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Mark P. Lagon

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Mark P. Lagon
Lagon at the Compassion in Action Roundtable on Human Trafficking in 2007.
NationalityAmerican
EducationHarvard University (BA), Georgetown University (PhD)
EmployerFriends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria

Mark P. Lagon (born 1965) is an American political scientist and practitioner. His areas of expertise include human rights, global health, human trafficking, and global institutions and governance. Lagon is the Chief Policy Officer at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and a Distinguished Senior Scholar at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.[1] He has been lauded as having “spearheaded U.S. anti-slavery diplomacy across the globe”[2] and was the 2015 recipient of the United Nations Association's Louis B. Sohn Award for Career Contributions in Human Rights.[3]

Education

Lagon earned his B.A. in government from Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude in 1986. In addition to his studies, he served as President of the Harvard Republican Club.[4] He earned his Ph.D. with distinction from Georgetown University in 1991.[5] Professor Robert Lieber served as his thesis advisor and mentor.[6] Lagon later published his dissertation as a book called The Reagan Doctrine: Sources of American Conduct in the Cold War’s Last Chapter (Praeger, 1994).

Career

Lagon’s career has concerned human rights, democratization, and voiceless or marginalized people. He has worked with non-governmental organizations, the U.S. government, and international institutions to reinforce protections in these areas and extend them to disadvantaged populations.[7] Lagon has repeatedly written on and cultivated unique alliances.[8][9][10][11] His work at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria focuses on maintaining and expanding public private civic faith-based partnerships against infectious diseases.[12]

International affairs

Between 1991 and 1993, Lagon served as a Research Associate and principal aide to Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.[13] According to Lagon, her controversial ambassadorship to the U.N. helped cement his interest in working in global human rights and multilateral policy.[14]

Lagon began his career with the U.S. government in 1995 when he became Senior Foreign and Defense Policy Analyst of the House Republican Policy Committee.[15] He was promoted to Deputy Staff Director in 1997 and served with the Committee until 1998. In this time, he coordinated almost a dozen bills pertaining to U.S.-Chinese relations and helped establish the Select Committee on Technology Transfers to China. Lagon continued to study China’s rise in the next year as the focus of the International Affairs Fellowship he won with the think tank Council on Foreign Relations.[16] In 1999, he returned to Congress as part of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Senior Professional Staff. Much of Lagon’s work with the Committee concerned international organizations and human rights legislation.[17] He worked in similar areas as part of Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Policy Planning Staff between 2002 and 2004,[18] at which point he was promoted to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in International Organizational Affairs.[19]

Human trafficking

Lagon (third from left) with President George W. Bush as he signs the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 into law.

In 2007, Lagon was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large to and Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. Department of State.[20]

In this position, he coordinated all of the U.S.’ domestic and international agencies addressing human trafficking, managed over $50M worth of grants, and traveled to 28 countries, serving as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State throughout.[21][22][23] His work concerned public awareness and spurring governments to work with civil society organizations and businesses to fight trafficking. According to the Department of State, “since the beginning of his tenure as the TIP Office Director, Dr. Lagon has focused on reducing migrant workers’ vulnerability to human trafficking, on promoting tangible corporate social responsibility initiatives, and on coordinating U.S. foreign assistance funding to support NGOs’ global work to restore victims’ dignity.”[24]

Following his ambassadorship at the State Department, Lagon assumed the role of Executive Director and CEO of the Polaris Project, a nonprofit that “provides social services and transitional housing to victims, operates the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, and advocat[es for] stronger anti-trafficking legislation.”[25] Polaris has been recognized as a model and/or innovative organization by organizations such as Google, Skoll, and the Partnership for Freedom.[26][27][28][29]

In his two years at Polaris, Lagon built partnerships with LexisNexis and Manpower, Inc., and subsequently served as the former’s Senior Advisor and consultant on corporate responsibility and anti-trafficking efforts, laying the groundwork for the Global Business Coalition Against Human Trafficking.[30]

