Dr. Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer

Acting President, German Marshall Fund of The United States

Dr. Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer is the President of the global think tank German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). In her previous capacity as Senior Vice President for Geostrategy, she led GMF’s Geostrategy policy and risk advisory work across Europe, the United States and the Indo-Pacific region. Her areas of expertise encompass European affairs, transatlantic and international relations, and corporate diplomacy.

With more than 15 years’ experience in senior advisory and executive roles, de Hoop Scheffer advises governments, multinational corporations, and financial institutions on the political, geopolitical, and macroeconomic trends that shape their operations and strategies. She helps them develop early-warning systems and forward-looking decision-making processes.

de Hoop Scheffer serves as an independent board director for several organizations, including the supervisory board of Meridiam and the French Treasury Strategic Committee, and as chair of the advisory board of the French Chief of Defense Staff. She is also a member of the board of the France-Nederland Cultuurfonds, the advisory board of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (FRS), and the editorial board of The Washington Quarterly.

Prior to joining GMF in 2012 as its Paris office director and as a senior fellow, de Hoop Scheffer held key advisory positions in the French government, academia, and international organizations, including with the French foreign ministry’s policy planning staff (2009-2011), NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (2010-2013), the French Ministry of Defense (2006-2009), and UN peacekeeping operations (2006). She also served as an associate professor at Sciences Po Paris and as a research fellow at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI).

A dual French-Dutch citizen, de Hoop Scheffer holds a PhD in political science from Sciences Po Paris and is the author of “Hamlet en Irak” (CNRS Éditions, 2007). She is a frequent public speaker and writer.