Shannon K. O'Neil

Shannon O'Neil is senior fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her expertise includes U.S.-Latin American relations, energy policy, trade, political and economic reforms, and immigration. She directed CFR's Independent Task Force on U.S.-Latin America Relations: A New Direction for a New Reality. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead, which analyzes the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last three decades and their significance for U.S.-Mexico relations.

In addition to her work at CFR, Dr. O'Neil has taught in the political science department at Columbia University. She is a frequent commentator on major television and radio programs, and her work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs Latinoamerica, Americas Quarterly, Política Exterior, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, among others, and she has testified before the U.S. Congress on U.S. policy toward Mexico. She writes the blog, Latin America's Moment, which analyzes developments in Latin America and U.S. relations in the region.

Prior to joining CFR, she was a justice, welfare, and economics fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She was also a Fulbright scholar in Mexico and Argentina. Prior to her academic work, Dr. O'Neil worked in the private sector as an equity analyst at Indosuez Capital Latin America and Credit Lyonnais Securities. She holds a BA from Yale University, an MA in international relations from Yale University, and a PhD in government from Harvard University.