Advisory Board
The Arclight Institute Advisory Board brings together distinguished leaders in diplomacy, international security, higher education, public health, environmental policy, research, and philanthropy. Board members help strengthen Arclight’s educational model, inform program development, and ensure that our work remains relevant to students, conference participants and organizers, university partners, and a rapidly changing world.
Dr. Eric Shiraev is a political psychologist and professor at George Mason University. He is co-founder and head of the CARP Research Lab, which is dedicated to the study of reputational politics.
Shiraev is the author or co-author of numerous books, including multiple editions of International Relations, Russian Politics, Russian Foreign Policy, Cross-Cultural Psychology, and Personality. He also co-authored Character Assassination and Reputation Management and has edited several volumes on reputational politics. His scholarly work includes articles, book chapters, and analytical commentary in political psychology, and he previously served as a political commentator for Voice of America. His recent research examines reputational politics, psychological warfare, and the ways narratives and perceptions shape political and social outcomes.
Dr. Luther Spoehr served for many years on the history faculty at Brown University, where he specialized in the history of American higher education. His teaching and scholarship have explored how history is taught, understood, and incorporated into educational institutions.
Spoehr has written extensively about effective history education and has advised schools and school systems seeking to strengthen the role of history in their curricula. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Haverford College and his PhD from Stanford University.
Annie Davies is a manager of Impact & Innovation at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she leads the design and development of large-scale collaborations to advance policy change and social impact. Before joining Pew, she worked in both global health and peacebuilding, serving as chief of staff to the CEO of Population Services International and managing the National Peace Essay Contest at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Throughout her career, Davies has helped build and manage collaborations that bring together philanthropic organizations, governments, multilateral institutions, nonprofits, and academic partners to address complex global challenges. Her work focuses on aligning diverse stakeholders around shared goals, mobilizing resources across sectors, and strengthening the partnerships needed to drive sustainable change at scale. She holds a BA in political science from Middlebury College and a master’s degree in international development from the University of Oxford.
Thomas M. Duffy is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State and a faculty advisor at the National War College. Over a distinguished diplomatic career, he held senior leadership positions including office director in the State Department’s international trade division and acting U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations’ Rome-based agencies.
His overseas assignments included service as U.S. Consul General in Jeddah, Deputy Consul General in Jerusalem, Political Advisor to the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and Deputy Political-Military Affairs Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. A specialist in multilateral diplomacy and international security, Duffy also served with the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, directed the Office of UN Political Affairs, and was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. Before joining the Foreign Service, he served as a U.S. Navy surface warfare officer. He holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame, King’s College London, and the U.S. Naval War College.
With stints in government, the corporate world, and philanthropy, Lowry embraces a systems view of complex challenges. He most recently oversaw grant making at the Skoll Foundation, addressing public health, climate, global security, and more. He previously served at the Skoll Global Threats Fund, focusing on Mideast conflict, nuclear nonproliferation, and climate.
Before Skoll, Lowry worked at Novell, a proprietary enterprise software company pivoting to open source. He began his career at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, and Italy, covering European security, U.S economic policy, and Ukraine. Lowry holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Pomona College.
Dr. Anthony C. Ogden is founder and managing director of Gateway International Group. A respected scholar-practitioner in international higher education, he has held senior leadership positions at Pennsylvania State University, the University of Kentucky, Michigan State University, and the University of Wyoming.
Ogden earned a PhD in educational theory and policy, with a dual title in comparative and international higher education, from Pennsylvania State University. His recent co-edited volumes include Preparing Students for a Global World: Intercultural and International Competencies in Education and Vanishing Voices: The Future of Language Learning in Education Abroad, both published in 2026.