President and Chief Executive Officer

Laurel E. Miller joined The Asia Foundation as president and chief executive officer in February 2023 and is responsible for leading all aspects of the organization. 

Laurel is an experienced leader whose background spans nonprofit, public policy, private sector, and governmental roles. Before joining The Asia Foundation, she served as director of the Asia Program for the International Crisis Group, an organization dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution. Previously, she was a senior foreign policy expert at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit policy research and analysis organization. Her work covered a wide range of subjects, including peace processes, institution-building, economic and security assistance, and governance.

She has served in several positions in the US government, including deputy and then acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Department of State. In prior roles, she was senior advisor to the assistant secretary of state for European Affairs, senior advisor to the United States special envoy for the Balkans, and deputy to the ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues. She was directly involved in peace negotiations in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Laurel also served as director for western hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council. Currently, she is a congressionally appointed member of the bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission, charged by Congress with reviewing US involvement in the region. Laurel also has been a senior expert at the US Institute of Peace. Earlier, she practiced law with Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, and Brussels, after serving as a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She was an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and a Rotary Foundation fellow in Delhi. She also worked as a staff reporter for the Japan Times in Tokyo.

Education: Laurel is a graduate of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and the University of Chicago Law School.