Human rights

Between 2010 and 2014, Lagon continued to focus on human rights through his writing, teaching, and policy entrepreneurship. In this time, he finished his second book Human Dignity and the Future of Global Institutions (co-edited by Anthony Clark Arend); taught courses on international ethics and on global institutions at Georgetown University; and served as the Chair of the Global Politics and Security concentration of Georgetown’s leading degree program, the Master of Science in Foreign Service.[31] Lagon also reaffiliated with the Council on Foreign Relations as an Adjunct Senior Fellow in Human Rights, where he researched international institutions and governance and conducted a five-year roundtable series on global human rights. Finally, in 2012, he co-founded the Global Business Coalition Against Human Trafficking, a partnership of businesses addressing human trafficking in corporate activity around the world,[32] now housed at Business for Social Responsibility. As of 2018, its members include Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Carlson, and Coca Cola.[33]

Lagon meeting then-President of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou in 2016 while President of Freedom House.

In 2015, Lagon was appointed President and CEO of Freedom House, a non-governmental organization that researches, advocates for, and programmatically assists the promotion of democracy and human rights globally.[34][35] His priority in this role was to monitor China’s growing influence on international affairs and human rights.

Lagon returned to the Walsh School of Foreign Service in 2016. He was its inaugural Centennial Fellow – a title awarded to “prominent thought leaders” – and continues to be a Distinguished Senior Scholar.[36]

In addition to his work at Georgetown, Lagon has begun to address another global threat to human rights and dignity: pandemic diseases. In 2017, he assumed the role of Chief Policy Officer at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the US non-profit advocating for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund is an international partnership between governments, businesses, and civil society to combat epidemics, and has saved an estimated 27 million lives since its founding in 2002.[37][38] In this role, Lagon continues to work with global institutions, businesses, secular and faith-based activists, and the U.S. government in advocacy and programmatic partnerships.[39]

Teaching

Between 1989 and 1995, Lagon worked as an Adjunct and Visiting Assistant Professor in government at Georgetown University. He taught in National Security Studies between 1997 and 2000, and later at the Institute of World Politics for two years. While chairing the Global Politics and Security concentration of the Master of Science in Foreign Service Program of the Walsh School of Foreign Service between 2010 and 2014, Lagon taught courses in international affairs including “Ethics and Decision-Making” and “The U.N. and Global Institutions.” As of 2018, Lagon continues to be an adjunct professor on global institutions at the SFS.

Publications

Lagon has published two books:

His other works have been published in over 60 journals and newspapers. These journals include Perspectives on Political Science, Policy Review, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Journal of Political Science, The National Interest, and World Affairs. These newspapers include The Hill, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Lagon has written a variety of pieces on behalf of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.[40][41][42]

Current affiliations

As of 2018, Lagon serves on the governing or advisory boards of the following organizations:

Lagon is also a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Associate Editor of the journal Perspectives on Political Science.[43]

Personal life

Lagon is the son of World War II-era Polish refugees and was raised in Concord, Massachusetts.[44] He is married to Dr. Susan Lagon, a political scientist and longtime Senior Fellow at Georgetown University. Their daughter Elena earned her undergraduate degree from Duke University and is a student at the University Of Virginia School Of Medicine.

