Georgetown Dean to Lead Philanthropic MacArthur Foundation

"The opportunity for what our money can do is particularly important now," said Robert E. Denham, chairman of the foundation's board of directors, and a lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles. "It magnifies the importance of making smart choices."

Gallucci will replace Jonathan Fanton, retiring after two terms as president. Denham said the board was sold on Gallucci based on his extensive international experience and his ability to make difficult decisions under duress.

"And he enjoys life, he enjoys every conversation that he has, and that enjoyment is infectious," Denham said.

Gallucci worked in international peacekeeping posts for more than two decades before joining Georgetown. He was assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs in 1992-93, served as the country's chief negotiator during a nuclear crisis with North Korea in 1994 and was a special adviser for the implementation of the Dayton Accords, the peace agreement that brought the war in Bosnia to a close. He worked with Strobe Talbott (now president of the Brookings Institution, then deputy secretary of state under President Bill Clinton) so often during the mid-1990s that Talbot joked yesterday: "We saw each other more often than we did our wives."

Gallucci and his wife, Jennifer Sims, a visiting professor at Georgetown's Center for Peace and Security Studies, have two children. He is a native of Brooklyn and received his bachelor's degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his master's and doctorate at Brandeis University.