President, International Rescue Committee
New York, New York

George Rupp is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Rescue Committee, a non-profit, non-sectarian, voluntary agency providing assistance to refugees around the world.

Prior to joining IRC, Dr. Rupp served as the eighteenth president of Columbia University for nine years, where he focused on enhancing undergraduate education, on strengthening the relationship of the campus with surrounding communities, and on increasing the international orientation of the University. At the same time, he completed both a financial restructuring of the university and a $2.84 billion fundraising campaign that achieved eight successive records in dollars raised.

Before to his time at Columbia, Dr. Rupp served as the President of Rice University, a position he held for eight years. At Rice, he launched a reform of the undergraduate curriculum and developed six multi-disciplinary research institutes. Prior to that, he was the John Lord O'Brian Professor of Divinity and Dean of the Harvard Divinity School.

Dr. Rupp received his B.A. from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale University. Following studies at the University of Sri Lanka, he was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Rupp is also the author of four books. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of International Education since 1994 and currently serves on the Fulbright Educational Exchange and Scholar Rescue Fund Committees.