References

  1. ^ "Friends Names Respected Scholar Mark P. Lagon as Chief Policy Officer". Friends of The Global Fight. 2017-03-15. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  2. ^ "Polaris Project | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery - Amb. Mark P. Lagon, PhD | Executive Director". web.archive.org. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  3. ^ Una-nca (2015-12-07). "UNA-NCA Blog : Human Rights Awards Reception – Spotlight! on Ambassador Mark P. Lagon (ret.)". UNA-NCA Blog. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  4. ^ "Activism With a Grin | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  5. ^ Arend, Anthony Clark (2010-05-03). "Ambassador Mark Lagon to return to Georgetown University". Anthony Clark Arend. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  6. ^ "GU Professor to Lead Freedom House". 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  7. ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2007-05-15). "Lagon, Mark P." 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  8. ^ "Backing Civil Society in the March to End Epidemics". Friends of The Global Fight. 2018-01-24. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  9. ^ "Human Dignity and the Future of Global Institutions | Georgetown University Press". press.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  10. ^ "Human Rights Governance: Multistakeholderism Without States' Stake" (PDF). Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2018-12-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  11. ^ "GBCAT". GBCAT. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  12. ^ "Friends Names Respected Scholar Mark P. Lagon as Chief Policy Officer". Friends of The Global Fight. 2017-03-15. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  13. ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2007-05-15). "Lagon, Mark P." 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  14. ^ Una-nca (2015-12-07). "UNA-NCA Blog : Human Rights Awards Reception – Spotlight! on Ambassador Mark P. Lagon (ret.)". UNA-NCA Blog. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  15. ^ Arend, Anthony Clark (2010-05-03). "Ambassador Mark Lagon to return to Georgetown University". Anthony Clark Arend. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  16. ^ "The "Shanghai Coalition": The Chattering Classes and China". www.tandfonline.com. doi:10.1080/10457090009600691&. Retrieved 2018-12-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  17. ^ "Faculty". gufaculty360.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  18. ^ "Ambassador Mark P. Lagon, PhD". www.isst-d.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  19. ^ "Mark Logan". www.gwcapitolhilltop.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  20. ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2007-05-15). "Lagon, Mark P." 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  21. ^ "Biography: Mark P. Lagon, Ambassador-at-Large" (PDF). www.un.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  22. ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2008-02-13). "UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  23. ^ "The Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking: Provisional Programme" (PDF). ningunamujermas.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  24. ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2007-05-15). "Lagon, Mark P." 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  25. ^ "Dr. Mark Lagon joins private anti-trafficking organization". www.iwp.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  26. ^ "Google Global Impact Award". Polaris. 2013-04-09. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  27. ^ "Winner of Partnership for Freedom Challenge". Polaris. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  28. ^ Foundation, Clinton (2015-01-09). "Fighting Modern Slavery through Data and Information Sharing". The Clinton Foundation. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  29. ^ "Polaris Selected as 2017 Skoll Awardee for Social Entrepreneurship". Polaris. 2017-03-28. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  30. ^ "Mark Lagon". LinkedIn. Retrieved 14 December 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  31. ^ "GU Professor to Lead Freedom House". 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  32. ^ "About GBCAT". GBCAT. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  33. ^ "Who We Are". GBCAT. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  34. ^ "Mark P. Lagon to Become President of Freedom House". freedomhouse.org. 2014-10-01. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  35. ^ "About us | Freedom House". freedomhouse.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  36. ^ "Former Freedom House President, Mark P. Lagon, Joins SFS as Inaugural SFS Centennial Fellow". School of Foreign Service - Georgetown University. 2016-10-21. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  37. ^ "At the Tipping Point: U.S. Leadership to End AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria" (PDF). www.theglobalfight.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  38. ^ "Home - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria". www.theglobalfund.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  39. ^ "Mark Logan". www.gwcapitolhilltop.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  40. ^ "The Global Fund as a Model of Development Assistance". Friends of The Global Fight. 2018-09-17. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  41. ^ "Multiplier for U.S. Policy: The Global Fund and HER (HIV Epidemic Response)". Friends of The Global Fight. 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  42. ^ "Backing Civil Society in the March to End Epidemics". Friends of The Global Fight. 2018-01-24. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  43. ^ Arend, Anthony Clark (2010-05-03). "Ambassador Mark Lagon to return to Georgetown University". Anthony Clark Arend. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  44. ^ Una-nca (2015-12-07). "UNA-NCA Blog : Human Rights Awards Reception – Spotlight! on Ambassador Mark P. Lagon (ret.)". UNA-NCA Blog. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
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