David Miliband

David Miliband is the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. He oversees the agency’s relief and development operations in over 40 countries, its refugee resettlement and assistance programs throughout the United States, and the IRC’s advocacy efforts in Washington and other capitals on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable people. David had a distinguished political career in the United Kingdom for over 15 years. From 2007 to 2010, he served as the youngest foreign secretary in three decades, driving advancements in human rights and representing the U.K. throughout the world. As secretary of state for the environment in 2005 to 2006 he pioneered the world’s first legally binding emissions reduction requirements. His accomplishments have earned him a reputation, in former President Bill Clinton’s words, as “one of the ablest, most creative public servants of our time.” Earlier, David was the minister for schools and the head of Downing Street’s Number 10 Policy Unit. He has also been a member of Parliament representing South Shields. He is co-chair of the Global Ocean Commission. David graduated from Oxford University in 1987 with a first-class degree in philosophy, politics, and economics, and received his master’s degree in political science in 1989 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which he attended as a Kennedy Scholar. He is married to the violinist Louise Shackelton and they have two sons. David’s parents were refugees from Belgium and Poland to the U.K. in the 1940s. As the son of refugees, he brings a personal commitment to the IRC’s work.