Jim Kolbe was a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a senior advisor to McLarty Associates. From 1985 to 2007, he represented Arizona as a member of the US House of Representatives. While in Congress, Kolbe served for six years on the House Budget Committee and for 20 years on the Appropriations Committee. He chaired the Treasury, Post Office, and Related Agencies Subcommittee for four years and the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Agencies Subcommittee for six years. 

Prior to holding national office, Kolbe served three terms in the Arizona State Senate. Kolbe received numerous awards and tributes. Notable among them is the George Marshall Award for Distinguished Service from the US Agency for International Development and the Order of the Aztec from the president of Mexico. Kolbe is the vice chair of the International Republican Institute and a member of the Board of Directors of Freedom House, the Institute for Science and Global Policy, the Project on Middle East Democracy, the Community Food Bank of Southern California, and the Critical Path Institute. He was also a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a senior advisor at McLarty Associates and president of JTKConsulting. From 2008 to 2010, he co-chaired the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development. Kolbe graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in political science and from Stanford University with an MBA.

Kolbe joined the Dialogue was a Member of the Dialogue from 2001-2022.