chairman of the board of a new and potentially substantial foundation addressing issues that affect poor children and youth in Africa. He has also been an occasional lecturer and teacher at both Johns Hopkins University’s SAIS and George Washington University —a course on NGOs. From 1997–2001, Fox was Assistant Administrator for Policy and Program Coordination for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). With a career spanning almost forty years in international development, he has held senior management and leadership positions with the US Peace Corps, Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), USAID, the Council on Foundations, and the World Resources Institute.

David Hamod | President & CEO, National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC)

David Hamod serves NUSACC —an organization fostering trade and investment between the United States and the 22 countries of the Arab world. Hamod was the founder and president of Intercom International Consultants, a Washington-based business consulting firm to U.S. companies, and served on the International Policy Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He was former U.S. Representative of the American Business Council of the Gulf Countries and the Washington-based voice of the American business community in the Arabian Gulf. In 1997, Hamod was honored with a “Patriot of the Expatriates Award” for his commitment to U.S. international business competitiveness. Hamod has worked with the American Chambers of Commerce in Egypt, Lebanon, and Canada; World Federation of Americans Abroad; Small Business Exporters Association; and the Center for International Private Enterprise. He serves on the Middle East Policy Council and American Near East Refugee Aid. Prior to founding Intercom, Hamod worked for the Brookings Institution, IBM, OPIC, and The New York Times. He is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and the University of Iowa.

John Hishmeh | Executive Director, Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET)

Based in Alexandria, Virginia, the CSIET is a national not-for-profit foundation whose mission is to identify reputable international youth exchange programs in order to provide meaningful and safe international exchange experiences. Hishmeh is responsible for the overall management of foundation activities and staff. Previously, he served as a Special Projects Officer working for the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs at the U.S. Department of State. Responsibilities included special promotional events and visibility and public affairs efforts for the Fulbright program. Hishmeh has held positions at the U.S. Information Agency including: Educational and Cultural Affairs Specialist for the Exchange Visitor Program under the General Counsel, and positions in the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program and the Office of Congressional Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs.

The Honorable James A. Leach | John L. Weinberg Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

Former U.S. Congressman Leach holds the position of the John L. Weinberg Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. He also served as the director of Harvard's Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2007-08.  Leach has served 15 terms in Congress as a Republican representative from eastern Iowa. During his congressional career he chaired the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, the Humanities Caucus, and the U.S. Commission on Improving the Effectiveness of the U.N.  Prior to entering Congress, Leach was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer assigned as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly and the Geneva Disarmament Conference.

David Maxwell, Ph.D. | President, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa

Dr. Maxwell has been the president of Drake University since May 1999. Previously, he was director of the National Foreign Language Center, president of Whitman College, and a full-time faculty member and later dean of Undergraduate Studies at Tufts University. At Tufts, he taught Russian language and literature and chaired the Soviet and East European Area Program. Dr. Maxwell has served on the executive and strategic planning committees of the board of the Council on International Educational Exchange. He also chaired the Commission on International Education of the American Council on Education.

Secretary Norman Y. Mineta | Vice Chairman, Hill & Knowlton, Inc.

Norman Mineta is Vice Chairman of Hill & Knowlton based in its Washington, DC office.  He is recognized for his expertise in transportation and national security, as well as accomplishments in economic development, science and technology policy, foreign and domestic trade, the environment, budgetary issues and civil rights.   Secretary Mineta served in Congress for over twenty years and in the Cabinets of both Republican and Democratic presidents.  For almost 30 years, Mineta represented San Jose, California, first on the City Council, then as Mayor and from 1975-1995 as a Member of Congress.  Secretary Mineta received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., and the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, awarded for significant public service of enduring value to aviation in the United States.

The Honorable Robert D. Ray | Governor of Iowa (1969–1982)

Robert Ray was governor of Iowa for five terms, serving from 1969 to 1983. He was a leader in the United States in the resettlement of refugees. He is credited with the founding of the Iowa Peace Institute, Sister States, and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, among a number of other organizations. Following his terms as Governor, Ray became president and chief executive officer of Life Investors, Inc., now known as AEGON, Inc. He next joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa as president and CEO. Ray was chairman of the Board of Trustees and then became president of Drake University. Previously, he filled an interim term as mayor of Des Moines. In addition, Ray has been a U.S. representative to the United Nations.

Keith Reinhard | President of Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA)

Keith Reinhard is Chairman Emeritus, DDB Worldwide, one of the largest advertising firms in the world, and is President of Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA). BDA, founded by Reinhard, is a nonprofit organization that addresses the decline of the United States’ standing in the world and engages the business community in citizen diplomacy. BDA serves a range of multinational members, among them McDonald’s, ExxonMobil, and Microsoft Corporation.

The Honorable Harold H. Saunders, Ph. D. | Chairman and President International Institute for Sustained Dialogue Assistant Secretary of State (1978-81)

Since leaving the government in 1981 after a 25-year career, Harold H. Saunders has conducted sustained non-official dialogues to transform relationships among conflicting parties in the Cold War, in former Soviet Republics, and in the Middle East. From that experience he has conceptualized the process called Sustained Dialogue. In government on the National Security Council Staff and in the State Department, he was intensively involved in the Arab-Israeli peace process from 1974-1981, flying on the Kissinger shuttles and, as Assistant Secretary of State, a principal drafter of the Camp David accords in 1978 and mediator of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. He serves concurrently as Director of International Affairs at the Kettering Foundation.

The Honorable Tom J. Vilsack | Of Counsel, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Dorsey Trial Group | Governor of Iowa (ret.)

Thomas Vilsack served two terms as governor of Iowa, making the state a national leader in renewable energy. He also established relationships among all levels of local, state and federal government, and worked closely with national companies involved in Iowa commerce. Vilsack ran as a candidate for the U.S Presidency until announcing his withdrawal from the race in February 2007. In addition to his public service career, including service as an Iowa state senator and mayor of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Vilsack is an attorney. His practice focuses on commercial litigation and advising clients in the fields of energy conservation, renewable energy and agribusiness development. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Drake University Law School.

Aaron S. Williams | Vice President, International Business Development, RTI International, Washington D.C.

Aaron Williams is the vice president for International Business Development in RTI’s Center for International Development. RTI is one of the world’s leading research institutes. He has directed development assistance programs in the areas of economic policy development and economic growth, trade and investment promotion, banking and finance, democracy and governance, education, housing and urban development, and public health. His long-term assignments include South Africa, Honduras, Haiti, Costa Rica, Barbados, and the Eastern Caribbean islands region. In his role as a senior USAID manager, Williams provided policy and program leadership to major government organizational units, both in headquarters and field assignments, working in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.