Siddharth Mohandas

Dr. Siddharth Mohandas is a Managing Director at Lazard Geopolitical Advisory. He advises a wide range of clients on issues related to the intersection of public policy, corporate strategy, and capital allocation.

Prior to joining Lazard, Dr. Mohandas served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia at the U.S. Department of Defense. He was responsible for advising the Secretary of Defense and senior leadership within the Department of Defense on a wide range of strategy and policy issues pertaining to East Asia and Oceania and oversaw day-to-day management of key U.S. alliances. During his tenure, the United States made historic advances in defense relations in the Indo-Pacific, including the landmark Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) agreement and significant new steps to strengthen U.S. and allied presence and capabilities throughout the region. Dr. Mohandas has also served as Principal Deputy Director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. In this role, he advised the Secretary of State on policy priorities for the State Department and helped lead a team that prepared strategic assessments and recommendations for the Secretary of State.

In the private sector, Dr. Mohandas was Director of Research and a Principal at The Asia Group, where he advised leading corporates on geopolitical matters related to the Asia-Pacific region. He has also served as an editor at Foreign Affairs magazine. He has held research fellowships at the Brookings Institution and the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. He has written for multiple publications, including Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, and The American Prospect.

He holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University, an M.Phil. in international relations from Cambridge University, and an A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard College.