Atlantic Council names Melanie Hart as senior director for the Global China Hub

WASHINGTON, DC - September 17, 2024 - The Atlantic Council announced today that Dr. Melanie Hart, an expert with two decades of experience on Chinese domestic and foreign policy, will join the Atlantic Council as its senior director for the Global China Hub. In this capacity, Hart will lead the hub's efforts to research and devise solutions for the United States and its allies to address the challenges posed by China's rise, leveraging the Atlantic Council's work on China across its sixteen programs and centers.

Hart joins the Council from the US Department of State, where she served as senior advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific in the Office of the Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. In that role, Hart was instrumental in crafting innovative strategies to reduce nation-state vulnerabilities to Chinese pressure. She developed the Department of State's playbook for responding to Chinese economic coercion and led an internal unit that provided coercion-response support to multiple nations. Hart developed the State Department semiconductor strategy for the CHIPS and Science Act's International Technology Security and Innovation Fund. She also served as policy lead for the US-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue and worked with multiple US allies and partners to address common China policy challenges.

Before joining the State Department, Hart served as director of China policy at the Center for American Progress, where her work shaped domestic and global approaches to China on issues such as 5G policy, economic competition, energy and climate policy, and global governance. She also served as a senior advisor at the Scowcroft Group, where she helped American firms understand China's industrial policies. Hart has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, San Diego and a B.A. from Texas A&M University.

Hart's extensive background in US-China relations and leadership in government as well as the think tank and private sectors positions her as a key figure in navigating the complex dynamics associated with the US-China relationship, China's rise, and US and allied responses.

"I am delighted to welcome Melanie, one of America's pre-eminent experts and practitioners on China, to the Atlantic Council," said Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council. "Few individuals have such deep knowledge and experience on China, working in the highest levels of government and policy, which she will apply at a time when China's global role and its bilateral relations with the United States are of increasing significance."

Said Hart: "As the United States faces pivotal challenges in navigating its relationship with China, I am truly honored to lead the work of the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub. The Atlantic Council provides an ideal platform to tackle all critical aspects of the China challenge, from economic to technology to security to global governance, and to do so collaboratively with our allies. I am looking forward to working with the Atlantic Council brain trust to dig in on some of the hardest questions currently vexing US and allied policymakers."

Hart assumed her role at the Atlantic Council on September 9.

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About the Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the Atlantic community's central role in addressing global challenges. The Council provides an essential forum for navigating dramatic global economic and political changes by informing and galvanizing its uniquely influential network of global leaders. Through its reports, issue briefs, policy recommendations, and high-level events, the Council seeks to shape strategies and choices to ensure a more secure and prosperous world.

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