Overview

Frederick Kempe has held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Atlantic Council since December 1, 2006. He comes to the Council from a long and prominent career at the Wall Street Journal, where he won national and international prizes while serving in numerous management and reportorial capacities—editor, associate publisher, columnist and correspondent. He is the author of three books, and a regular commentator on television and radio both in Europe and the United States.

Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Fred worked for the Wall Street Journal for over 25 years, most recently as assistant managing editor and columnist based in New York. Prior to that, he was Editor and Associate Publisher of the Wall Street Journal Europe during which the publication won a number of awards.

Previously he was a correspondent who covered stories including the rise of Solidarity in Poland, the fall of Soviet style Communism, and wars in Afghanistan, Panama, Lebanon and Iraq-Iraq. Fred is a published author with three books in print in several languages. He is a graduate of the University of Utah and has a Master’s Degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

He serves on a number of Boards of Directors including the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.; the Overseas Press Club in New York; and is on the advisory board of the Transatlantic Policy Network as well as the international advisory council of Atlantik-Bruecke e.V. in Berlin. He also serves on the Senior Advisory Group of General Bantz J. Craddock, Commander, U.S. European Command (EUCOM). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.