Melanne Verveer

Ambassador Verveer is the Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. She most recently served as the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, a position to which she was nominated by President Obama in 2009. She coordinated foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women, traveling to nearly sixty countries. She played a leadership role in the Administration’s development of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. President Obama also appointed her to serve as the U.S. Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. From 2000-2008, she was the Chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership. During the Clinton administration, she served as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady. She also led the effort to establish the President’s Interagency Council on Women, and was instrumental in the adoption of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. She is the co-author of Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose (2015). Ambassador Verveer has a B.S. and M.S. from Georgetown University. In 2013, she was the Humanitas Visiting professor at the University of Cambridge. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development. She holds several honorary degrees and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the U.S. Secretary of State’s Award for Distinguished Service. Amb. Verveer has recently published op-eds on a variety of topics in the field with outlets including Devex, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Fast Company, Financial Post, Global Post, Huffington Post, and The Daily Beast, among others. Amb. Verveer is also in high demand for interviews on issues of women, peace and security globally with both print and digital outlets, including Voice of America, CNN, NPR, PBS Frontline, Bloomberg, NBC Nightly News, the BBC, Forbes Mexico, Marie Claire Brazil, Asahi Shimbun, Mic, Deutshe Welle, documentary filmmakers, and many others.