Meet Melanne Verveer
Melanne Verveer is the Executive Director of the Georgetown University Institute for Women, Peace and Security. The Institute seeks to enhance national and global security by documenting the crucial role women play in peacebuilding and security through research and scholarship and by engaging with global leaders on the urgent issues of our time. She is also the special representative on Gender Equality for the OSCE Chairmanship.
In 2009, former President Barack Obama nominated Melanne as the first U.S. ambassador for global women's issues. There, she led efforts to integrate women's rights and participation into U.S. foreign policy.
After her role as chair and co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international non-governmental organization she co-founded to invest in emerging women leaders, Melanne worked at the State Department. She has served as an assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady in the Clinton Administration. She led the effort to establish the president's interagency council on women and was instrumental in adopting the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Before her time in the White House, she served in numerous leadership roles in public policy organizations and as congressional staff.
Melanne is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission and serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Atlantic Council, the National Endowment for Democracy and the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development. She has a bachelor's and master's degrees from Georgetown University and several honorary degrees. She is an honorary fellow at Clare Hall College, Cambridge and has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Secretary of State's Award for Distinguished Service.