Ms. Joan Rohlfing

Ms. Joan Rohlfing

President & COO
Nuclear Threat Initiative
NSWG

Joan Rohlfing is the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which she has been involved with since its launch. Before joining NTI, she held senior positions with the U.S. Department of Energy. Her career spans thirty years, and she has been awarded for her work in the field of nuclear policy.

Joan Rohlfing is the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. She is responsible for managing all NTI programs and operations, overseeing an annual operating budget of $15-$20 million.

She was part of the original team that created the mission and scope for NTI in 2000. Once the organization launched in 2001, she played strategic roles in several of NTI’s hallmark projects including the Nuclear Security Project – an effort to galvanize global action to reduce urgent nuclear dangers and build support for reducing reliance on nuclear weapons, ultimately ending them as a threat to the world. Before joining NTI, she held senior positions with the U.S. Department of Energy, as Senior Advisor for national security to the Secretary of Energy and as Director of the Office of Non-proliferation and National Security. In 1998, when India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons, Rohlfing advised the U.S. ambassador on nuclear security issues. Earlier, she served on the staff of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee and at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Rohlfing is a member of the U.S. Department of Defense Threat Reduction Advisory Committee as well as the Directorate Advisory Committee of the National Security Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She has served as an advisor to the Nuclear Industry Summit, a companion event to the global Nuclear Security Summits.

She was awarded the Department of Defense Civilian Service Medal in 1989. In 2011, the University of Maryland School of Public Policy gave her the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award, citing her career in public service. Rohlfing is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

She specializes in nuclear policy.

Rohlfing holds a Master’s degree from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois.