Program Committee

Dr. Lily McElwee serves as President and CEO of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations. With historic family ties to Arizona, she is passionate about subnational diplomacy and elevating the state’s role on the global stage.

Lily was previously deputy director and fellow in the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, and is a recognized expert in China’s foreign policy and relations with the United States, European Union, and the Global South. She has completed fellowships with the American Council on Germany, the CSIS-USC U.S.-Korea NextGen scholar program, the QUAD Task Force on China’s Strategic Futures organized by ORF America and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Lily has spent significant time living in the United Kingdom, China, and Germany.

Lily concurrently serves as an Adjunct Fellow at CSIS, and is publishing a book on the history of U.S. investment gatekeeping amid the rise of China as a Strategy and Policy Fellow with the Smith Richardson Foundation. She holds a DPhil in China studies and an MSc from the University of Oxford, and a BA with honors in political science from Stanford University.