Michèle Flournoy

Michèle Flournoy is co-founder and managing partner of WestExec Advisors; in addition, she was a co-founder and former chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she is now chair. Flournoy served as the undersecretary of defense for policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal advisor to the secretary of defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations and in National Security Council deliberations. Prior to confirmation, Flournoy co-led President Obama’s transition team at the Defense Department. In January 2007, she co-founded CNAS, a bipartisan think tank, served as its president until 2009 and returned as CEO in 2014. In 2017, she co-founded WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm. Flournoy earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree from Balliol College, Oxford University, where she was a Newton-Tatum scholar.