Catherine Novelli Joins CNAS as Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Energy, Economics and Security Program

Washington, March 31, 2021—The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is pleased to announce that Catherine Novelli, Senior Advisor at Shearwater Global and former Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, has joined CNAS as an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Energy, Economics and Security Program.

In addition to serving as a Senior Advisor at Shearwater Global, a strategic consulting firm, Amb. Novelli serves as President of Listening for America, a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to forging a new vision of U.S. international trade engagement. She is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where she served as a Centennial Fellow (2018-2019). Amb. Novelli previously served as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment (2014-2017) where she promoted economic reform and open markets for U.S. products and services. As Under Secretary, Amb. Novelli spearheaded the first-of- its-kind Our Ocean movement, which, during her tenure, resulted in $10 billion for Ocean conservation and has become a continuing global effort. She also launched the Global Connect Initiative, an innovative partnership with governments, multilateral development banks and the private sector to connect 1.5 billion people to the Internet.

Amb. Novelli spent seven years as Vice President, Worldwide Government Affairs at Apple, Inc. where she headed a multinational international team responsible for Apple’s government relations and public policy. Prior to her position at Apple, she was a partner in the law firm of Mayer Brown International. She had a long career at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, rising to Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe & the Mediterranean, where she coordinated U.S. trade and investment policy for Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa. She took a leading role in many of the most important U.S. trade negotiations in those regions, including free trade agreements with Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain, and Oman.

Amb. Novelli currently serves on the Board of the National Wildlife Federation and the Advisory Board of the Pristine Seas Initiative of the National Geographic Society. She was also named an Ocean Elder. Novelli has received numerous honors and awards, including the State Department Distinguished Service Award and the International Trade Woman of the Year Award. She is a graduate of Tufts University, holds a law degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Laws from University of London.

For more information or to request an interview with Amb. Novelli, contact Cole Stevens at [email protected] or call 202-695-8166.