Dr. Sophal Ear is a tenured Associate Professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, where he teaches global political economy, international organizations, and regional management in Asia. He has served as Senior Associate Dean of Student Success and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Global Development, and currently serves as President of the International Public Management Network (IPMN) and inaugural Chair of the AAPI Advisory Board of the Los Angeles County District Attorney.

Previously, he taught at Occidental College, the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, and Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, and has held roles with the World Bank, UNDP in East Timor, the Council on Foreign Relations, and Cambodia’s first private equity fund, Leopard Capital. A TED Fellow, Fulbright Specialist, and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, he serves on the boards of Refugees International, Partners for Development, and the Center for Khmer Studies.

The author of multiple books—including Viral Sovereignty and the Political Economy of Pandemics and Aid Dependence in Cambodia—Dr. Ear also wrote and narrated the award-winning documentary The End/Beginning: Cambodia. A former Cambodian refugee who moved to the U.S. at age 10, he is a graduate of Princeton (PPIA Junior Summer Institute Fellow ’94) and UC Berkeley.