Bill Clifford is President and CEO of the World Affairs Councils of America in Washington, DC, where he leads WACA’s national office and represents its nonpartisan nonprofit network of more than 90 World Affairs Councils across the United States. In March 2017, he was appointed nonresident senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He also serves on the editorial board of the SAIS Review.  In spring 2019, Bill joined the Advisory Council of the Korea Economic Institute, a U.S. think tank.

Before joining WACA six years ago, Bill was president of WorldBoston (2008-2013), a WACA member Council known for innovative programming, access to leaders, and a tradition of advancing public learning about critical international issues. Previously, Bill was a Tokyo-based journalist for more than a decade. He served as Asia bureau chief for the pioneering multimedia venture CBS MarketWatch, where he launched and directed news bureaus in Japan and Hong Kong. He broke into broadcast news with Asia Business News TV and was senior correspondent in Tokyo for CNBC Asia after its merger with ABN. Bill’s start in journalism came in graduate school and he reported on international business, finance, and politics for several newspapers.

Bill holds an M.A. in Asia studies and international economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS, a B.A. summa cum laude in international relations and French literature from Tufts University, and a C.E.P. with distinction from Sciences Po in Paris.