Ambassador Derek Shearer
Former US Ambassador to Finland
In September 2008, Ambassador Derek Shearer, Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs and Director of Global Affairs at Occidental College in Los Angeles, delivered a lunch time lecture at the University of Sydney. He provided an insider's analysis of the upcoming US presidential election.
Ambassador Shearer has served as a senior advisor to Democratic presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Al Gore, co-authoring the Clinton-Gore campaign program Putting People First. In the 2008 election campaign, he was foreign policy advisor to Senator Hillary Clinton. He knows Barack Obama, who studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles where Ambassador Shearer holds the Chevalier chair in Diplomacy. Former US President George W. Bush was a university classmate of Ambassador Shearer, and as US Ambassador to Finland he worked closely with Republican Senators on international matters. He writes regular political commentary for The Huffington Post, the leading political and cultural website in the United States.
