Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Informs Policy-Making

The chairman and CEO of Selby Lane, LLC, David Colin Burke also serves as managing director of Tuolumne Capital, LP, a family-owned investment firm. Additionally, David Colin Burke provides strategic guidance to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace through his work as a member of the board of directors’ investment committee.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace offers independent analysis and insights designed to help American government leaders build a strong foreign policy -- one that can sustain international peace and the peaceful development of the United States and other nations.

The organization runs several regional programs, such as those targeting Russian and Eurasian, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern affairs, in addition to its focus on economics and nuclear policy. Its Middle Eastern program provides country studies, published in English and Arabic, informed by the in-depth knowledge of scholars on the ground in the region. This working group has built an extensive knowledge of the evolving geopolitical and economic systems in North Africa (specifically Egypt), Iran, the Persian Gulf States, Israel, and Palestine.

Meanwhile, Carnegie’s North Africa program has produced events, papers, articles, fact-based commentary, and records of Congressional testimony from people involved with the ongoing development of these societies. Topics covered include human rights, the threats posed by terrorism, water supply and other infrastructure, and the economic and security-related impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

McIntire School of Commerce Raises Funds for Transformative Programs

A philanthropist, investor, and entrepreneur, David Colin Burke maintains strong ties to his alma mater, the University of Virginia (UVA), where he earned graduate degrees in law and international relations. Also an educator, David Colin Burke instructs the course World of Investing and International Relations at UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce.

At a time of disruption to many educational institutions in the United States, the McIntire School of Commerce has been strongly supported by its alumni community, including several hundred McIntire Dean’s Society members who have contributed at levels above $2,500. This has resulted in a successful Centennial Fund for Faculty Excellence fundraising effort for 2020 that generated $21 million, including more than $4 million in cash gifts.

The money raised has gone to a number of practical uses, including transition efforts last semester that resulted in a fully virtual platform. Since that time, students have enjoyed seamless remote access to courses and computer lab workstations, as well as classmates.

Another successful effort has been the temporary replacement of the faculty-led Global Immersion Experience, an overseas course, with five new courses focused on exploring current health and economic crisis impacts in real time. In addition, McIntire and the UVA School of Medicine recently launched the Biomedical Sciences PhD+ Dual-Degree Program.

Three Great Places to Hike in California

 

The founder and former CEO of Makena Capital Management, LLC, David Colin Burke helped grow the global investment firm to include more than 400 clients with combined assets under management in excess of $20 billion. A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, David Colin Burke enjoys hiking in his free time.

Offering a wide range of landscapes, Northern and Central California have plenty of options for hiking enthusiasts. The following are three must-visit areas:

1. Yosemite Falls Trail - This 9-mile trail can be completed in one day if started early. Boasting stunning panoramic valley-floor vistas, the highlight of the trail, naturally, is the view of Yosemite Falls. Hikers can often feel the mist from the falls at certain points along the trail.

2. Mount Shasta - While many people visit Mount Shasta with the intention of reaching its summit, the snowcapped mountain features several hiking trails that can be completed by the average hiker. One of the most popular hikes is the Gray Butte Trail, which takes roughly three hours to finish and reaches 7,000 feet in elevation.

3. John Muir Trail - Located east of Fresno, the John Muir Trail is a 211-mile hike that stretches from Yosemite National Park to Sequoia National Park. It is surrounded by mountains as high as 14,000 feet as well as an abundance of deep canyons and clear lakes. The entire trail takes about three weeks to hike on average, but many people stick to single- or multi-day hikes for portions of it.

UVA School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic

With a leadership background in venture capital and private equity, David Colin Burke maintains a strong connection with his former universities. A law graduate of the University of Virginia (UVA) who also completed an international relations graduate degree, David Colin Burke sponsors the UVA School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic.

Organized as a yearlong program, the clinic places law students in projects that provide them with advocacy skills within the human rights realm, both domestically and abroad. Working integrally with law firms, human rights attorneys, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), participants travel to Washington, DC, to fulfill project requirements. They also maintain direct contact with clients and with the supervising attorneys associated with client NGOs.

The International Human Rights Clinic also coordinates class discussions at UVA. These explore issues such as professional and ethical dilemmas that often arise in the course of legal work. Other sessions focus on human rights campaigns and movements and how to design effective advocacy strategies. Past project areas have included advocacy before human rights treaty bodies operating under the United Nations and litigation within African and inter-American human rights systems.