Peter Ackerman is the lead shareholder of Fresh Direct, the largest closely held online grocer in the United States. He is also the Managing Director of Rockport Capital Incorporated, a private investment firm. From 1978 to 1990 he was Director of International Capital Markets at Drexel Burnham Lambert where he structured, financed, and invested in hundreds of recapitalizations including the largest and most complex leveraged acquisitions of that period.

Dr. Ackerman holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where he served 15 years as Chairman of the Board of Overseers. Currently, Dr. Ackerman is Co-chairman of the United States Institute of Peace’s International Advisory Council. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Atlantic Council. He serves on the Board of the Capital Area Food Bank and the U.S. Paralympic Advisory Committee.

Dr. Ackerman served 10 years on the Board of the Council on Foreign Relations and was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Freedom House. In 2010, Dr. Ackerman was also the Founder and Chairman of Americans Elect, whose purpose was to invite every registered voter in the United States to participate in a nonpartisan process to nominate candidates for the 2012 Presidential election through an online convention.

Dr. Ackerman also founded and chairs the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). The mission of ICNC is to develop the understanding and encourage the use of civilian-based, non-military strategies that will lead to the establishment and defense of democratic self-rule and human rights. ICNC was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 by Thomas Schelling, winner of the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and Lech Walesa, the 1983 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.