Languages
EnglishAmbassador Clifford Sobel is an advisory council member at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. He is the co-founding partner of Valor Capital Group, a growth equity and venture capital investment firm focused on United States, Brazil, Latin America more broadly, and global cross-border opportunities. He is also a partner in Related Brazil, a residential developer with projects in Brazil.
Previously, Ambassador Sobel served as the US ambassador to the Netherlands and the US ambassador to Brazil, under the Bush and Obama administrations.
He has recently served on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and on the secretary of state’s Foreign Advisory Board, and he was also the vice chairman of the bipartisan Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission. He also previously served on the military advisory board for US European Command and NATO and on the advisory board of US Southern Command, the military command for Central and South America. During and after his service as ambassador to Brazil, he was recognized for his services by the states of Pernambuco, Sergipe, and Minas Gerais. He was also recognized for his service by the minister of defense of Brazil, and in 2022, by the president of Brazil.
Today he serves on the board of the American Frontier Fund, created to partner with the US government to advance the United States’ technology leadership, as well as an advisor to the Partnership for Central America, the coordinating body for businesses and social enterprises to support innovative, effective, and scalable initiatives aimed at economic growth and human development in Central America. He also serves on the board of the Council of the Americas, the Council of American Ambassadors, The Washington Institute, and the Atlantic Council, as well as on the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub Advisory Council. Ambassador Sobel is also a member of Christie’s Advisory Board for the Americas and a senior advisor to Global Infrastructure Partners and Jones Group International. He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.
He has served as a board member of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Aegon, and Alpinvest (a fund of funds group based in Amsterdam). He has also served as chairman of Net2Phone, an internet telephony company.