Deborah Lehr is the Vice Chairman and Executive Director of the Paulson Institute. In that capacity, she advises the Chairman on US–China relations as well as oversees the development and implementation of Paulson Institute programs and initiatives, including the Institute’s Green Finance Center.
Ms. Lehr has served in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors focused on China, the Middle East, and emerging markets. She advised Mr. Paulson when he was the CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs and helped then-Treasury Secretary Paulson to create and launch the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue.
In addition, she served as Senior Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch and was a Senior Managing Director at the New York Stock Exchange. Ms. Lehr has built several successful consulting businesses, including as a partner at Mayer Brown, a top-10 law firm, as President of Stonebridge China, and then with her own firm, Basilinna. Basilinna is focused on China and the Middle East.
Ms. Lehr also served in the US Government in the Executive Office of the President as a Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for China, where she was a lead negotiator for China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, for two intellectual property rights negotiations, and on the team for the 1992 Market Access Agreement. Also, Ms. Lehr was one of the youngest Directors of Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. Previous to that, she was involved in export control and trade policy issues at the Department of Commerce.
Deborah is also the founder and Chairman of the Antiquities Coalition, which fights against the illicit trade in antiquities, where her leadership has earned her global recognition. She is on the boards of National Geographic, World Monuments Fund, and the Middle East Institute, and is the chair of the Meridian International Center. She is also on the Advisory Boards of Sesame Workshop and Aliph. Deborah is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ms. Lehr has lived and studied around the world, including China, England, France, and Germany. Her writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Foreign Affairs, South China Morning Post, US News and World Report, Caixin Magazine, and Xinhua.net, among others.