Joseph R. Bankoff, president and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, has been named chair of The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and Professor of the Practice in Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

“We are especially privileged to have Mr. Bankoff assume leadership of The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at a time when we are shaping a new strategic plan for its future,” said Jacqueline J. Royster, Dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. “His engagement in the Institute’s long-range strategic planning process, his linkages throughout Atlanta and around the world, and his commitment to our trusteeship of the legacy of Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. will enhance and enlarge the school’s momentum in education and research integrating technology and international affairs.”

Bankoff’s experience ranges across law and policy, economic development, government legislation, fiscal planning and global issues. He has been involved with The Nunn School’s Sam Nunn Bank of America Policy Forum since its inception.

Senator Nunn said, “Joe Bankoff is known and respected in broad and influential circles in Atlanta and Georgia for his integrity, his visionary leadership, his keen intellect, his common sense, his good judgment, and his dedication to civic improvement."

For the past six years, Bankoff has led the Woodruff Arts Center, one of the nation’s largest performing arts centers. He spearheaded development of a comprehensive strategic plan encompassing the center’s four units, a new governance structure, physical campus, and arts education outreach and has been influential in the growth of Midtown Atlanta. He will retire from Woodruff at the end of May and will begin at Georgia Tech in September.

“I am flattered and excited to have the opportunity to work with the distinguished faculty and impressive students at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs,” Bankoff said. “I have been privileged to work within Georgia Tech in various volunteer roles for more than a decade. I believe that the Nunn School and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts have the potential to greatly strengthen the capacity of Georgia Tech to provide and produce culturally aware and technically competent leadership in both global technology and policy.”

Bankoff was a senior partner for many years at King & Spalding LLP, where he founded the firm’s intellectual property practice group. He was a trial lawyer for 25 years working in the arena of technology and communication disputes and contracts and with litigation experience in patent, copyright, trade secret, media and technology-related matters.

During his legal career, Bankoff was continuously recognized as one of Atlanta’s top lawyers, was selected by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer in his practice area, and as one of “The Best Lawyers in America.” He has served on the Governor’s Telecommunications and Technology Task Force and recently led an Advisory Committee to the Georgia Joint House-Senate Committee on Emerging Communications Technologies drafting legislation that was adopted. As Television Counsel to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) he negotiated television rights agreements for the 1996 Olympic Games in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Latin and South America.

Bankoff received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management from Purdue University. He earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois. In 1992, he was a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law in Munich, Germany.