WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 29, 2024 – The Atlantic Council announced today that Romesh Ratnesar, an accomplished media leader and former State Department official, will join the Atlantic Council as its senior vice president of engagement, leading the Council’s events and communications teams.

Ratnesar most recently managed Bloomberg Opinion’s ten-person Editorial Board, where he conceived, assigned, wrote, and edited editorials on global economics, finance, and domestic and foreign policy. He was also a Bloomberg TV, radio, and social media commentator.

Ratnesar previously served as deputy editor and international editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and deputy managing editor of TIME Magazine, where he was also a staff writer and foreign correspondent reporting extensively from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. He managed TIME’s Baghdad bureau in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion and, as the magazine’s foreign editor, oversaw its coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also worked from 2015-2017 as chief of staff to US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Richard Stengel. Romesh is the author of “Tear Down This Wall: A City, a President and the Speech that Ended the Cold War,” an account of President Reagan’s 1987 address at the Brandenburg Gate.

“I am delighted to welcome Romesh to the leadership team,” said Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council. “There is nothing more valuable to achieve our mission of ‘shaping the global future together’ with partners and allies than our global communications, outreach, and convening. Romesh’s experience and skills are ideally suited to leading our Engagement team at this crucial moment.”

“The Atlantic Council is renowned for its relevant and rigorous work across the world’s most pressing issues,” said Ratnesar. “I am thrilled to be joining such an innovative and dynamic organization, and to help shape its future direction.”

Ratnesar will assume his role on June 24, at which time he will also join the Council’s leadership team.

For media inquiries, please contact press@atlanticcouncil.org.

About the Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the Atlantic community’s central role in meeting global challenges. The Council provides an essential forum for navigating the dramatic economic and political changes defining the twenty-first century by informing and galvanizing its uniquely influential network of global leaders. The Atlantic Council—through the papers it publishes, the ideas it generates, the future leaders it develops, and the communities it builds—shapes policy choices and strategies to create a more free, secure, and prosperous world.