Matthew Pottinger and Stefanie Tompkins Elected to RAND Board of Trustees
For Release
Wednesday
March 26, 2025
Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser, and Stefanie Tompkins, former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), were elected to the RAND Board of Trustees, RAND Chair Michael Leiter and President and CEO Jason Matheny announced today.
“I'm pleased to welcome Matthew and Stefanie to the RAND Board of Trustees,” said Matheny. “Having worked closely with both of them, I can attest to their intelligence, thoughtfulness and integrity, and I'm confident their guidance will help RAND fulfill its mission of improving policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.”
Pottinger served as the deputy national security adviser from 2019 to 2021, having previously served as the senior director for Asia, leading the administration's work on the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to his White House service, he served three combat missions to Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, founded an Asia-focused risk consultancy business, and spent time in China as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. He has a bachelor's degree in China studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Most recently, Tompkins served as the director of DARPA from 2021 to 2025, leading scientists and engineers in developing new technology capabilities for the U.S. government. A geologist, she served as the vice president for research and technology transfer at the Colorado School of Mines from 2018 to 2021 and is slated to return as the school's provost this May. Prior to her first term at the Colorado School of Mines, she spent 10 years at DARPA, including stints as the director of the defense sciences office, and 10 years at SAIC, a defense technology contractor. A commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, she also holds a bachelor's degree in geology from Princeton University and a master's degree and doctorate in geology from Brown University.
Pottinger and Tompkins join an esteemed group of leaders from public service, business, and academia tasked with ensuring RAND effectively pursues its mission, wisely manages its resources, and meets its obligations as a nonprofit.