As a longtime Editor of TIME (2006-13) and former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Richard Stengel has seen and led the transformation of mainstream media. Describing his role at the State Department as “Chief Marketing Officer of Brand USA,” Stengel remains centered at the crossroads of media, policy, and politics – and speaks widely on fake news and disinformation, the case for national service, diplomacy, and leadership lessons from reporting on the world’s great leaders. As Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2013-16), Stengel brought public diplomacy into the 21st century, modernizing communications, expanding the department’s digital footprint, and ensuring that every ambassador was on social media. His latest book, Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About It, covers his efforts as the single person in government tasked with unpacking, disproving, and combating both ISIS’s messaging and Russian disinformation.

At the State Department, Stengel launched and led numerous programs and initiatives, including the Global Engagement Center, the United States’ only stand-alone anti-ISIL messaging entity, the Sawab Center in Abu Dhabi, the first joint American and foreign counter ISIL messaging hub – now a template for others around the world – and English for All, a government-wide effort that promotes teaching English abroad. He also oversaw all of the department’s extensive educational exchanges including the Fulbright Scholarship. Witnessing the global rise in disinformation – coupled with increasing restrictions on press freedom, Stengel led the department-wide effort of counter-ISIS messaging and counter-Russian disinformation.

Prior to the State Department, Stengel was the managing editor of TIME  for seven years, transforming it into a digital and social media powerhouse on a global scale. He oversaw all print, digital, tablet and marketing functions, and redesigned re-focused and reinvigorated TIME. Under his stewardship, TIME won its first-ever Magazine of the Year Award as well as numerous other National Magazine Awards, including for general excellence. Stengel also won an Emmy for executive producing the TIME documentary: Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience.

He has penned more than 25 cover stories for TIME including “The Case for National Service,” which helped launch the national service movement and contributed to the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.

A New York Time’s bestselling author, Stengel’s collaboration with Nelson Mandela produced his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, as well as Mandela’s Way about his experience working with the South African Leader. Stengel later served as an associate producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary, Mandela.

In addition to being an author and journalist, Stengel is a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and a Strategic Advisor to Snap Inc.

Named the Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center for 2017, Stengel was the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University where he taught “Politics and the Press.” He is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford where he studied English and history.

As Senior Adviser to Snap Inc., Stengel keeps pace with technology and policy as startup companies must comply with government regulations as they seek a profitable business model.

He is a regular guest on The 11th Hour with Brian Williams; Morning Joe and Andrea Mitchell Reports.