UCSB Arts & Lectures presents David Miliband in conversation with Ben Rhodes, New World Disorder: A Humanitarian Perspective, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22 at UCSB Campbell Hall.
As president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband directs humanitarian relief and refugee assistance across more than 40 crisis zones, bringing aid to millions each year.
A former U.K. foreign secretary and Oxford/MIT-educated leader who moved to New York to pursue global service, Miliband combines diplomatic insight with frontline urgency.
As the son of refugees and author of “Rescue,” he offers perspectives on leadership, displacement and our shared responsibility in a turbulent world.
Joining Miliband for the discussion is Rhodes, political writer and former deputy national security advisor of the United States.
The mission of Miliband’s International Rescue Committee is to help the world’s most vulnerable people, whose lives and livelihoods have been shattered by conflict and disaster, including the climate crisis, to survive, recover and regain control of their futures.
In 2024, the IRC served more than 36.5 million people in countries affected by crisis.
Before joining IRC, Miliband had a distinguished political career in the United Kingdom. From 2007-10, he served as the 74th secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, representing the U.K. throughout the world.
His accomplishments have earned him a reputation, in former President Bill Clinton’s words, as “one of the ablest, most creative public servants of our time.”
In 2016 Miliband was named one of the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine, and in 2018 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Miliband is the author of “Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time.”
Rhodes is a writer, political commentator and national security analyst. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers “After the Fall: The Rise of Authoritarianism in the World We’ve Made” and “The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House.”
He is currently co-host of “Pod Save the World;” contributor for MSNBC; a senior advisor to former President Barack Obama; and chair of National Security Action, which he co-founded with Jake Sullivan in 2018.
From 2009-17, Rhodes served as a speechwriter and deputy national ssecurity advisor to President Obama.
In that role, he participated in all of Obama’s key decisions, oversaw the president’s national security communications and public diplomacy, and led the secret negotiations with the Cuban government that resulted in the effort to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
His work has also been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Foreign Affairs. A native New Yorker, Ben holds a BA from Rice University and an MFA from New York University.
Tickets are $25 general public, free for UCSB students with current student ID.
For tickets or more, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535, or buy online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.