State Department Chief of Staff Brian Gunderson speaks at SJU

Brian Gunderson, State Department chief of staff to Secretary Condoleezza Rice, speaks at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16 at the Alumni Lounge, Quad Building, Saint John’s University.

Gunderson speaks on “An Overview of U.S. Foreign Policy Today.”

A native of Minnesota, Gunderson became chief of staff under Rice on Jan. 28, 2005. He came to the State Department from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where he served as chief of staff to Robert Zoellick. In that capacity, he helped manage USTR as the agency completed free trade negotiations with 10 countries and launched negotiations with 12 others.

Before joining the Bush administration, Gunderson held many senior positions on Capitol Hill. He was chief of staff for House Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-Texas), and advised the Congressional leadership on foreign policy, defense and international economics. He played a key staff role in the passage of the 2001 and 2002 tax acts, trade promotion authority, China trade legislation, national security, appropriations and other legislation.

The event is sponsored by the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, in conjunction with Mark Kennedy’s Frontiers of Freedom Lecture Series and Students Fostering Conservative Thought at CSB and SJU. Kennedy, who served Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001-07, is a 1979 graduate of SJU.

The event is free and open to the public.