James A. Joseph ’63 B.D.

Ambassador James A. Joseph is Emeritus Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. For many years he served as leader in residence for the Hart Leadership Program, and he was the founder of the United States – Southern Africa Center for Leadership and Public Values at Duke and the University of Cape Town. Joseph has served in senior executive or advisory positions for four U.S. Presidents, including appointments by President Jimmy Carter as Under Secretary of the Interior and President William Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa. Ambassador Joseph has had a distinguished career in business, education and civil society. From 1982-1995, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Foundations, an international organization of more than 2000 foundations and corporate giving programs. He served as a Vice President of Cummins Engine Company, the world’s largest producer of heavy duty diesel engines, and President of the Cummins Foundation from 1971-1977. An ordained minister, he has taught at Yale Divinity School and the Claremont Colleges where he was also University Chaplain. In 1985, he was a Distinguished Visitor at Nuffield College at Oxford University and serves presently as an Honorary Professor and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town.