2025 Benefit Gala Keynote Speaker
Amb. Richard Verma
Former Deputy Secretary of State for Management & Resources at the U.S. State Department
Rich Verma has over three decades of high-level global experience in the public and private sectors, serving in many senior roles, including Deputy Secretary of State, U.S. Ambassador to India, and the Chief Legal Officer and Head of Global Public Policy for one of America’s largest companies.
Rich most recently served as the Deputy Secretary of State for Management & Resources. In this role, he acted as the Chief Operating Officer of the State Department, managing key aspects of the Department’s global mission and leading the Department’s efforts on modernization, foreign assistance, and a wide range of workforce, consular, security, public diplomacy, and foreign policy issues. He oversaw the Ukraine economic recovery team, the climate negotiating team, and the new State Department Bureaus of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, and Global Health Security.
Rich previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to India, where he led one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions and championed historic progress in bilateral ties. He is also a former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs and the former National Security Advisor to the Senate Majority Leader.
Rich has also had a distinguished career in the private sector, most recently serving as the Chief Legal Officer and Head of Global Public Policy for Mastercard. He is a former partner at the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, and the Vice Chairman of The Asia Group, a global consulting firm. He also served on the T. Rowe Price corporate board of directors.
Rich is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and the recipient of numerous military awards and civilian decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal, the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship.
He was a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism Commission, and the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He has served on a number of non-profit boards, including the Ford Foundation, Lehigh University, and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Rich previously served as a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and he holds multiple academic degrees, including a doctorate (Ph.D.) from Georgetown University, a law degree (J.D., cum laude) from American University, a Masters in Laws (LLM, with distinction) in International Law from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.S. from Lehigh University. Rich was recently selected as the inaugural President’s Distinguished Fellow at Lehigh University, where he will be teaching and mentoring students on international affairs and leadership.
