Charles Shapiro

Ambassador (ret.) Charles Shapiro is President Emeritus of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, a senior advisor at the Pendleton Group, co-founder of Art of Diplomacy Tours, and a Professor of Practice at the Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech.

A career foreign service officer at the U.S. Department of State, Shapiro served as Ambassador to Venezuela, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, and Coordinator for Cuban Affairs.

In 2011 Shapiro became the president of the Institute of the Americas, a think tank at the University of California San Diego. In 2014 he became president of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta. While at the Council, he taught international business at Georgia State University.

Shapiro has published op-eds in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Toronto Star, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Miami Herald, the San Diego Union Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times.

He holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgia State University, and served in the United States Coast Guard Reserves.