Asian-Pacific Heritage Celebratory Keynote Address
Asian-Pacific Heritage Celebratory Keynote Address by Attorney Ronak Desai
Attorney Ronak D. Desai serves as Vice Chair of the India practice at a prominent international law firm in Washington DC. A scholar and practitioner in the fields of law and foreign policy, his work focuses on U.S.-India relations, diaspora politics, anticorruption, and global governance. Ronak is a recognized community leader and activist and speaks frequently on topics related to the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
Ronak has extensive legal and policy experience in the public and private sectors. From 2014-2016, he served as Democratic Counsel to the Select Committee on Benghazi in the United States Congress. His previous Capitol Hill experience also includes his time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. He routinely advises Members of Congress on legal and foreign policy issues, particularly pertaining to Asia.
Additionally, Ronak serves as an Affiliate at the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute at Harvard University. He is also a Law & Security Fellow at New America, a Fellow at the Truman National Security Project, and an Asia 21 Young Leader at the Asia Society. He serves as General Counsel and Board of Director to the Partnership for a Secure America, a bipartisan foreign policy think tank based in Washington DC.
In 2016, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser appointed Ronak to her Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders where he advises the Mayor on a host of issues impacting the AAPI community. He also teaches a popular course on U.S. foreign policy toward South Asia at the Johns Hopkins University. He is a regular contributor to a host of leading publications in both the United States and the Asia Pacific, including Forbes.
Ronak earned joint public policy and law degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Law School, from which he graduated magna cum laude. He is a proud Blue Jay, having earned his undergraduate degree in international studies form the Johns Hopkins University where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. Every year, he teaches a popular course on US foreign policy toward South Asia at Johns Hopkins.
J.D., Harvard Law School, 2011 & Senior Editor, Harvard Journal of International Law
M.P.P., Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 2011
B.A., Johns Hopkins University, 2006, Phi Beta Kappa, International Studies