WASHINGTON —The Wilson Center announced today that Andrew Selee will become the organization’s new Executive Vice President. Michael Van Dusen will retire from his position as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Wilson Center, but will remain as the Senior Advisor working to engage the Center’s vast alumni network. Blair Ruble, current Director of the Global Sustainability and Resilience Program, will replace Selee as the Vice President of Programs.

“Mike has been my rock,” said Jane Harman, president, director, and CEO of the Wilson Center. “His leadership has been critical to the growth of the Center over the past 15 years, and his wisdom and friendship have been invaluable to me personally. We are glad that Mike will build an active alumni program and excited about the new leadership. Andrew Selee and Blair Ruble are both immensely talented individuals who can increase the Center’s impact on global issues.”

“It has been a great privilege to be a part of the Wilson Center for so many years,” said Van Dusen. “I am extremely proud of the work that the Wilson community has accomplished in the last 14 years and grateful for the friendships that I have made with so many of our extraordinary scholars. I look forward to remaining involved with the Center’s work through our alumni network.”

“Mike leaves some big shoes to fill,” said Selee. “I am honored to be part of the exceptional leadership team here helping Wilson Center’s strategic growth.”

“I am thrilled to become the new Vice President of Programs,” said Ruble. “The Center has some of the best policy programs in Washington and I look forward to working with my colleagues here to continue as a leading source of independent research and trusted dialog.”

Michael Van Dusen has been a member of the Wilson Center’s staff since 1999. Before being named Executive Vice President and COO he served as the Center’s Deputy Director under Director and President Lee H. Hamilton. Before the Wilson Center, he worked for close to thirty years in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as staff consultant and then staff director of the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, then Chief of Staff of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and finally as Democratic Chief of Staff of the Committee on International Relations. He will remain affiliated with the Wilson Center as Senior Advisor to the President for Alumni Relations.

Andrew Selee became the Wilson Center’s Vice President for Programs in April 2012. Previously he was the founding Director of the Center’s Mexico Institute from 2003-12. He is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and at George Washington University and the author of a recent book, What Should Think Tanks Do: A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact.

In 2012 Blair Ruble became the Director of the Wilson Center’s Global Sustainability and Resilience Program. Previously, he served as the long-time Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies (1989-2012) as well as of the Wilson Center’s Comparative Urban Studies Program (1992-2012). A native of New York, Dr. Ruble worked previously at the Social Science Research Council in New York City, as well as at the National Council for Soviet and East European Research in Washington.