Mel Layt­ner was a reporter for near­ly 20 years, much of it as a for­eign cor­re­spon­dent for NBC News and Unit­ed Press Inter­na­tion­al cov­er­ing the Mid­dle East. He holds Mas­ter’s degrees from both Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty’s School of Jour­nal­ism and its School of Inter­na­tion­al Affairs, and was award­ed a pres­ti­gious Knight-Bage­hot Fel­low­ship in Busi­ness and Eco­nom­ic Journalism.