Leadership

Philip B.K. Potter

Director, National Security Policy Center; Professor, Public Policy and Politics; Executive Director, National Security Data and Policy Institute (NSDPI)

George Foresman

NSPC Executive Director

Philip B.K. Potter

Dr. Philip Potter is a professor of politics and the founding director of both the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy’s National Security Policy Center (NSPC) and the University of Virginia’s National Security Data and Policy Institute (NSDPI), UVA’s sixth university-level institute. Dr. Potter’s decades of research have focused on US foreign policy, military affairs, data analysis, and international security. He has published dozens of articles, policy papers, and government reports on these topics as well as two books, and serves as a university expert for the Intelligence Community and a senior advisor in the Department of Defense. An active voice in both academia and government on national security research and policy, Professor Potter launched the NSDPI in 2024 to build collaborative networks of experts and practitioners across government, industry, and academia to address the country’s most pressing national security challenges. 

George Foresman

George Foresman brings four decades of leadership insights to UVA and the National Security Policy Center, from a career that spans government and business. He has served in confirmed cabinet positions at both the state and federal level, as Virginia’s homeland security secretary in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks and then as under-secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Foresman’s leadership experience includes roles as the chief executive of a multi-billion-dollar organization with thousands of employees, heading 25 national working groups, co-chairing a five year congressionally established commission on U.S. security, participating in a project to reform the U.S. national security system, and he was picked to oversee seven “start-ups” in government and business. George’s bipartisan career includes appointed roles with five Democratic and Republican Governors, as well as three U.S. Presidents.

Foresman remains active in helping to shape U.S. national security policy.  He formally serves as a senior advisor and adjunct university professor for DoD on a broad range of national security topics. For over a decade George has been part of a select group to prepare senior military and civilian leaders to transition into top leadership positions, and separately to facilitate recurring U.S.-led multinational discussions around global and outer-space security.

At UVA Foresman’s teaching and research work focuses on contemporary national security leadership and policy issues. George combines his experience and current policy engagement to give students the knowledge, insights, and practical skills that position them to immediately navigate increasingly complex careers as they enter the workforce after graduation. Foresman also serves as a resource to faculty and staff across the university on a broad range of national security related initiatives.

Foresman is a graduate of Virginia Military Institute and the Virginia Executive Institute. He lives in Charlottesville with his wife, Gail.  They are the parents of two adult children.