Berkley Center

Sherri Kraham Talabany is president and co-founder of SEED, a charitable organization that promotes development and social and humanitarian causes in Kurdistan. Prior to moving to Kurdistan, Talabany was a senior executive with the Millennium Challenge Corporation. She also served as a senior official in the U.S. State Department, where she held a variety of foreign policy, economic, and development-related positions. She served as an Iraq desk officer for four years, supporting efforts to strengthen the Iraqi opposition, conflict resolution between the main Kurdish parties under the auspices of the 1998 Washington agreement, and directed other programs and projects to prepare for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. She earned her J.D. from George Mason University.