Membership in the Council on Foreign Relations comes in two types: Individual and Corporate. Individual memberships are further subdivided into two types: Life Membership and Term Membership, the latter of which is for a single period of five years and is available to those between the ages of 30 and 36 at the time of their application. Only U.S. citizens (native born or naturalized) and permanent residents who have applied for U.S. citizenship are eligible. A candidate for life membership must be nominated in writing by one Council member and seconded by a minimum of three others (strongly encouraged to be other CFR members).
Corporate membership (250 in total) is divided into three levels: "Founders" (US$100,000); "President's Circle" (US$60,000); and "Affiliates" (US$30,000). All corporate executive members have opportunities to hear distinguished speakers, such as overseas presidents and prime ministers, chairs and CEOs of multinational corporations, and U.S. officials and Congressmen. President's Circle and Founders are also entitled to other benefits, including attendance at small, private dinners or receptions with senior American officials and world leaders.
Board of directors The board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations is composed of 36 directors and 14 officers."Board of Directors and Officers | Council on Foreign Relations", CFR.org accessed May 5, 2021About CFR, with a hyperlink to "History: Celebrating a Century" (2021) , accessed 23 October 2024."Staff". Accessed 23 October 2024. It also has an international advisory board (which has no role in CFR governance) consisting of distinguished individuals from across the world.
OfficeNameChairman of the boardDavid Rubenstein"David M. Rubenstein" bio, The Carlyle Group"Aspen Strategy Group" members, The Aspen Institute"David M. Rubenstein", World Economic Forum bio"Board of Trustees", Johns Hopkins MedicineVice chairmanBlair EffronVice chairmanJami MiscikPresidentMichael FromanBoard of directorsNicholas F. Beimpartner at Venrock, Dataminr and Rebellion Defense boardNicholas F. Beim | CFR board member, CFR.orgAfsaneh Mashayekhi Beschloss founder and CEO of RockCreek, former treasurer and chief investment officer of the World Bank Margaret BrennanSylvia Mathews Burwell lecturer at American University, former HHS Secretary Kenneth I. Chenault chairman and managing director of General CatalystTony Colesexecutive chairman and CEO of Cerevel Therapeutics"Tony Coles, M.D." bio, Cerevel Therapeutics Cesar Conde chairman of NBCUniversal News GroupMichele Flournoy partner, WestExec AdvisorsJane Fraser CEO, CitigroupStephen C. Freidheim CIO, founder, and managing partner of Cyrus Capital PartnersStephen Freidheim | CFR board member, CFR.orgJames P. Gorman chairman and CEO of Morgan StanleyStephen Hadley principal of Rice, Hadley, Gates and ManuelStephen Hadley | Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel | Strategic Consulting Firm, RHGM.comMargaret Ann "Peggy" Hamburg former U.S. FDA commissionerWilliam HurdCharles R. Kayechairman Warburg Pincus James Manyika SVP Google, McKinsey Global Institute chairman and director emeritusWilliam H. McRaven Professor of National Security at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin, retired admiral formerly in charge of the U.S. Special Operations Command Justin G. MuzinichJanet Napolitanoformer DHS SecretaryMeghan O'SullivanTrilateral Commission North American chair, Harvard Kennedy School professor, former deputy national security adviser(September 2021), Membership List, Trilateral Commission Deven J. Parekh managing director of Insight Partners"Deven Parekh" bio, Insight Partners Charles Phillips former chairman of Infor Richard Plepler founder and CEO of Eden Productions, former chairman and CEO of Home Box Office, Inc. Ruth Porat President, CFO, and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and GoogleLaurene Powell Jobs founder and president of Emerson Collective"Laurene Powell Jobs, Emerson Collective: Profile and Biography", Bloomberg Markets"Bloomberg Billionaires Index - Laurene Powell Jobs", Bloomberg"Board Member Laurene Powell Jobs", Council on Foreign RelationsL. Rafael Reif president emeritus of MITMariko SilverJames Taiclet CEO, Lockheed MartinFrances TownsendCBS national security analyst, former Homeland Security AdvisorTracey T. Travis Estée Lauder Companies executive vice president and CFO"Tracey Travis" bio, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Fareed Zakaria host, CNNAmy Zegart
