Richard Stengel is the former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the Obama administration. Prior to serving in government, Stengel was the Editor of TIME for seven years. He was also the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. In the 1990s, he collaborated with Nelson Mandela on the South African’s bestselling autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom.” The many hours of taped interviews from that time were the basis of Stengel’s 10-part award-winning audiobook, “Mandela: The Lost Tapes,” from Audible. Stengel is the author of a number of books, the most recent of which is “Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation.” He is also a political analyst for MSNBC.

Under his leadership, TIME won the National Magazine award for Magazine of the Year in 2012, the only time it has ever done so. In that same year, Stengel received an Emmy award for his work as executive producer of TIME’s documentary, “Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience.” In addition to “Information Wars,” Stengel is also the author of “January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, a South African Town,” “You’re Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery,” “The Constitution: The Essential User’s Guide” from TIME, and “Mandela’s Way,” a NYT-bestselling memoir of his time working with the South African leader. Stengel is on the board of CARE, the global poverty relief organization. He attended Princeton University where he played on the 1975 NIT championship basketball team. He then studied English at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.