Robert Modarelli III

Robert O. Modarelli III joined the National Center as Policy Director in October of 2006 after a 20 year career as an officer in the US Army, the last ten of which were spent as a Foreign Area Officer and Asia-Pacific policy specialist.

Immediately prior to joining the center he spent 4 years as Chief of the Asia-Pacific Branch in Army International Affairs at the Pentagon from 2002-2006..

His experience in China and Asia also includes serving 3 years as US Army Attaché at the US Consulate-General in Hong Kong, and 18 months in training at the Defense Attaché office, US Embassy, Beijing, China. He earned a Masters degree in East Asian Regional Studies from Harvard University and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. His previous work in Asia-Pacific policy has focused on regional security issues, multilateral policy dynamics and bilateral government-government cooperation in addressing complex multinational problems.

As the National Center’s Policy Director, his responsibilities include development and oversight of strategic, long-range planning for the National Center’s activities in support of ABAC and US business interests in the APEC process. He is also responsible for the Center’s member outreach and public affairs efforts, including providing relevant information to members on developments in US and APEC foreign and domestic policies that have the potential to affect members’ interests or APEC activities in general.