Dr. Lori Forman

Lori Forman joined the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in August 2011. She brings a unique international background in corporate, government, academic, and non-profit sectors to the center. Dr. Forman is an expert on international economic development and foreign aid and has extensive field experience in sustainable development, labor mobility, civil society, and public-private partnerships.

Before coming to DKI APCSS, Dr. Forman was the first Vice President for Corporate Responsibility for a Dubai Holding company, Tatweer, based in Dubai. Before moving to Dubai, Lori worked for five years with Microsoft as the Regional Director of Community Affairs for Asia. Based in Singapore, she oversaw the regional management of Microsoft’s competitive grants programs, disaster assistance, and software donations throughout Asia-Pacific. Her work was essential to identifying and developing partnerships with regional and international organizations.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Lori served in two senior positions in the US government: US Alternate Executive Director on the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines, and Assistant Administrator for Asia and Near East of the US Agency for International Development. At ADB, she was a member of the Development Effectiveness Committee and the Professional Women’s Council. Appointed as USAID Assistant Administrator by the President and confirmed by the US Senate in 2001, she directed US foreign assistance programs throughout Asia and the Near East, totaling nearly $3 billion annually. This was Lori’s second time in USAID, having served as a special assistant and program officer in the agency for seven years from 1983-90.

In between her times at USAID, Dr. Forman was in the NGO sector as the Director of the Japan Program for The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest environmental organizations. Lori worked closely with Japanese foreign aid agencies and major corporations to support environmental projects in developing countries in Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean. During her tenure, she raised over $40 million for these projects.

Dr. Forman was a visiting professor at Keio University in Japan for three academic years. Most recently, in 2009-2010, she taught a graduate seminar on public-private partnerships while researching her doctoral dissertation on the same topic. In the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 academic years, she designed and taught courses on managing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their role in international affairs and global governance.

Lori has also served on the board of various organizations. In November 2007, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice appointed her to serve on the Board of Governors of the East-West Center, a national educational institution established by Congress to promote better relations and understanding between the United States and the nations of Asia and the Pacific.

Lori began her post-graduate career in Washington, DC, serving as the Senior Political Analyst for the White House pollster. She has a BA from Augustana College and a Master of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. In 2012, she received her Ph.D. from Keio University in Japan.