Dan Senor - Biography

Daniel Samuel Senor, known as Dan Senor (born November 6, 1971), is a founding partner of Rosemont Capital LLC, and Rosemont Solebury Capital Management. He is also a Fox News contributor and a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal among other publications. He is co-author the book Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle, about the economy of Israel and globalization in the Middle East. Senor is most noted for his former position as chief spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He is married to television news personality Campbell Brown.

Early life and education

Senor was born in Utica, New York, and grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Western Ontario and Hebrew University in Jerusalem and received an MBA from Harvard in 2001.

Career

Early career

Senor spent much of the 1990s working in Congress, as both a foreign policy advisor and Communications Director to former U.S. Senator and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (R-MI).

From 2001 to 2003, he was an investment professional at the Carlyle Group.

According to Gal Beckerman of Forward magazine, Senor has "close ties to the neoconservative intellectual scene". He recently declined an opportunity to run as a Republican for the United States Senate, opting instead to initiate a new think tank, the Foreign Policy Initiative, together with neoconservatives William Kristol and Robert Kagan.

Iraq

In the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and during the fighting, Senor was a Pentagon and White House advisor based in Doha, Qatar at U.S. Central Command Forward; he was subsequently based in Kuwait working with General Jay Garner during the final days of the fighting and in southern Iraq when the Iraqi regime fell.

Senor formally re-located to Baghdad on April 20, 2003, when he traveled with General Garner’s team in the first post-war civilian convoy, less than two weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein, becoming one of the first American civilians to enter Baghdad. In Iraq, Senor served as Chief Spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq, a Senior Advisor to Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, and an adviser to the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.

Senor remained in Iraq until the summer of 2004. His 15 months working for the CPA from Baghdad made him one of the longest-serving American civilians in Iraq. For his service, he was awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award, one of the Pentagon’s highest civilian honors.

Current activities

Senor is the co-author of Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle, with Saul Singer. The book was published by Twelve books in November 2009 and examines the entrepreneurial economy of Israel and explores the cultural and social environment supporting it. The book has provoked a wide range of responses, from positive reviews that hail its research and portrayal of often-neglected facets of Israeli society, to negative reviews that claim the book implicitly justifies never-ending conflict in the region by positing the conflict of an engine of Israeli productivity and innovation.

Senor is an Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has hosted two investigative documentaries on Iraq and Iran for Fox News, where he is a contributor. He is also published frequently by The Wall Street Journal, and has authored pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Post, and The Weekly Standard.

President George W. Bush appointed Senor in May 2008 to serve on the Honorary Delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel.

In March 2010, national Republican leaders encouraged Senor to run against freshman Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York. Senor was reported to be seriously considering a challenge, although he ultimately decided against it, saying in a statement this "wasn't the right time in my family and business life for me to run."

Personal life

In April 2006, Senor married Campbell Brown, then weekend anchor of The Today Show on NBC and host of Campbell Brown formerly on CNN. They have two children. His father-in-law is former Louisiana Insurance Commissioner and Secretary of State James H. "Jim" Brown, a Democrat.

External links

• Dan Senor's Whitehouse.gov Page
• Dan Senor - Rosemont Solebury Capital Management
• Dan Senor's Council on Foreign Relations Page