Alyssa Ayres
Senior Fellow India, Pakistan and South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
USA

Alyssa Ayres is senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. She served most recently as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia during 2010–2013, covering all issues across a dynamic region of 1.3 billion people (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, and Bhutan), and providing policy direction and support for four U.S. embassies and four consulates. Prior to serving in the Obama Administration, Dr. Ayres led the India and South Asia practice at McLarty Associates, the Washington-based international strategic advisory firm, from 2008–2010. She joined the firm after serving in the U.S. Department of State as special assistant to the undersecretary for political affairs as a Council on Foreign Relations international affairs fellow. Prior to that she worked in the nonprofit sector at the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, and at the Asia Society in New York.Her book on nationalism, culture, and politics in Pakistan, Speaking Like a State, was published worldwide by Cambridge University Press in 2009. She has co-edited three books on India and Indian foreign policy: Power Realignments in Asia (Sage 2009), India Briefing: Takeoff at Last? and India Briefing: Quickening the Pace of Change (ME Sharpe 2002 and 2005). She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group Track II U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue. She received an AB magna cum laude from Harvard College, and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. She has been a life member of CFR since 2010.