Four Years of Ukraine and the Arctic: The Expansion and Threatened Collapse of NATO
Erik Ramanathan
Erik Ramanathan P’27 served as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden from December 2021 until January 2025. Ambassador Ramanathan was credentialed in Stockholm in January 2022, just five weeks prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. His tenure in Sweden centered on working with Swedes across all sectors of society as they navigated far-reaching changes accompanying the reversal of over 200 years of military non-alignment, the decision and challenging accession process to join NATO, and new understandings of autocratic threats to the democratic values and trade and investment norms that undergird their vibrant economy and way of life.
Leveraging key legislative tools like the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act, Ambassador Ramanathan led efforts to ensure the U.S. and Sweden worked hand-in-hand to address challenges and opportunities in climate sustainability and green transition, emerging technology, pandemic and supply chain resilience, and other geopolitical complexities that require greater cross-border coordination and cross-sector collective action than ever before. U.S-Swedish technological and defense cooperation flourished, while bilateral trade in goods and services and Swedish direct investment in the U.S. both roughly doubled in three years, creating over 200,000 new American jobs.
Since returning from Stockholm in January 2025, Ambassador Ramanathan has been a keynote speaker, media commentator, and strategic consultant to multinational public and private enterprises navigating fast-changing geopolitics and global security challenges. He serves on the International Policy Advisory Council of the Center for American Progress, guiding global-facing policy development and education for one of America’s leading nonpartisan think tanks.
Prior to his diplomatic service, Ambassador Ramanathan was a long-time strategic leader and change agent on a portfolio of six institutional boards of directors. He most prominently served as Chairman of Heluna Health, a trailblazing national nonprofit that has been advancing public health for over 50 years. Before that, he was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of ImClone Systems, a Nasdaq-100 biotechnology firm. His academic and teaching experience includes four years as Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, the world’s leading research program and think tank on the evolving global legal profession.
Ambassador Ramanathan has a passionate interest in empowering and supporting others to thrive at scale, whether it be through health care and community wellness, human rights advocacy, or inspiring military and civilian service veterans to start a career in public service. He has been a prominent LGBT+ community leader and change agent for more than three decades and is the recipient of honors including the Global Vision Award. Among numerous non-profit and public service roles, he has long chaired the board of Immigration Equality, guiding its rapid growth into a highly effective national legal services and advocacy organization for LGBT+ and HIV+ immigrants and refugees.
A native of rural western New York, Ambassador Ramanathan earned a B.A. in behavioral biology with highest honors at Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Ambassador Ramanathan is the featured speaker for Family Weekend 2026.