National Advisory Council

Home

About

Who We Are

National Advisory Council

Our National Advisory Council

Meet CGS’s National Advisory Council members, prominent, influential, and respected individuals who provide guidance and counsel regarding our pursuit of world citizenship, a democratized and empowered United Nations, and enduring world peace through enforceable world law.

Helen Caldicott

Physician, Author, and Speaker

David Cortright

Author, Activist, and Leader

Andrea Cousins

Psychologist, Psychoanalyst, and Anthropologist

Gary Dorrien

Professor, Author, Social Ethicist

Oscar Andrew Hammerstein

Painter, Writer, Lecturer, and Historian

Gordon Orians

Ecologist

William Pace

International Organizer

James T. Ranney

Professor, International Legal Consultant, and Author

William J. Ripple

Conservationist, Author, and Professor

Mark Ritchie

Chair of Minnesota’s World Fair Bid Committee Educational Fund

Honorable David J. Scheffer

Former U.S. Ambassador

Barbara Smith

Author, Activist, and Scholar

Leila Nadya Sadat

Special Advisor to the ICC Chief Prosecutor, Professor, Author

Martin Sheen

Actor, Activist, and Leader

Kim Stanley Robinson

Author

John Stowe

Bishop

Rick Ulfik

The Founder of WE, The World, and the WE Campaign

Anthony Vance

Senior Representative, Bahá’ís of the U.S. Office of Public Affairs

Blanche Wiesen Cook

Professor, Author, and Historian

Former National Advisory Council (NAC) Members

Our illustrious former NAC members have included Nobel laureates, diplomats and heads of state, civil rights activists and icons, luminaries from the arts and sciences, and visionary thinkers from every walk of life.

John Steinbeck

Novelist, Journalist, & Nobel Laureate

Benjamin Ferencz

Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg

Joseph Schwartzberg

Joseph Schwartzberg

Geographer, Author, & Professor

Lloyd Bridges

Actor

Isaac Assimov

Isaac Asimov

Author & Biochemist

Harris Wofford

Senator, Statesman, Civil Rights Attorney, & Author

Daniel Ellsberg former CGS National Advisory Council

Daniel Ellsberg

Lecturer, Writer, and Activist

Randy Kehler

Randy Kehler

Pacifist Activist

Betty Davis

Bette Davis

Actor

J. William Fulbright

J. William Fulbright

Senator & Statesman

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein

Physicist & Nobel Laureate

Oscar Hammerstein II

Oscar Hammerstein II

Librettist & Theatrical Producer

Jean Stappleton

Jean Stapleton

Actor

William O. Douglas

William O. Douglas

Supreme Court Justice & SEC Chairman

Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite

Journalist

Clare Boothe Luce

Clare Boothe Luce

Ambassador & Congressman

John Steinbeck

Novelist, Journalist, & Nobel Laureate

Benjamin Ferencz

Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg

Joseph Schwartzberg

Joseph Schwartzberg

Geographer, Author, & Professor

Lloyd Bridges

Actor

Isaac Assimov

Isaac Asimov

Author & Biochemist

Harris Wofford

Senator, Statesman, Civil Rights Attorney, & Author

Daniel Ellsberg former CGS National Advisory Council

Daniel Ellsberg

Lecturer, Writer, and Activist

Randy Kehler

Randy Kehler

Pacifist Activist

Betty Davis

Bette Davis

Actor

J. William Fulbright

J. William Fulbright

Senator & Statesman

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein

Physicist & Nobel Laureate

Oscar Hammerstein II

Oscar Hammerstein II

Librettist & Theatrical Producer

Jean Stappleton

Jean Stapleton

Actor

William O. Douglas

William O. Douglas

Supreme Court Justice & SEC Chairman

Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite

Journalist

Clare Boothe Luce

Clare Boothe Luce

Ambassador & Congressman

Rebecca A. Shoot

Executive Director

Rebecca A. Shoot is an international lawyer and democracy and governance practitioner with more than 15 years of experience in the non-governmental, inter-governmental, and private sectors supporting human rights, democratic processes, and the rule of law on five continents.

In nearly a decade with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Rebecca held numerous positions in headquarters and the field supporting and leading democracy and governance programs in Central and Eastern Europe and Southern and East Africa. She subsequently moved to a leadership role steering NDI’s Governance projects globally and directing programming for the bipartisan House Democracy Partnership of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rebecca created a global parliamentary campaign for Democratic Renewal and Human Rights as Senior Advisor to Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), an international network of legislators committed to collaboration to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Prior to that, she directed PGA’s International Law and Human Rights Programme and ran PGA’s office in The Hague. Most recently, she helmed global programming to promote gender equality and criminal justice reform for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI).

Rebecca has spoken at high-level conferences and events on five continents (and increasingly, globally through online platforms). Her publications include the first Global Parliamentary Report (IPU & UNDP 2012), Political Parties in Democratic Transitions (DIPD 2012), and Navigating between Scylla and Charybdis: How the International Criminal Court Turned Restraint Into Power Play (Emory Int’l L. Rev. 2018), which was honored with the Emory International Law Review’s Founder’s Award for Excellence in Legal Research and Writing.

Rebecca is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and is a member of several bar associations, including the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA), where she serves as Advocacy Director for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Committee. She served as a Visiting Professional in the Presidency of the ICC and has provided pro bono legal expertise to The Carter Center, International Refugee Assistance Project, United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, and U.S. Marine Corps University, where she helped develop the international humanitarian law curriculum.

Rebecca earned a Juris Doctorate with Honors from Emory University School of Law, where she received several academic distinctions, including the David J. Bederman Fellowship in International Law and Conley-Ingram Scholarship for Public Interest Leadership. She earned a Master of Science in Democracy & Democratisation from University College London School of Public Policy and a Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude in Political Science from Kenyon College. She holds certificates in Conflict Analysis from the U.S. Institute of Peace and in Public International Law from The Hague Academy of International Law.

As Executive Director of CGS, Rebecca will continue her current role as Co-Convener of the Washington Working Group for the International Criminal Court (WICC), a diverse coalition of human rights organizations, legal associations, former government officials, and leading legal professionals. CGS and WICC have a rich and intertwined history that this dual appointment brings full circle, with CGS formerly serving as host for the coalition and with several current and former common Board and National Advisory Committee members.

She also acts, directs, and writes for the theater.