The Shell Distinguished Lecture Series

The Shell Distinguished Lecture Series is the Baker Institute’s flagship speakers program, reflecting the vision of our honorary chair, former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, and Shell’s commitment to defining the role of statesmanship, integrity and bold leadership in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

The ability of the Baker Institute to attract world leaders to the Rice campus, in combination with Shell’s generous support, has helped make the institute one of the nation’s most widely recognized and respected public policy think tanks. Inaugurated in 1995, the series has hosted distinguished guests including President Bill Clinton, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

• Henry Paulson Jr.  (74th U.S. Treasury Secretary and author of "On the Brink")

• Chris Paine (Writer and director of the award-winning documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?")

• Dexter Filkins (Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and author of "The Forever War," winner of the 2008 National Book Critics Circle award. )

• Martin Feldstein (George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University, and President and CEO of the National Bureau of Economic Research)
• Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire (former commander of the United Nations mission in Rwanda)
  

• The Honorable Samuel A. Nunn, Jr. (Co-chairman and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative)
• Vartan Gregorian (president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York)
• William J. Clinton (42nd President of the United States)

• Shimon Peres (Former Prime Minister, The State of Israel)
• Karen P. Hughes (Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State)
• Murli S. Deora (Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, The Republic of India)

• The Honorable Joseph R. Biden (United States Senator, Delaware)
• HRH Prince Saud Al Faisal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)

• Hosni Mubarak (President, The Arab Republic of Egypt )
• Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani (Emir of the State of Qatar)
• Rudolph Giuliani (Mayor of New York City, 1994-2001)
• Tom Brokaw (Anchor and Managing Editor, NBC Nightly News)

• Jeremy Rifkin (President, The Foundation on Economic Trends)
• Olusegun Obasanjo (President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria)
• Helmut Kohl (Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany)

• Vaira Vike-Freiberga (President of Latvia)
• Carlos Salinas de Gortari (Former President of Mexico)
• King Abdullah II (King of Jordan)
• Daniel Ayalon (Ambassador of Israel to the U.S.)
• Richard Holbrooke (U.N. Representative from the U.S.)

• Abdelaziz Bouteflika (President of Algeria)
• Alan Greenspan (Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board)
• Vladimir Putin (President of the Russian Federation)
• Nambaryn Enkhbayar (Prime Minister of Mongolia)

• Robert McNamara (8th U.S. Secretary of Defense)
• Amre Moussa (Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs)
• David Ivry (Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.)
• Juergen Chrobog (German Ambassador to the U.S.)

• Nelson Mandela (Former President, South Africa)
• Alexander Philon (Greek Ambassador to the U.S.)
• Bob Lanier (Former Mayor of Houston)
• Gilbert Grosvenor (Chairman of the Board, National Geographic Society)
• Andres Pastrana Arango (President of Colombia)
• Prince El Hassan Bin Talal (Former Crown Prince of Jordan)

• Ahmed Maher El-Sayed (Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S.)
• Dore Gold (U.N. Representative from Israel)
• Gerhard Stoltenberg (Former Minister of Finance/Defense, Germany)
• Alexander Lebed (Former Soviet General)
• James Billington (Library of Congress)
• Jose Angel Gurria (Finance Minister, Mexico)
• Norman Schwarzkopf (Retired U.S. General)
• Robert Mosbacher (Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce)
• Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore Senior Minister)
• Baki Ilkin (Turkish Ambassador to the U.S.)

• Madeleine Albright (U.S. Secretary of State)
• Yasser Arafat (Chairman, Palestinian Authority)
• Dennis Thompson (Director, Program in Ethics, Harvard University)
• Carlos Fuentes (Mexican diplomat and novelist)
• Natan Sharansky (Minister of Industry and Trade, Israel)
• Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah (Minister of Petroleum and Industry, Qatar)
• Frank Wisner (U.S. Ambassador to India)

• Itamar Rabinovich (Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.)
• Hanan Ashrawi (Minister of Higher Education, Palestinian Authority)

• Boutros Boutros-Ghali (U.N. Secretary-General)
• Habib Ben Yahia (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tunisia)