Christopher Dodd
Special Presidential Advisor for the Americas, US Department of State
President Biden appointed Senator Christopher J. Dodd as his Special Advisor for the Americas in November 2022 to help advance the implementation of initiatives announced at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June 2022, spanning economic cooperation, migration, health, human rights, food security and more. This appointment follows Senator Dodd’s successful role as Special Advisor for the Summit of the Americas. Senator Dodd helped ensure participation in the LA Summit by the hemisphere’s top leaders, secured support for the U.S. government’s priority initiatives, and facilitated agreement on an ambitious and forward-looking agenda for the hemisphere. Senator Dodd served for thirty years in the United States Senate and six years in the United States House of Representatives, representing the people of Connecticut. During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Senator Dodd served as Chair of the Senate Banking Committee; Chair of the Senate Rules Committee; Acting Chair of the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee; and as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he Chaired the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere for many years. Over his three and a half decades in Congress, Senator Dodd was an active legislator, authoring and/or co-authoring several landmark laws, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Affordable Care Act, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Child Care Development Block Grant and the Help America Vote Act. Senator Dodd has been actively engaged in Latin America for over 50 years, dating back to his service as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s. As a longtime member and Chair of the Senate subcommittee covering the Americas, Senator Dodd was an active participant and Chair of the U.S.-Mexico Interparliamentary Group for many years. For his service on the U.S.-Mexico Interparliamentary Group, the government of Mexico awarded Dodd the Aztec Eagle Award. Senator Dodd was also a key player in negotiating the peace agreements in Central American in the 1980s and 1990s. After retiring from the U.S. Senate in 2011, Senator Dodd served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association for seven years before joining the law firm Arnold & Porter as Senior Counsel. Senator Dodd is married to Jackie Clegg Dodd and they have two daughters, Grace and Christina.
