America and the World: A Conversation with President Alexander Stubb ’93, H ’17 and General Josh Rudd ’93

Alexander Stubb (President of Finland)

President Alexander Stubb is the thirteenth president of Finland. He was elected in February and sworn in on 1 March 2024. He earned his BA at Furman University (’93), MA at the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium, and his PhD from the London School of Economics. He served as director of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where he also taught courses in international relations. President Stubb was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 and was appointed Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2008, serving three years. In 2011, he was elected to the Parliament of Finland and was later appointed Minister for European Affairs and Trade (2011-2014). He served as the prime minister of Finland (2014-2015) and Minister of Finance (2015-2016) before being appointed vice president of the European Investment Bank. President Stubb has authored several books, including Negotiating Flexibility in the European Union (2002), The European Union (with Brent Nelsen, 2014), and Alex (2017). His most recent book is The Triangle of Power: Rebalancing the New World Order (2026).

General Josh Rudd (NSA)

General Joshua M. Rudd is Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, Director of the National Security Agency, and Chief of Central Security Service. He was previously the Deputy Commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, where he also served as the Chief of Staff and Commander of Special Operations Command Pacific. He earned his BA (Political Science) from Furman University (’93) and a commission through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program. He also holds a master’s degree in Strategy and National Security from the Naval War College. Entering active duty as a Quartermaster Officer, he completed Special Forces Assessment and Selection in 1996. As a Special Forces Officer, he has commanded at every echelon from Operational Detachment Alpha to Group. General Rudd has deployed numerous times in support of multiple combat operations, including Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, and Operation Inherent Resolve. General Rudd’s additional professional education includes U.S. Army War College, Fellowship at Duke University, Naval Command and Staff College, Infantry Officer Advanced Course, and Quartermaster Officer Basic Course.