Condoleezza Rice

Bio

​Condoleezza Rice is currently the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of Political Science at Stanford University.  She is also a founding partner of RiceHadleyGates, LLC.

From January 2005-2009, Rice served as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. Rice also served as President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2001-2005, the first woman to hold the position.

Rice served as Stanford University’s Provost from 1993-1999, during which she was the institution’s chief budget and academic officer. As Provost, she was responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program involving 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students. In 1997, she also served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender – Integrated Training in the Military.

From 1989 through March 1991, Rice served on President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council staff.  She served as Director; Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs; and, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In 1986, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, Rice also served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

As professor of Political Science, Rice has been on the Stanford faculty since 1981 and has won two of the highest teaching honors – the 1984 Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 1993 School of Humanities and Sciences Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.

She has authored and co-authored numerous books, including two bestsellers, No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington (2011) and Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family (2010); Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft (1995) with Philip Zelikow; The Gorbachev Era (1986) with Alexander Dallin; and Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984).

In 1991, Rice cofounded the Center for a New Generation (CNG), an innovative, after-school academic enrichment program for students in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, California. In 1996, CNG merged with the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula (an affiliate club of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America). CNG has since expanded to local BGCA chapters in Birmingham, Atlanta, and Dallas. She remains an active proponent of an extended learning day through after school programs. 

Since 2009, Rice has served as a founding partner at RiceHadleyGates, LLC, an international strategic consulting firm based in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. The firm works with senior executives of major companies to implement strategic plans and expand in emerging markets. Other partners include former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates.

Rice currently serves on the board of Dropbox, an online-storage technology company, C3, an energy software company, and Makena Capital, a private endowment firm. In addition, she is a member of the boards of the George W. Bush Institute, the Commonwealth Club, the Aspen Institute, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Previously, Rice served on various additional boards, including: KiOR, Inc.; the Chevron Corporation; the Charles Schwab Corporation; the Transamerica Corporation; the Hewlett-Packard Company; the University of Notre Dame; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and, the San Francisco Symphony Board of Governors.

In 2013, Rice was appointed to the College Football Playoff Committee (CFPC), formerly the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Rice earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver; her master’s from the University of Notre Dame; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

Rice is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded eleven honorary doctorates.  She currently resides in Stanford, California.

Academic Degrees

• PhD, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, 1981
• MA, University of Notre Dame, 1975
• BA, University of Denver, 1974.

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford University since 1981
• Provost, Stanford University, 1993-1999
• Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, 1999-2001 and 1991-1993

Professional Experience

• 66th Secretary of State of the United States, 2005-2009
• President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor), 2001-2005
• Director on President George H.W. Bush's National Security Council staff, Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, 1989-1991
• Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1986
• Served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender -- Integrated Training in the Military, 1997

Awards and Honors

• School of Humanities and Sciences Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, Stanford University, 1993
• Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford University, 1984

Teaching

Degree Courses

2017-18

POLECON 584: Managing Global Political Risk

In a globalized world, managers and investors are increasingly realizing that politics matter as much as economic fundamentals. Micro-level decisions made by local politicians in Brazil or India, national-level strategies of countries like China...

2016-17

POLECON 584: Managing Global Political Risk

In a globalized world, managers and investors are increasingly realizing that politics matter as much as economic fundamentals. Micro-level decisions made by local politicians in Brazil or India, national-level strategies of countries like China...

Executive Education & Other Non-Degree Programs

• Executive Leadership Development: Analysis to Action Learn to lead with confidence in this rigorous general management program for executives on the verge of achieving even greater things.
• Stanford Executive Program: Be a Leader Who Matters Learn to generate change, inspire innovation, and instill excellence at this six-week executive program.
• Strategy Beyond Markets: Building Competitive Advantage Through Government Relations and Public Affairs Anticipate and develop strategies to address critical beyond-market forces, from legislation and regulation to activism and the media.

In the Media

From Gridiron to Conference Room

NFL Communications, November 22, 2012

Forty NFL players will participate in a career transition program coordinated by Stanford GSB Executive Education.

Sources of Inspiration

Stanford Report, June 24, 2012

At Stanford, Turkey's President Gül praises innovation's link to freedom.

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenAs World Crises Increase, Experts Weigh In on U.S. Approach

March 22, 2016

International affairs experts including Condoleezza Rice discuss ISIS, Syria, Russia and the refugee crisis.

writtenWhat Is the Relationship Between Technology and Democracy?

March 26, 2014

Condoleezza Rice and Google’s Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen discuss communication technologies, foreign policy, and geopolitics.

videoThe Impact of Technology on Diplomacy

March 4, 2014

Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen of Google explore how technological tools will change privacy, security, and terrorism.

writtenCondoleezza Rice: Managing Global Transitions

May 24, 2012

The former secretary of state discusses political power in Russia, social stability in China, “the most surprising place in the world.”

writtenResearch: Economics Lessons From Indian Textile Firms

December 1, 2010

New studies show that firms implementing systematic management practices improved their productivity by 10 percent reduced defects by 60 percent.

writtenDespite Costs, Outcome in Iraq Has Been Worth It Says Condoleezza Rice

February 1, 2010

Stanford GSB professor Condoleezza Rice looks back at lessons learned and consequences of Middle East policy decisions of the Bush Administration.