Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program
CFR’s Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program allows younger members to interact with seasoned foreign policy experts and participate in a variety of events and trips designed especially for them.
Overview
The Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program provides young professionals in government, media, nongovernmental organizations, law, business, finance, and academia the opportunity to participate 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 thirty and thirty-six is elected to serve a fixed five-year membership term.
The Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program is named in honor of longtime Council member Stephen Kellen, who was deeply committed to the development of the next generation of foreign policy leaders. The program continues to be generously supported by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.
Events
In addition to taking part in a full range of CFR activities, term members enjoy exclusive events with high-profile speakers, including an annual Term Member Conference, roundtables, workshops, trips to financial and governmental institutions across the country, and a weeklong study trip abroad. The Thirtieth Annual Term Member Conference took place in New York City in October 2025. The conference opened with a plenary on the impact of the war in Gaza, featuring perspectives from legal scholars, physicians, and policy analysts, presided over by CFR Senior Fellow Steven A. Cook. General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Ret.), then delivered the keynote address in conversation with CFR President Michael Froman. The following day featured concurrent morning plenaries examining the U.S. economic outlook and the intersection of technology, security, and global competition, as well as a plenary on the future of press freedom with leading journalists and media figures. A closing plenary brought together foreign policy experts to assess the state of American foreign policy in the age of America First. Throughout the conference, breakout sessions offered term members the opportunity for in-depth, not-for-attribution conversations on critical foreign policy issues, ranging from artificial intelligence and national security, escalation in the Taiwan Strait, and China strategy in the Trump era, to transatlantic tensions, the path ahead in Ukraine, challenges and opportunities in emerging markets, Iran’s strategy in the Middle East, the state of U.S.-India relations, the global impact of U.S. immigration policy, and the role of ethics in global decision-making. Luncheon discussions, hosted by term members themselves, provided an additional forum for candid conversation on topics spanning career transitions, civil-military relations, digital sovereignty, and the future of democracy. The conference also included off-site visits to Pfizer, Goldman Sachs Global Institute, Google, and Nasdaq.
In early 2026, twenty-two Council term members traveled to Taiwan for a week-long visit led by CFR Fellow for Asia Studies David Sacks. The trip covered cross-strait and U.S.-Taiwan relations, Taiwan’s security posture, energy resilience, democratic governance, and the semiconductor sector. The group met with several senior Taiwanese officials, including the Vice President, National Security Advisor, Foreign Minister, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng, and Vice Minister of Defense. Notably, the delegation was the first group to meet with Kuomintang (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun following her return from Beijing, where she had held discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The group also toured Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and visited Kinmen, Taiwan’s offshore island. In late 2024, a sixteen-member term delegation spent ten days in Saudi Arabia, gaining an on-the-ground perspective on the Kingdom’s political, economic, and social dynamics and its evolving role in the Middle East and beyond. Other recent trips have included four days in Mexico City with government officials, business leaders, journalists, and civil society members to discuss U.S.-Mexico relations; three days in San Francisco for briefings from leading artificial intelligence companies; three days in El Paso to engage with government agencies, nonprofits, and business leaders on challenges at the U.S. southern border; and three days in Houston focused on climate and energy. Day trips have included tours and briefings at the Port of Baltimore, Meta, the White House, Picatinny Arsenal, and the United Nations.
To Apply
CFR term membership is restricted to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have formally applied to become citizens. Candidates for term membership must be between the ages of thirty and thirty-six on January 1, 2027 to apply, nominated in writing by a current CFR member, and seconded by two to three other individuals. Detailed information about membership and eligibility requirements can be found on the Individual Membership page.
Candidates must submit an online application, which consists of three parts:
- contact information
- CV
- nominator and seconder information
Stephen M. Kellen (1914–2004)
Stephen M. Kellen was a distinguished investment banker and a devoted philanthropist. He was an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1982 until his death in 2004.
Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1914, Kellen studied at a commercial institute and was employed in Berlin before relocating to England in 1936, where he joined Lazard Brothers Ltd. In 1937, Kellen again relocated to New York to begin work at Loeb, Rhoades & Company before joining the investment bank Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, where he served as president from 1955 to 1994 and as cochairman until 2004.
Kellen was part of the leadership of a number of charitable, educational, and cultural organizations. He was a supporter of the New School, a charter board member of the Interfaith Center of New York, a life trustee of Thirteen/WNET, a trustee of Carnegie Hall, and a supporter of the National Gallery of Art. He was also a tireless advocate for building cultural bridges between his adopted city of New York and the city of his birth, Berlin. In addition to serving as a director and patron of the American Council on Germany, in 1997 he made a founding gift to the American Academy in Berlin, establishing it as the center of transatlantic cultural and intellectual exchange.
Kellen was deeply committed to developing the next generation of leaders in business and foreign affairs. Throughout his life, he made it a priority to cultivate meaningful relationships with young people, providing mentorship and guidance and investing in the future in substantive ways. He was instrumental in deepening the involvement of young men and women in conversations on international affairs and foreign policy at CFR. In recognition of his many intellectual, financial, and leadership contributions, the Council’s term member program was named in his honor.
Contact
For further information about applying for term membership, please contact Membership at [email protected] or 212.434.9456.