Aaron Salzberg

Aaron Salzberg is a consultant specializing in policy advice, strategic planning, and facilitation for government, private sector, and non-profit clients. His work centers on water, climate, sustainable development, and environmental security.

From 2019 to 2025, Dr. Salzberg served as the Director of the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina where he led the University’s efforts to support a more water secure world through research, policy, and practice. Prior to UNC, he spent two decades at the U.S. Department of State, where he played a key role in elevating water and sanitation issues as foreign policy and development assistant priorities and in leading the development and implementation of U.S. foreign policy on drinking water and sanitation, water resources management, and transboundary water and conflict. Dr. Salzberg served as the Department’s first Special Coordinator for Water Resources and led the development of the United States’ first Global Water Strategy.

Dr. Salzberg holds a Ph.D. in Genetic Toxicology, an M.S. in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Frank E. Loy Award for Environmental Diplomacy. He has served on several high-level advisory bodies, including the Research Board of the World Meteorological Organization, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Climate Security, and the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. He is currently a Global Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.