Now Vice President of the Aspen Institute, Jane Wales served in the Clinton Administration as Special Assistant to the President, Senior Director of the National Security Council and Associate Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. There, her office was responsible both for developing policy for securing advanced weapons materials in the former Soviet Union and for advancing sustainable economic development through science and technology cooperation. In the Carter Administration, Jane served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

In the philanthropic sector, Jane chaired the international security programs at the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and directed the Project on World Security at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She also led nonprofits including a 20-year stint as CEO of the World Affairs Council. There, she founded and led the Global Philanthropy Forum and its regional affiliates in Africa and Latin America. In 2007-8 she served as interim CEO of The Elders, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and founded by Nelson Mandela. Jane is Co-Chair of the Generosity Commission, a national blue-ribbon panel focused on exploring and reversing the decline in “everyday” giving, volunteering and civic engagement in the U.S. She is a member of the board of the Center for a New American Security and chaired the Board of FSG, a nonprofit consultancy, for 13 years.

While in these latter roles, for 25 years, she was host and moderator of the nationally syndicated National Public Radio interview show “WorldAffairs” produced by KQED-Radio, which is now moderated by Ray Suarez, formerly of PBS NewsHour. Jane began her career as a writer-researcher for Congressional Quarterly.