Levinson, Macha

Education

Doctorate in Political Science, The Graduate Institute, Geneva
Thesis: “Soviet Disarmament Policy”
Master’s degree in Public Law and Government, and Russian Institute Certificate, Columbia University, New York
Bachelor’s degree, Magna cum laude, in Russian History and Literature, Radcliffe/Harvard College, Cambridge, MA

Professional Experience

Macha Levinson was a career Foreign Service Officer in the United States Department of State in Washington, D.C. and served as a political adviser to the US Delegation to the Disarmament Conference.  She is currently a consultant on international politics and a commentator on Russian affairs, international arms control and global energy issues. From 1987 - 2006 she was a director of the World Economic Forum in Geneva Switzerland where she had responsibility for a wide range of the Forum’s activities.   
Director for Europe, Russia and Central Asia - she initiated and developed the Forum’s relations with Russia and the countries of eastern Europe, supporting their integration into the global economy. She met regularly with their political and business leaders in the region and the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos.  She organized 15 public/private business meetings in Central and Eastern Europe for global corporations. Starting in 1996 she established an annual economic summit which was held in Salzburg, Austria for business executives and public figures. 
Director for the Energy Industry - she was responsible for the specialized, high level industry meetings of the largest global corporations in Davos and at the regional summits.  She wrote the reports and elaborated their agendas.
Coordinator of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report until 2003
Editor-in-Chief of World Link, the magazine of the World Economic Forum until 1992                   
During the 1980’s she was Strategic Affairs Editor of the International Defence Review, Geneva, Switzerland, writing on military/defence issues and arms control, as well as professor at Webster University where she taught arms control and US-Soviet relations.

Publications

She has written on energy, on Soviet and Russian affairs, and on strategic issues in the International Herald Tribune, Le Temps, the Huffington Post, SIPRI and for other publications.