CFR Board Appoints New Leadership at Foreign Affairs

The Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has named Daniel Kurtz-Phelan as the seventh editor of Foreign Affairs and to the Peter G. Peterson chair, succeeding Gideon Rose, the editor for the past decade, who will join CFR’s Think Tank to write a book. The Board also elevated Stephanie Solomon to vice president of CFR, in addition to her role as chief revenue officer for the magazine. 

Published by CFR for nearly a century, Foreign Affairs is the leading forum for serious discussion of American foreign policy and global affairs. Among its most influential articles are George Kennan’s 1947 essay “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” which provided the rationale for U.S. containment strategy during the Cold War; Henry A. Kissinger’s first major work on nuclear weapons in April 1957, “Strength and Organization”; and Samuel P. Huntington’s landmark 1993 essay, “The Clash of Civilizations?”.

“We are truly excited about this new leadership team and believe Dan and Stephanie are ideally suited to maintain and strengthen the magazine’s influence well into the future,” said Jami Miscik, vice chairman of CFR’s Board of Directors and chair of its Committee on Foreign Affairs. “We are also extremely grateful for Gideon’s outstanding stewardship of the magazine, steering it through a challenging publishing environment.”

Kurtz-Phelan has been executive editor of the magazine since October 2017. He has served in the State Department, as a member of the secretary of state’s policy planning staff and a speechwriter for the secretary of state, and is the author of The China Mission (2018), a narrative history of George Marshall’s unsuccessful diplomatic effort to end China’s civil war in the wake of World War II. He was previously a senior editor at Foreign Affairs.

Solomon will continue her role as the magazine’s first chief revenue officer, a position she has held for the past three years. The board promoted Solomon to CFR vice president in recognition of all she has done to introduce significant infrastructure changes to the publication and bring about record subscription revenue. Previously, Solomon spent seventeen years at Time Inc. in a variety of senior roles across consumer marketing, finance, and strategy. 

“Foreign Affairs is unique by any and every measure: an invaluable venue for serious consideration of international trends and foreign policy choices done in a way that is both readable and relevant. Gideon Rose inherited a strong publication and made it even better, and Dan Kurtz-Phelan and Stephanie Solomon are the right people to increase its reach and impact while preserving its excellence and editorial independence,” said CFR President Richard N. Haass, who also serves as Foreign Affairs publisher. 

Rose came to the magazine as managing editor in 2000, was appointed editor in 2010, and since 2017 has supervised magazine operations, including business and digital. He preserved the magazine’s editorial standards and intellectual integrity while increasing its accessibility and circulation, managed its digital transition, and integrated the editorial and business sides into a unified operation. Editorial highlights during his tenure include “How Did This Happen?” (2001, edited with James F. Hoge, Jr.), the first comprehensive analysis of the 9/11 attacks; “The Clash of Ideas,” a special issue for the magazine’s ninetieth anniversary; and groundbreaking coverage of the world created by the coronavirus pandemic. He broadened the range of issues covered by the magazine to include technology, climate, health, inequality, and race, and included more diverse voices from around the world.

“It’s been an honor and a privilege to be entrusted with responsibility for such a great institution for so long, and I’m delighted to leave it in such good hands,” said Rose, who will return to CFR’s David Rockefeller Studies Program as a distinguished fellow, to write a book on the future of American foreign policy and international order. His first book, How Wars End, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2010. Rose was deputy director of national security studies at CFR from 1995 to 2000. Prior to that he served as associate director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council in the Bill Clinton administration.

“Dan and Gideon’s careers are testament to CFR’s mission to identify and develop the next generation of foreign policy thinkers and practitioners,” said Haass. “Both spent time at CFR early in their careers, served in government, published significant books, and have become intellectual leaders in the field at a critical moment in history. We are extremely fortunate to have both in our midst.”

The changes will be effective as of January 19, 2021.  
 
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