
Avril D. Haines
Avril Haines was the Deputy Director of Columbia World Projects from 2017-2020. She now serves as director of national intelligence in the Biden administration. Prior to joining Columbia University, Avril served as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama. She chaired the Deputies Committee, the administration’s principal forum for formulating national security and foreign policy. Before that, she served as the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Avril also held several senior legal positions in the government, including Legal Adviser to the National Security Council. She received her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Chicago and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.