Register below for IN-PERSON or LIVESTREAM. This event will take place in-person and patrons can either attend in-person or watch a livestream. Within one week, a recording will be made available for a limited time after the event only to those who register per contractual obligations. 

Greenwich Library’s Signature Series brings bestselling author and retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis to the Berkley Theater on January 27 at 7 p.m., for what promises to be an insightful and informative discussion on current events. A highly decorated admiral, Stavridis will be joined in conversation by journalist and author Gideon Rose of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The event will be livestreamed and available after the event as a recording to those registered only. Registration opens January 6. 

Please note: All attendees will be required to show proof of full vaccination (in the form of their CDC Vaccination Card or a photo or photocopy of the Card) or a negative PCR Test taken within 72 hours of the event. No one will be admitted without this documentation. Protocols may be modified as and when laws, science, and/or institutional requirements change. Please note that all attendees will be required to wear face masks at all times (regardless of vaccination status), per the Greenwich Library Board of Trustees.

Stavridis and Rose will discuss various topics, including the relationship between American politics and American foreign policy; current and future great power conflicts, including those between the U.S., China and Russia; and Stavridis will also share some of the life lessons he’s gleaned from his remarkable and accomplished professional experiences.

Admiral James Stavridis is Vice-Chair, Global Affairs of The Carlyle Group and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Rockefeller Foundation. A Florida native, Jim Stavridis attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and spent 37 years in the Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star Admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans, and counter-piracy off the coast of Africa. He also commanded US Southern Command in Miami, charged with military operations through Latin America for nearly three years. He was the longest-serving Combatant Commander in recent US history. Following his military career, he served for five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. In the course of his career in the Navy, he served as senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. He led the Navy’s premier operational think tank for innovation, Deep Blue, immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Admiral Stavridis was promoted directly from 1-star rank to 3-star rank in 2004.

He won the Battenberg Cup for commanding the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet and the Navy League John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational leadership, along with more than 50 US and international medals and decorations, including 28 from foreign nations. He also commanded a Destroyer Squadron and a Carrier Strike Group, both in combat. In 2016, he was vetted for Vice President by Secretary Hillary Clinton and subsequently invited to Trump Tower to discuss a cabinet position with President Donald Trump. He earned a Ph.D. from The Fletcher School at Tufts, winning the Gullion prize as outstanding student in his class in 1983, as well as academic honors from the National and Naval War Colleges as a distinguished student. He speaks Spanish and French. Admiral Stavridis has published ten books on leadership, the oceans, maritime affairs, and Latin America, as well as hundreds of articles in leading journals. An active user of social networks, he has tens of thousands of connections on the social networks. His TED talk on 21st-century security in 2012 has close to one million views. He tweeted the end of combat operations in the Libyan NATO intervention. His three most recent books are Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character (2019) and the novel 2034: A Novel of the Next World War (2021), a New York Times bestseller, and The Sailor's  Bookshelf: Fifty Books to Know the Sea (2021).  Admiral Stavridis is a contributing editor for TIME Magazine and Chief International Security and Diplomacy Analyst for NBC News.

Gideon Rose is the Mary and David Boies distinguished fellow in U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he was Editor of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2021, prior to which he was Managing Editor from 2000 to 2010. He has also served as Associate Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council and Deputy Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and has taught American foreign policy at Princeton and Columbia. He is the author of How Wars End (Simon & Schuster, October 2010).

Greenwich Library’s Signature Series offers dynamic, elevated public programming that engages the Greenwich community and region, featuring nationally recognized experts for timely analysis and conversations that promote an exchange of ideas.

Greenwich Library's Signature Series is made possible through the support of the Greenwich Library Board of Trustees and contributions by generous donors. For more information, please visit greenwichlibrary.org/signature.

To get early access to all the Library's Signature events, sign up here for Weekly & Special Event e-mail newsletters.

For more information or questions about this event, please contact Kathy Cihi at kcihi@greenwichlibrary.org.