Dr. Gloria Duffy

Co-President and Co-CEO Gloria C. Duffy, alongside Co-President and Co-CEO Philip Yun, oversees Commonwealth Club World Affairs (CCWA)’s organizational strategy, programming, publications, outreach, membership and fundraising for the nation’s largest and oldest public affairs forum.

Dr. Duffy has initiated several special projects at CCWA, including Voices of Reform (now the independent organization California Forward). These efforts have convened experts and stakeholders in challenging fields to build consensus for solutions and action. Dr. Duffy led CCWA to produce its first full-length film, “Final Choice,” for PBS in 1998, and oversaw the editing and publication of “Each a Mighty Voice” (Heyday Press, 2004), which placed important speeches at CCWA in their historical context.

She led the building search and capital campaign that enabled CCWA to purchase 110 The Embarcadero, which serves as its permanent headquarters and the first time the organization has owned its own home.

Prior to becoming president and CEO of The Commonwealth Club, Dr. Duffy was U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense and special coordinator for cooperative threat reduction.

Dr. Duffy received her A.B. magna cum laude in 1975 from Occidental College and her M.A. (1977), M.Phil. (1980), and Ph.D. (1991), all in political science, from Columbia University in New York, where she studied at the Harriman Institute. She also holds a Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa), awarded by the University of San Francisco in 2006.