Gregory Gottlieb

Visiting Fellow

Contact

Working with Feinstein since 2017

Based in Portland, OR

Greg Gottlieb served as the Director of the Feinstein International Center from 2017 to 2021 and was responsible for the overall direction of the center. During his tenure as director, his research and teaching focused on the politics of humanitarian and development assistance, the current and future personnel implications for humanitarian response and development programs, and leadership needs in humanitarian response.

Throughout his career, Greg worked to improve food security, humanitarian, and transition programs. Prior to joining Tufts, Greg served as the Acting Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID/DCHA). Prior to that, he served as the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for DCHA. Since he began with USAID in 1988, he has held a variety of other positions, including Mission Director in Pakistan and Namibia, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Food Security (helping to plan and implement the Obama Administration’s Feed the Future Program), as well as posts in Malawi, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Additionally, Greg taught at the National War College, was a legal protection officer for UNHCR, and was Chief of Party for the Famine Early Warning Systems.

Greg earned a bachelor’s degree from Humboldt State University, a juris doctor from Loyola Law School, and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. In 2017, Greg received USAID’s highest award, the Administrator’s Distinguished Career Service Award, to recognize his long and distinguished service.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

REGIONAL FOCUS

COURSES TAUGHT

MOST CITED BOOKS & ARTICLES

MOST RECENT EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS

Thank you and farewell to Greg Gottlieb

After four years as the Director of the Feinstein International Center and a lifetime of commitment to public service, Greg Gottlieb is retiring on July 30, 2021. Greg brought passion…

Greg Gottlieb and HHI colleagues published a journal article on virtual humanitarian training

Greg Gottlieb and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative colleagues published a journal article titled, “Humanitarian Training with Virtual Simulation during a Pandemic,” which discusses the use of virtual simulation for humanitarian training…

Feinstein director describes priorities for USAID Administrator nominee

U.S. President Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 23, 2021. It appears she will…

Gregory Gottlieb presents at Humboldt University’s International Education Week

Gregory Gottlieb spoke at Humbolt State University’s International Education Week virtual event. His presentation, “The Education of a Humanitarian Relief Worker,” explored his views on the current state of humanitarian education,…

Greg Gottlieb appeared on MSNBC to discuss the affects of Covid-19 on food security

Gregory Gottlieb appeared on MSNBC for a special hosted by Andrew Zimmern and Joy Reid to discuss the health impacts of food inequality in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Watch…

Greg Gottlieb and Racey Henderson discuss COVID-19 and the need for agricultural standards

New Effort to Support Agriculture Response in Emergencies by Gregory Gottlieb and Racey Henderson The implications of COVID-19 and the public health response to the pandemic on food systems and…

Greg Gottlieb on Trump’s halting of WHO funding

Wrong Move at the Wrong Time by Gregory Gottlieb The recent decision by President Trump to halt funding to the WHO has been strongly and rightly condemned by many world…

Greg Gottlieb participates in task force on humanitarian access

Greg Gottlieb is a member of Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Task Force on Humanitarian Access. The committee is co-chaired by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Todd Young…

Greg Gottlieb participates in Harvard’s Humanitarian Simulation

Greg Gottlieb participated in the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s Humanitarian Simulation in April 2019. The simulation is two and a half days long, and involves more than 100 students from Harvard,…

Greg Gottlieb weighs in on State of the Union Address

Greg Gottlieb joined several Tufts faculty to provide insight into President Trump’s State of the Union address on February 6, 2019. In the Tufts Now piece, “What Trump Said and…

Tufts Hosts the Boston Launch of the State of the Humanitarian System Report

Every three years, the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP) releases its flagship State of the Humanitarian System Report. They launched the 2018 report in December and included…

Gregory Gottlieb’s Op-Ed on Strengthening U.S. Humanitarian Response Published in Devex

Gregory Gottleib teamed up with another former OFDA director, Roy Williams, to publish an opinion article on strengthening U.S. humanitarian response and leadership in Devex on September 14, 2018. The current…

Greg Gottlieb gives keynote address at Civil-Military Humanitarian Response Workshop

In August 2018, Greg Gottlieb’s keynote address, “Civ-Mil Relations: The Weight of Discussion” looked at the shifting weight of the humanitarian voice in civil-military relations. Viewing civ-mil from a Post…

