John Gans

Director of Communications and Research, University of Pennsylvania

**John Gans,** PhD. is the Director of Communications and Research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House global policy center. In addition, Gans teaches graduate and undergraduate classes on the international order, the politics and process of American foreign policy, and national security. He is also a fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Until 2017, Gans served at the Pentagon as chief speechwriter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He was the principal adviser to the secretary on planning, positioning, and preparation of remarks, managed a team of writers, and drafted dozens of speeches delivered around the world on defense policy in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. In addition to leading the writing team at the Defense Department, Gans served in the Obama Administration as senior speechwriter for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (2014) and Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew (2015).