Nikki R. Haley

Nikki R. Haley is the Walter P. Stern Chair at Hudson Institute. 

She previously served as United States ambassador to the United Nations, as a member of the president’s cabinet, and on the National Security Council. While ambassador, she ensured the American people saw value for their investment, defended US interests, kept our country safe, and championed human rights. 

At the UN, Amb. Haley fought to reform the organization making it more efficient, transparent, and accountable, including negotiating over $1.3 billion in savings. 

On the UN Security Council, Amb. Haley spearheaded negotiations that led to the strongest set of sanctions ever placed on a country, North Korea, for its nuclear weapons program. She proudly issued the first American veto in years defending the United States’ sovereign right to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel’s true capital. And, during her presidency of the UN Security Council, she hosted the first-ever session devoted to promoting human rights. 

During her time as ambassador, the United States stood proudly with its allies, repeatedly taking a strong and principled stand against the chronic anti-Israel bias at the United Nations. She challenged heads of state and rogue actors across the globe, standing up to dictators and tyrants in China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Syria, Venezuela. 

As ambassador, she traveled the world, visiting people oppressed by their own governments to witness the challenges they face and to work with them on life-improving solutions. Because of her leadership, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo held an election that marked the country's first peaceful, democratic transfer of power. 

For Amb. Haley's work at the UN, Forbes named her one of the world’s 100 most powerful women.

Prior to becoming UN ambassador, she was elected the 116th governor of South Carolina. At the time, Governor Haley was the youngest governor in the country and the first minority female governor in America. 

Under her guidance, South Carolina became a national leader in economic development. Known as the “Beast of the Southeast,” the state’s unemployment rate hit a 15-year-low and her administration secured $21.5 billion in new capital investment, announcing over 85,000 jobs across the state. 

As the state’s chief executive, she balanced an annual budget of over $26 billion. During her tenure, no South Carolina cabinet agency ran a deficit, South Carolina cut taxes, doubled its reserves, and reduced the state’s debt service by half. 

Gov. Haley led the state through some of its most difficult periods—forging unity and consensus in the wake of a racially-driven church shooting, signing the first body camera bill in the country, and managing South Carolina's emergency response during multiple natural disasters. 

In 2013, her husband, Michael, deployed to Afghanistan, making her the first governor in US history to have their spouse deployed. (Michael, a combat veteran, served a second deployment from 2023–24.) 

The people of South Carolina decisively reelected Gov. Haley in 2014. Two years later, Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

Born in Bamberg, South Carolina, she is the daughter of Indian immigrants and a proud graduate of Clemson University. She and her husband have two children.