Berkley Center

Ambassador Melanne Verveer is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. She most recently served as the first US Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues. In this position, she coordinated foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women, traveling to nearly sixty countries. She worked to ensure that women’s participation and rights are fully integrated into US foreign policy, and she played a leadership role in the Obama administration’s development of the US National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. From 2000 to 2008, she was the chair and co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO that she co-founded to invest in emerging women leaders. During the Clinton administration, she served as assistant to the president and chief of staff to first lady Hillary Clinton. She received a B.S. and M.S. from Georgetown University and holds several honorary degrees.