Former U.S. Department of Homeland Security and United Nations official Jane Holl Lute and investment firm president Fred Whitridge, Jr. have been appointed to three-year terms on the Stimson Center Board of Directors. Stimson President and CEO Ellen Laipson and Board Chairman Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr. announced the appointments today.

Lute is president and CEO of the Council on CyberSecurity, an independent and nonprofit organization with a global scope committed to the security of an open Internet. She served as deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from 2009 until May this year. From 2003-2009 she held positions in peacekeeping and peacebuilding at the United Nations. Earlier Lute was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Fund, and served on the National Security Council staff. She served in the U.S. Army from 1978 to 1994, retiring as a major. Lute has a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University and a J.D. from Georgetown University.

Whitridge is an entrepreneur and investor interested in international security affairs. He is the president and founder of the Archipelago Corporation, which has been in the business of investing in other companies and providing merger and acquisition services since 1993. He was chief investment officer and vice president of the North American office of the Swedish Wallenberg Group from1988 to 1992. From 1986 to 1988 Whitridge was an associate with Anestis & Co., an investment firm. He currently serves on the board of directors of SIPRI (the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) North America and previously served on the board of directors of DFI International. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management. 

“We welcome Jane Holl Lute and Fred Whitridge to the Stimson Board, and look forward to benefiting from their knowledge, experience and commitment to help Stimson succeed in our mission of finding pragmatic solutions to peace and security challenges around the world,” Laipson said.

“As Stimson prepares to celebrate our 25^th anniversary next year, Jane Holl Lute and Fred Whitridge will help us build upon our past achievements and lay the foundation for future decades of rigorous fact-based analysis and even greater accomplishments,” Bloomfield said.