Gloria Duffy

Early life and education

She holds a doctorate, an M. Phil and an M.A. in political science, from Columbia University, and an A.B. magna cum laude from Occidental College. She was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from the University of San Francisco in 2006.

Dismantling WMD in the Former Soviet Union

She served as deputy assistant secretary of defense, under Defense Secretaries Les Aspin and William Perry and Assistant Secretary Ashton Carter, in the Clinton Administration, and was responsible for negotiating the dismantlement and destruction of weapons of mass destruction in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. She was involved in negotiating over fifty agreements with these countries for dismantling and disposal of their weapons of mass destruction, and received the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Public Service in 1995. In May 2016, the 25th anniversary of the Nunn-Lugar legislation, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter presented Dr. Duffy and four other individuals with inaugural Nunn-Lugar Trailblazer Awards, at a ceremony at the Pentagon.

Civilian Research and Development Foundation

In 1995, while at the Defense Department, Duffy responded to a request from the White House to fund a newly created organization, the Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF Global), providing the initial $10 million for its budget from Defense Department funds. Its creation, through the U.S. National Science Foundation, was mandated by the U.S. Congress, led by the late House Science and Technology Committee Chairman George Brown. The initial purpose was to provide employment on civilian scientific research to former Soviet WMD scientists who were unemployed or underemployed, and whose skills might be in demand by countries or groups seeking to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

After leaving the U.S. government, Duffy served on, then chaired, the Board of Directors of the CRDF. She served on the Board from 1996–2009, and chaired the Board for ten years, from 1998 until 2008. During this time, the organization grew to raise and spend nearly $300 million in government and private funds, and expanded its operations worldwide. Currently, CRDF Global is a major funder for collaborative scientific research between American scientists and colleagues in other countries. It provides alternative employment for weapons scientists, promotes scientific collaboration on global problems like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, helps emerging countries to develop science and technology based economies, and helps the U.S. form scientific links in other countries.

Ploughshares Fund

In 1982, Duffy become the first executive director of a start-up organisation, Ploughshares Fund, a public foundation initiated by San Francisco philanthropist Sally Lilienthal. Ploughshares Fund provides grants to individuals and institutions working to diminish the threats of nuclear war and nuclear proliferation. She served as executive director, 1982–1984, and has served on both the Board and Advisory Board of Ploughshares Fund.

Boards of directors and advisory boards

Duffy has served on numerous Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards of organizations nationally and locally in the Bay Area. These include the Boards of Directors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in Chicago and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility in Palo Alto, California. She chaired the Board of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, and served on the Board of Directors of Los Gatos Community Hospital. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Occidental College in Los Angeles, and on its Executive Committee. She has chaired the College's Academic Affairs Committee and currently co-chairs the Board's Student Life and Enrollment Management Committee. She served on the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of Dominican University of California, in San Rafael, California.

She served on the International Advisory Board of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Harriman Institute and the Board of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Montery Institute of International Studies. She has served on the Arms Control and International Security Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Duffy was a board member and Treasurer of the Compton Foundation. She has been a member of or chaired committees funding grants, fellowships and scholarships for the MacArthur Foundation, the Truman Scholarships, the University of California system, the Council on Foreign Relations and a number of other organizations.

Writing career

Duffy is the author or editor of a number of books and articles, including Blacker and Duffy, International Arms Control Issues and Agreements, Stanford University Press, 1984 and Duffy, et al. Compliance and the Future of Arms Control, Ballinger, 1988. She writes a column, InSight, for The Commonwealth magazine, as well as op-ed pieces for The Huffington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle and other publications.

Personal life

She is married to Rod Diridon, Sr. In 2016, she marked 50 years of engagement in her family real estate and land development business.