# Mary Kissel

Mary Elizabeth Kissel is an American strategist, board member, and former journalist best known for her work on U.S. foreign policy, especially regarding China, at the State Department during the first Trump Administration, and for her influential editorial writing at The Wall Street Journal in New York and Hong Kong.

## Early life and education

Kissel was born in south Florida and is a graduate of the Dreyfoos School of the Arts. She received a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard University, where she studied under Russian historian Richard Pipes. She was well known on campus as a marimba virtuosa and performed with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra and Harvard College Opera. She later earned a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, studying at the university's Bologna, Italy, and Washington, DC, campuses.

## Professional career

Kissel is Executive Vice President at Stephens, one of America's largest private, family-owned financial services firms, where she counsels clients on political risk and public policy. She joined the firm in March 2021. She also serves on public company boards, as vice chairman of New York Stock Exchange-listed logistics company RXO, Inc. (2022 to present) and director of QXO, Inc. (2024 to present), a building-materials distribution company also listed on the NYSE. Previously, she served as a director of XPO, Inc. (2021-2022).
From October 2018 to January 2021, Kissel served as Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, where she closely assisted the Secretary in developing and advancing U.S. foreign policy, accompanying him to more than 60 countries. She developed a reputation inside State for her hawkish stance on U.S.-China policy. She advocated for China's persecuted Uyghurs, supported the Hong Kong democracy movement, and pushed for closer U.S. ties to Taiwan. She also worked closely with Harvard Law School professor Mary Ann Glendon to launch the Secretary's Commission on Unalienable Rights. Kissel is recognized as one of the driving forces behind the 2021 genocide designation against China's Communist Party.
Immediately before her State Department appointment, Kissel served as a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board in New York City, where she was chief foreign affairs writer for the newspaper's "Review & Outlook" column. She hosted the Journal's popular "Foreign Edition" podcast on foreign policy, and served as a Fox News contributor from 2017 to 2018, appearing as a regular panelist on The Journal Editorial Report, Sunday Morning Futures and Mornings With Maria. On Thursday evenings, Kissel co-hosted The John Batchelor Show, a nationally syndicated talk show.
Prior to her U.S. work, Kissel joined The Wall Street Journal Asia in Hong Kong in 2004 as a foreign correspondent and contributed to the Money & Investing section's Heard in Asia column. From 2005 to 2010, she served as editorial-page editor, responsible for the newspaper's commentary on the Asia-Pacific region. In that role, she traveled widely, profiling the Dalai Lama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, among others. She warned against Beijing's military build-up in the Pacific and the Party's repression of Hong Kong's freedoms.
Kissel has also written for the Far Eastern Economic Review, The Spectator, Le Spectacle du Monde, and World Affairs and appeared on television networks and podcasts around the world, including ABC News, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, MSNBC, RTHK, and Sky News. Her radio appearances include ABC Radio, Fox News Radio, Radio National and the Larry Kudlow Show, among others.
Kissel started her career as a fixed income research and capital markets analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York City and London.

## Affiliations

Kissel is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a director of the American Australian Council. She was a Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow (2006), a Hoover Institution Edwards Media Fellow (2012 and 2016), and a member and host of the Nixon Seminar on Conservative Realism and National Security (2021-2024). She is a Northwood University Distinguished Woman awardee.