Michael Froman

President

Council on Foreign Relations

MICHAEL FROMAN is President of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He previously served as Vice Chairman and President, Strategic Growth, at Mastercard; Chairman of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth; and as a Distinguished Fellow at CFR.

From June 2013 to January 2017, Ambassador Froman served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet as U.S. Trade Representative. Major initiatives under his leadership included the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in the Asia Pacific and negotiations toward a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union; the negotiation of agreements on trade facilitation, agriculture and information technology products at the World Trade Organization; the monitoring and enforcement of U.S. trade rights; and congressional passage of Trade Promotion Authority, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Generalized System of Preferences program, and the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act.

From January 2009 to June 2013, Ambassador Froman served as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs. He served as the U.S. sherpa for the Group of Twenty and Group of Eight Summits and staffed the president for the APEC Leaders Meetings.

Prior to the Obama administration, Ambassador Froman worked at Citigroup, including as chief executive officer of its international insurance business, chief operating officer of its alternative investments business, and head of its infrastructure investment business.

During the Clinton Administration, Ambassador Froman served as a senior official in the Department of Treasury, National Security Council, and National Economic Council.

Ambassador Froman received a bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University, a doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.