Notable council members Gina Kay Abercrombie-Winstanley (chief diversity and inclusion officer for the U.S. State Department) John Abizaid (U.S. Army general, former head of Centcom) Elliott Abrams (lawyer, former State Department official) Stacey Abrams (Georgia representative and minority leader) Michael F. Adams (president of University of Georgia) Stephen J. Adler (Reuters editor-in-chief) Madeleine Albright (U.S. Secretary of State, 1997–2001, and UN Ambassador 1993–1997) Lamar Alexander (45th governor of Tennessee, U.S. senator, fifth United States Secretary of Education) David Altshuler (geneticist; Vertex Pharmaceuticals CEO) Anthony Clark Arend (lawyer; academic) Adam Aron (president and CEO of AMC Theatres)Ed O'Keefe (April 12, 2021), "First-of-its-kind meeting draws more than 100 corporate leaders to discuss state voting laws", CBS News Erik Arroyo (politician and lawyer) Anders Åslund (former Atlantic Council senior fellow)"Expert Anders Åslund", Atlantic Council Ken Auletta (The New Yorker media critic) Lloyd J. Austin III (U.S. Secretary of Defense, 2021–2025)Dan De Luce & Mosheh Gains (April 9, 2021), "Pentagon orders new steps to tackle extremism in the ranks", NBC News Bruce Babbitt (governor of Arizona, 1978–1987; U.S. Secretary of the Interior, 1993–2001) James A. Baker III (U.S. Secretary of State, 1989–1992, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 1985–1988; White House Chief of Staff 1981–1985 and 1992–1993) Thurbert Baker (former Attorney General of Georgia) Michael D. Barnes (former U.S. congressman from Maryland) Kara Medoff Barnett (executive director of American Ballet Theatre; former director of Lincoln Center) Charlene Barshefsky (former U.S. Trade Representative) Edward H. Bastian (CEO of Delta Air Lines) Evan Bayh (former U.S. senator and 46th governor of Indiana) Warren Beatty (actor, producer, director, activist) Elizabeth Becker (author and journalist)Elizabeth Becker (May 27, 2004), "Kissinger Tapes Describe Crises, War and Stark Photos of Abuse", The New York TimesElizabeth Becker (1998), When The War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution Revised Edition, Google Books Peter Beinart (academic; columnist) Robert A. Belfer (Enron investor) Peter Bergen (journalist and national security analyst for CNN) Nicolas Berggruen (founder, Berggruen Institute) Howard Berman (former U.S. congressman from California) Michael Beschloss (presidential scholar) Scott Bessent (U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 2025–present; founder of Key Square Group) Richard E. Besser (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation president and CEO) Jeffrey Bewkes (president of Time Warner) Stephen Biddle (theorist setting U.S. counter-insurgency policy) Sanford Bishop (U.S. congressman from Georgia) Leon Black (Museum of Modern Art co-chair) Robert D. Blackwill (Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy Alan Blinken (former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium) Antony Blinken (U.S. Secretary of State, 2021–2025) Donald M. Blinken (former director of Warburg Pincus) Michael R. Bloomberg (mayor of New York City, 2002–2013; founder of Bloomberg L.P.) Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr. (U.S. State Department official and defense expert) Lee Bollinger (19th president of Columbia University; former chair, Federal Reserve Bank of New York) Josh Bolten (22nd White House Chief of Staff) Max Boot (Washington Post journalist, military historian and foreign policy writer) Rudolph (Rudy) Boschwitz (U.S. senator from Minnesota, 1978–1991) danah boyd (professor; senior researcher at Microsoft)Hari Sreenivasan (August 5, 2019), "Danah Boyd on the Spread of Conspiracies and Hate Online", Amanpour & Co. | PBS Bill Bradley (former U.S. senator from New Jersey, 1979–1997; NBA Hall of Fame New York Knicks player, 1967–1977) Lael Brainard (Federal Reserve Board member; former Treasury official) Marcus W. Brauchli (executive editor of The Washington Post, 2008–2012)Richard Pérez-Peña (July 2, 2009), "Pay-for-Chat Plan Falls Flat at Washington Post" L. Paul Bremer (diplomat) Ian Bremmer (Eurasia Group founder and president) Lanny A. Breuer (Covington & Burling vice chair, U.S. Assistant A.G. for the Criminal Division 2009–2013)Jesse Eisinger (May 4, 2014), "Why Only One Top Banker Went to Jail for the Financial Crisis", The New York Times Magazine James W. (Jim) Breyer (boards of Blackstone Group, Harvard Corporation, Walmart, Facebook, WEF) Stephen G. Breyer (former U.S. Supreme Court justice, Rhodes scholar)Brian P. Smentkowski (August 11, 2020), Stephen Breyer, Encyclopædia Britannica: Steven Brill (CourtTV founder) Tom Brokaw (author, NBC News journalist) Edgar Bronfman Jr. (Seagram heir) Ethan Bronner (deputy foreign editor of The New York Times) Kate Brown (former governor of Oregon) Erin Burnett (CNN anchor, journalist) William J. Burns (8th Director of the CIA 2021–2025, Deputy Secretary of State 2011–2014, 5th U.S. Ambassador to Russia 2005–2008) Dan Burton (former U.S. congressman from Indiana) Sylvia Mathews Burwell (former president of American University, HHS Secretary 2014–2017Elizabeth Chuck (October 2, 2013), "Meet Sylvia Burwell, the woman who ordered the government shutdown", NBC News Jonathan S. Bush (healthcare CEO) Craig Calhoun (president of Berggruen Institute, Director of the London School of Economics) Elizabeth Cameron (senior director for Global Health Security and Biodefense on the U.S. National Security Council) Kurt M. Campbell (State Dept. official) Jimmy Carter (39th president of the United States) Carey Cavanaugh (diplomat and professor) Gerald L. Chan (brother of Ronnie C. Chan, son of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health namesake) Ronnie C. Chan (billionaire) Juju Chang (journalist/reporter for ABC News) Elaine Chao (former Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Labor) Kenneth I. Chenault (former head of American Express 2001–2018)Emily Jacobs (April 12, 2021), "Top CEOs met on Zoom to mount new voting legislation effort", New York Post Henry Cisneros (10th U.S. HUD Secretary) Wesley Kanne Clark (Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1997–2000) Bill Clinton (42nd president of the United States) Chelsea Clinton (Clinton Foundation board member) George Clooney (actor, director, screenwriter, producer) David S. Cohen (5th and 8th Deputy Director of the CIA 2015–2017 and 2021– ) Richard "Dick" Cohen (Washington Post columnist 1976–2019)Warren St. John (May 11, 1998), "Washington Post Scolds Richard Cohen for Crude Talk With Female Aide" Susan M. Collins (U.S. senator from Maine) Katie Couric (former CBS and NBC journalist)"Board of Trustees", The Aspen Institute Edward F. Cox (attorney, chairman of the New York Republican Party) Michael Crow (president of Arizona State University) Kenneth Cukier (ex-Red Herring journalist)Kenneth Neil Cukier (March 30, 2000), "Spies Like Us", The Wall Street Journal William M. Daley (White House chief of staff 2011–2012, U.S. Commerce Secretary 1997–2000) John J. "Jack" DeGioia (Georgetown University president 2001–present) John M. Deutch (Director of CIA 1995–1996) Jackson Diehl (Washington Post editorial page deputy editor) Jamie Dimon (chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase) Chris Dodd (U.S. senator from Connecticut 1981–2011) Eileen C. Donahoe (former U.S. Ambassador) Thomas R. Donahue (former Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL–CIO) William H. Donaldson (former chairman of the SEC) Joan Donovan (research director at Shorenstein Center)"Joan Donovan | Harvard Kennedy School", Harvard faculty profiles Michael Douglas (actor) James S. Doyle (journalist and activist)