The Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program encourages promising young leaders in government, media, nongovernmental organizations, law, business, finance, and academia to engage in a sustained conversation on international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. The program allows these younger members to interact with seasoned foreign-policy experts and participate in a wide variety of events designed especially for them. Each year a new class of term members, between the ages of 30 and 36, is elected to a five-year membership term. Committees of term members in New York and Washington, DC, advise the Council leadership and help create programs of particular interest to younger members.
The Term Member Program is supported by a generous gift from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.
In addition to taking part in the full range of Council activities, the term members also enjoy an array of special events with high-profile speakers, including an annual Term Member Conference, roundtables, trips to financial and governmental institutions around the country, and a one-week-long study trip abroad every two years.
This year's seventeeth annual Term Member Conference included plenary sessions on the pivot to Asia, the Oval Office foreign policy inbox, the Eurozone, and the Middle East. Ryan Crocker, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Syria, keynoted the conference's closing session by giving his candid thoughts about the future of Middle East policy while also reflecting on his career as a diplomat. The conference ended with a dynamic debate on the question "Is the Era of U.S. Primacy Coming to an End?" between teams consisting of two term members and led by CFR Senior Fellow Charles A. Kupchan and Kori Schake, research fellow, Hoover Institution and former principal deputy director of policy planning, U.S. Department of State, and moderated by Foreign Affairs managing editor Jonathan Tepperman.
Concurrent breakout session roundtables with fourteen Council Fellows and term members offered term members a chance for in-depth conversations on topics ranging from the Arab spring, the fiscal cliff, bipartisanship, the elections in Latin America, Boko Haram, North Korea's leadership transition, and nuclear weapons, as well as workshops on social marketing and communicating decisions in a crisis.
In 2013, select term members will have the opportunity to visit Brazil for a week-long series of briefings and meetings, and recent trips have included visits to Maxwell Air Force Base, NYPD headquarters, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence in Fort Benning, GA, and the World Bank.
For further information about applying for term membership, please contact Membership at applications@cfr.org or +1.212.434.9487.
Learn more about the application process and view a printable brochure.
Membership Application Deadlines: October 1 and March 1
Term Membership Application Deadline: January 6, 2014
Note that the term membership application deadline has been extended from November 1, 2013, to January 6, 2014.Will the Obama administration show a greater interest in Africa in the second term?
Membership in the CFR Corporate Program is tailored to meet the needs of your organization. To learn more, please visit the About Corporate page, view a printable brochure, and see our current list of members.
To find out if Corporate membership would benefit your company, contact the Corporate Program at corporate@cfr.org or 212.434.9684.
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