Edward Mortimer is senior program advisor and former senior vice president and chief program officer at the Salzburg Global Seminar. From 1998 to 2006, he served as chief speechwriter (and later also director of communications) to the Secretary General at the United Nations, where he played a lead role in shaping the Secretary General's overall public strategy. He has spent much of his career as a journalist, first with The Times of London, where he developed an expertise in Middle East affairs, and later with the Financial Times, where from 1987 to 1998 he was the main commentator and columnist on foreign affairs. His books include Faith and Power: the Politics of Islam (1982), and The World That FDR Built (1989). Mr. Mortimer received an M.A. in modern history from Oxford University. He served as co-chair of Session 342, Conservative Political Movements in Western Industrial Societies, in 1996, and at numerous Salzburg Global Seminar programs. In the United Kingdom's 2010 New Year Honours, he was named a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).