Colby Connelly is a research associate at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He is an MA candidate in global security studies at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Advanced Governmental Studies, where he is pursuing a concentration in energy and environmental security. He has also served as a contributor for IHS Markit’s country risk, focusing on Gulf Cooperation Council member states.

Previously, he spent several years working as a contractor in Saudi Arabia in support of workforce nationalization projects established as part of the government’s Saudization initiative. He designed, managed, and supported multiple training programs tailored for new employees of energy and critical infrastructure companies including Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Electricity Company, Sadara, Marafiq, and Petro Rabigh. He has also lived in Jordan on separate occasions, where he studied with the Qasid Arabic Institute. He graduated from James Madison University in 2011 with a BA in international affairs, concentrated in the Middle East, and is proficient in Gulf and Modern Standard Arabic.