Leslie Vinjamuri

About Dr. Leslie Vinjamuri

Dr. Leslie Vinjamuri is the president and CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She joined the Council in 2025 from the Royal Institute of International Affairs, known as Chatham House, in London, where she served as director of the US and the Americas program and previously as dean of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs, associate fellow, and trustee. Dr. Vinjamuri is Professor of Practice in International Relations and Diplomacy at SOAS University of London, where she was previously professor of international relations (tenured). She is a Marshall Commissioner and vice chair of the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs.

Dr. Vinjamuri is passionate about international affairs, education, and leadership. She has led research teams of high-level experts on critical issues of US global engagement, geopolitics, and international order, convened partnerships across multiple geographies, and taught graduate and undergraduate courses on international affairs and diplomacy. She thrives on public speaking, engaging global communities, and building new research initiatives.

She was previously founding co-director and then director of the Centre on Conflict, Rights and Justice, and later cochair of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS University of London. Dr. Vinjamuri worked in the Asia Bureau at USAID and at the Congressional Research Service. She served on the faculty of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and had held fellowships at Harvard University and the London School of Economics. Dr. Vinjamuri also sits on the advisory boards of Princeton University's Reimagining World Order, LSE US Centre, and LSE IDEAS.

Her research has been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, Open Society Foundations, and Smith Richardson Foundation. She is a regular contributor to international broadcast media, especially CNN, Bloomberg, and BBC.

Dr. Vinjamuri received a BA from Wesleyan University (Phi Beta Kappa), an MSc (Distinction) from the London School of Economics, and a PhD from Columbia University.