Arturo Valenzuela is emeritus professor of Government and International Relations at Georgetown University, where he founded and directed the Center for Latin American Studies in the School of Foreign Service. He previously taught at Duke University and has a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is a specialist on the origins, consolidation and breakdown of democratic regimes and United States – Latin American Relations. In his first term, President Barack Obama named him assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, where he led US diplomatic relations with the countries of the Americas. In President Clinton’s second term he served at the White House as special assistant to the President and senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council. In President Clinton’s first term he was deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of US relations with Mexico. He is a member of Luminate’s International Advisory Group.

Valenzuela was an event speaker at the Dialogue.