Robert C. Orr serves as professor at the UMD School of Public Policy and special advisor to the UN secretary-general on climate change. He is also a member of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Orr previously served as dean at the UMD School of Public Policy from 2014-2025. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, he served as the assistant secretary-general for strategic planning in the Executive Office of the United Nations secretary-general from 2004 to 2014. He was the principal advisor to the secretary-general and led major initiatives on climate change, sustainable energy, women's and children's health, counter-terrorism, post-conflict peacebuilding, institutional reform and multi-stakeholder governance.
Orr joined the United Nations from Harvard University where he served as the executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government. Prior to this, he served as director of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC.
He has served in senior posts in the government of the United States, including deputy to the United States ambassador to the United Nations and director of global affairs at the National Security Council in the White House, where he was responsible for peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs.
Orr is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.
- Multistakeholder governance; climate change; international negotiations; United Nations and multilateralism; U.S. foreign policy
