On January 20, 2021 Avril Haines was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as director of national intelligence. Columbia World Projects (CWP) congratulates and thanks her for her essential contributions to launching our organization. CWP director Nicholas Lemann released the following statement in November upon her nomination for the role:

“Today President-elect Biden announced his intention to nominate Avril Haines as director of national intelligence. That is good news for the United States, and bittersweet news for Columbia World Projects. Avril joined CWP on the day we officially opened for business—September 1, 2017—and she had been preparing to take over from me as CWP’s director until she got a call from Mr. Biden and joined his transition office over the summer.

“Avril’s contributions to CWP have been essential and extraordinary. She was the architect of the distinctive process by which we create our projects, and also has made CWP into an integral part of Columbia University and created many new connections between the University and the outside world. We have benefited tremendously from the strategic intelligence, determination, creativity and diplomatic skill that she will now employ on a broader stage. She has also been a wonderful colleague and friend to all of us. We congratulate her and wish her well.”