Greg Gottlieb quoted in NPR’s article on quality of food aid in Puerto Rico

On June 22, 2018 NPR published an article, “Food Aid to Puerto Rico is Salty, Sugary, and Unbalanced, Researcher Says.” The article references Greg Gottlieb, who compared the poor quality of…

Feinstein faculty participate in the Return of Famine Symposium

On May 4, 2018, Daniel Maxwell, Dyan Mazurana, and Greg Gottlieb featured at the Tufts Return of Famine Symposium. The event covered four main topics: Why has famine returned? Challenges…

Greg Gottlieb describes lessons for Myanmar 10 years after Cyclone Nargis in The Conversation

10 years after, Cyclone Nargis still holds lessons for Myanmar Gregory Gottlieb, Tufts University When Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar 10 years ago, 140,000 lives were lost and 800,000 were displaced….

Fletcher and Feinstein welcome Swiss Ambassador to campus

On March 12, 2018, The Fletcher School and Feinstein welcomed Swiss Ambassador, Martin Dahinden, to a round table discussion with students and faculty. Ambassador Dahinden has served as the Swiss…

Greg Gottlieb discusses why humanitarian aid matters in Tufts Now

TuftsNow published a Q&A with Gregory Gottleib on November 2, 2017. Reflecting on President Trump’s foreign aid policies, Greg discussed the importance of supplying humanitarian aid to areas affected by…

Gregory Gottlieb discusses agricultural crisis in Puerto Rico

On October 23 faculty and students from the Friedman School of Nutrition, including Feinstein’s director Gregory Gottlieb, gathered to discuss crises in Puerto Rico after the hurricane on September 20….

Gregory Gottlieb participates in the Careers in Development series

On Wednesday October 4, 2017 Gregory Gottlieb was featured in a session at the Center for Strategic and International Studies as part of a monthly series regarding careers in global…

Greg Gottlieb Opinion: The White House is ignoring Congress’s call for US humanitarian leadership

Devex published Greg Gottlieb’s opinion piece “The White House is ignoring Congress’s call for US humanitarian leadership” on October 3, 2017. Greg writes: “The United Nations General Assembly and its…

Greg Gottlieb discusses US response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico

WGBH On September 27, 2017, six days after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Greg Gottlieb joined Julio Ricardo Varela, co-host of the ‘In The Thick’ political podcast and Rep. Jeffrey…

Feinstein faculty and alum honored at Institute for Human Security Event

On September 18, 2017 Feinstein faculty and an alum were honored at the naming event of the Henry J. Leir Institute for Human Security. Fletcher Masters of Arts in Law…

Greg Gottlieb: One way the US disaster response has improved – not accepting foreign aid

Greg Gottlieb reflects on one key lesson the US has learned in regard to disaster response: As the rain continues to fall in Texas from the seemingly interminable Tropical Storm…

Gregory Gottlieb assumes leadership of the center

On August 15, 2017, Gregory Gottlieb officially joined the Feinstein International Center as the director, as Daniel Maxwell stepped down as acting director and resumed his role as research director….

FEINSTEIN PUBLICATIONS

Making the Nexus Real: Moving from theory to practice

This report explores the nexus (small n), as a way of programming, and the HDP Nexus approach (capital N), as the approach promoted by the UN and OECD/DAC.

Word cloud of early warning related terms

Early Warning and Early Action for Increased Resilience of Livelihoods in IGAD Region

Multiple calls have been issued for better preparedness, early warning, and, above all, early action to prevent hunger and malnutrition, reduce the scale of food insecurity, improve resilience, and reduce…

2020 Hindsight? The Ecosystem of Humanitarian Diagnostics and Its Application to Anticipatory Action

The nature of humanitarian crises has changed over the past two decades. These changes demand increased anticipatory humanitarian action and improved information to guide that action. The COVID 19 pandemic…

FEINSTEIN RESEARCH PROJECTS

Humanitarian Information Systems: Anticipating, Analyzing, and Acting in Crisis

This study seeks to understand the availability and quality of information, and the external influences on data collection and analysis for the classification of food emergencies.

Feed the Future Uganda One Nutrition in Complex Environments

The One Nutrition in Complex Environments (ONCE) study tests a new way of preventing and addressing acute malnutrition through a cluster-randomized trial.