Sherri Goodman Named Senior Associate at Harvard Kennedy School’s Arctic Initiative

CAMBRIDGE, MA - The Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is pleased to announce the appointment of Sherri Goodman, former U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security, as a non-resident Senior Associate. Goodman will support the Initiative’s work on assessing changing geopolitical dynamics in the Arctic and strengthening regional stability and resilience. 

“Sherri is highly respected across the public sector, academia, and the uniformed military for her long leadership at the intersection of national security and climate change. It’s a privilege to have her on the Arctic Initiative team,” said Arctic Initiative Co-Chair John Holdren.

Goodman comes to the Belfer Center with deep expertise at the intersection of environmental, energy, and climate security and geopolitics, as well as extensive experience in senior government roles. As the first Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security in the U.S. Defense Department, she established the first environmental, safety, and health performance metrics; developed the President’s plan for revitalizing base closure communities; and negotiated the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation Agreement with Russia and Norway.

Goodman serves as the Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate and Security, a board director at the Atlantic Council, and a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. She is the founding board chair of the Council on Strategic Risks, the chair of the Energy and Homeland Security External Advisory Board for Sandia National Labs, a board member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where she served on the Arctic Task Force.

"I am honored to be joining the distinguished group of Arctic scholars and policymakers at the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative. Since its founding, the Arctic Initiative has advanced deeper understanding of the Arctic region and constructive engagement with Arctic partners,” said Goodman. “I look forward to contributing to these efforts at a time when engagement in the Arctic region across all domains is ever more important for security and prosperity."

About the Arctic Initiative

The Arctic has become a crucible in which the fast-warming climate is generating cascading impacts both within and beyond the region. It is compounding economic and social changes facing the region's economies and Indigenous and local cultures. And it is complicating governance within and among Arctic nations, as well as relations among Arctic-interested countries more widely. Launched in 2017 to contribute to the interdisciplinary, multidimensional, collaborative analysis and responsive actions that this complex of problems and opportunities requires, the Arctic Initiative has focused to date on identifying strategies to enhance community resilience in a changing Arctic, developing responses to the local and global impacts of permafrost thaw, addressing issues in Arctic Ocean management, and charting a course for future Arctic governance.

For Media Inquiries

Elizabeth Hanlon 
(617) 495-5965 
ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu