Laura Rockwood, New VCDNP executive director
The Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) is delighted to welcome Laura Rockwood as its new executive director.
Laura Rockwood is well known in the international nonproliferation and disarmament community, having worked for almost thirty years at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), focusing primarily on the negotiation, interpretation, and implementation of IAEA safeguards. She served in the Office of Legal Affairs of the IAEA, from which she retired as section head for non-proliferation and policy making in November 2013. She has worked for the last year and a half as a senior research fellow for the project on Managing the Atom at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University. Ms. Rockwood started her career as an attorney with the US General Accounting Office and was later employed by the US Department of Energy, working as a trial attorney in radiation injury cases and as counsel in general legal matters.
Ms. Rockwood is highly regarded in the diplomatic and professional community in Vienna and is certain to receive a warm welcome back from her many friends and former colleagues. The VCDNP is excited to have Ms. Rockwood join the Center and looks forward to benefiting from her wealth of expertise and experience.
“I am committed to building on the strong foundation created by Ms. Elena Sokova, who, as the first executive director of the VCDNP, established the Center as a world class forum for advancing education and dialogue on disarmament and non-proliferation,” said Ms. Rockwood.
Ms. Elena Sokova will be returning to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in Monterey, California, to take up the position of deputy director.
