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Howard W. Buffett (WCAS ‘06) is a lecturer at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, where he teaches management techniques for improving the effectiveness of foreign aid and global philanthropy. Before joining Columbia's faculty, he was the Executive Director of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which strengthens food security for vulnerable populations throughout the world. He now serves as a trustee of the Foundation.

Buffett previously served in the U.S. Department of Defense, overseeing agriculture-based economic stabilization and redevelopment programs in Iraq and Afghanistan. He received the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award – the highest ranking civilian honor presented by the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the request and approval of the Combatant Commanders. Prior to that, Buffett was a Policy Advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council where he co-authored the President’s cross-sector partnership strategy. Prior to serving in the White House, he was a Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he authored the expansion strategy for the nation’s Cooperative Extension System.

Buffett earned his BA from Northwestern University, and his MPA in Advanced Management and Finance from Columbia University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on advisory boards for the Aspen Institute, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Columbia University’s Agriculture and Food Security Center. Buffett co-authored the New York Times Bestselling book 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World, which examines global hunger and food systems challenges, drawing from his and his father’s experiences while traveling in more than seventy countries across six continents. He is from Omaha, Nebraska, where he operates a four hundred acre conservation-based farm.