Maxine Isaacs, Chair

Maxine Isaacs, lecturer on "Foreign Policy, the News, and American Public Opinion" at the Harvard Kennedy School, worked in the White House and US Senate for former Vice President Walter Mondale, US House of Representatives, and was a fellow at the Institute of Politics and Times Mirror (now Pew) Research Center on the People and the Press. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the Arlington Virginia's Signature Theatre board. She is also a Trustee of Skidmore College, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Council for Excellence in Government. Previously, she was on the Board of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. She received her AB in American Studies from Skidmore College, her Master's in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and her PhD from University of Maryland.

Gail Leftwich Kitch, Vice Chair

Gail Leftwich Kitch serves as Chief Operating Officer of the Voter Participation Center and Womens Voices Women Vote Action Fund. She previously served as Executive Director of By the People, an initiative of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, and as President of the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Prior to that she was Director of Cambridge Forum, in Cambridge, MA, and principal of Strategic Business Consultants, an international business consultancy. A lawyer by training, Kitch is a former chair of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and was a Radcliffe College Public Policy Fellow.

Dawn Calabia, Treasurer

Dawn Calabia has over 20 years of experience with foreign policy analysis, human rights issues, and public advocacy. Also a senior advisor at Refugees International, she advocated on issues of statelessness, aid to displaced populations, resettlement, and asylum. She has handled governmental and non-governmental relations in the US and the Caribbean for UNHCR, served as the Director of Refugee Policy and International Affairs for the US Catholic Conference Migration office, and worked on Capitol Hill. One of the founders of the Women’s Refugee Commission, she has led numerous fact-finding missions on refugee, humanitarian aid, and development issues. In 1996, she was honored at the White House for her work with refugee women and children.

Sarah Kahn, Secretary

Sarah Kahn is a partner at the international law firm DLA Piper LLP and co-chair of their Aerospace, Defense and Government Services Transactional Practice. She practices in the area of corporate and securities, with a focus on cross-border mergers and acquisitions. She has represented clients in acquisitions in a broad range of industries, with special experience in the international aerospace and defense industry. Kahn was named the 2009 Top Washington Lawyer-Corporate M&A by the Washington Business Journal, recognized by The Legal 500 US 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 for her M&A work and ranked by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2011 and 2012 for Corporate/M&A. She received her JD from Georgetown University and her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Kahn was a partner at Arnold & Porter LLP.

Carolyn Brehm

Carolyn Brehm is Vice President of Global Government Relations and Public Policy for Procter & Gamble, where she leads P&G's government relations team. Prior to that, Brehm served as Director of Legislation for The Business Roundtable; spent 13 years with the General Motors Corporation in several Washington and overseas assignments; and served as Vice President of Asia for ORBIS International, a global humanitarian organization working to eliminate avoidable blindness in the developing world. She began her career at the US-China Business Council and has published a number of articles and a book chapter on that topic. Brehm holds a BA from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an MBA from the University of New Haven.

Debbie Dingell

Debbie Dingell serves as Chair of the Manufacturing Initiative Automotive Policy Group, is an active civic and community leader in both Michigan and Washington, DC, and is a recognized national advocate for women and children. Dingell is also a national Democratic strategist, a member of the DNC and has chaired numerous political campaigns. Previously she served as Vice-Chair of the General Motors Foundation and a senior executive at General Motors. As a respected, bi-partisan voice, she is a regular contributor to media programs including Fox News and MSNBC. She chairs or sits on numerous boards in both Michigan and Washington, DC. Much of her recent work has focused on ethical issues and social responsibility as it relates to government and business.

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky

Ambassador Paula Dobriansky is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Thomson Reuters, and held the Distinguished National Security Chair at the US Naval Academy from 2010-2012. From 2001-2009, Dobriansky served as Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, during which time she was appointed the President’s Special Envoy on Northern Ireland. She received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Medal for her work. Other government appointments include: Associate Director for Policy and Programs, USIA; Deputy Head, US Delegation, 1990 Copenhagen Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council. She also served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington Office of the Council on Foreign Relations and was the Council’s first George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Brigitte Schmidt Gwyn

Brigitte Schmidt Gwyn is Kellogg Company’s vice president for global government relations and is a member of the company’s executive global leadership team. Prior to joining Kellogg, Gwyn served as the senior director, congressional relations, for Business Roundtable in Washington, DC, where she led the legislative strategy for their priorities associated with budget, taxes and trade. Prior to that, she was the director of employee benefits and retirement products for American Express. Gwyn also served in the offices of Representatives Jim Kolbe and Michael Andrews developing key legislative strategies for health care, budget and social issues. She holds a BA in history and political science from the University of Houston. She resides in Washington, DC, with her husband and four children.

Isabel Jasinowski

Isabel Jasinowski, Vice President of Government Relations and a Corporate Officer of Goodyear, joined the company in 1981 and has since served as the company's Senior Registered Lobbyist and Director of Federal Legislative Affairs. Having started her career as Director of Local Issues for Gov. Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, she has more than 25 years of experience in government relations and Capitol Hill. She holds a BA from Barnard College and a MA from Columbia University.

Theresa Loar

Theresa Loar is Senior Vice President of International Programs at CH2M Hill, a global engineering and consulting firm. During the Clinton Administration, she worked at the highest levels of the US government to promote and protect women's human rights, including executive level diplomatic positions in the White House and the State Department. She served as Director of the President's Interagency Council on Women and Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues. She is also Co-founder and Founding President of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, Tahirih Justice Center Board Member, and Co-Chair of the Corporate Council of the Women & Politics Institute at American University.

Donna Cochran McLarty

Donna Cochran McLarty is an advocate for national and international efforts to support women, children and families. With a strong emphasis on cross-cultural understanding, she encourages international education and supports cultural diplomacy and interfaith dialogue. McLarty is a founding member and board co-chair emeritus of the Vital Voices Global Partnership. She currently serves on the executive committee and as a liaison with the Clinton School of Public Service, where she and her husband have endowed the McLarty Global Fellowship program, which enables students and faculty to work with Vital Voices’ projects. A former trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and a creator of the AmericArtes Festival, she continues to serve on their International Committee. She also serves on the Blair House Board of Trustees, the World Conference of Religions for Peace, the Meridian Council on Women’s Leadership, the Women’s Forum of Conservation International, and co-chairs the Global Initiatives Council at Wesley Theological Seminary.

Tracey McMinn

Tracey McMinn, Director of International Government Relations at Shell, began her career in Washington, DC, with Pennzoil Company and then the US Department of Energy. After 9 years, she relocated to France with the International Energy Agency, and then to Australia as Government Relations Manager for Shell. In 2003, she returned to the US with Shell, first in Houston and now in Washington. McMinn has a BA from Cornell University in International Relations, and an MA from The American University's School of International Service.

Diana Villiers Negroponte

Diana Villiers Negroponte is currently a non-resident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, specializing in security, trade, and education issues in Latin America with particular focus on Mexico. She has taught at Georgetown University and Fordham University, practiced international trade law with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, and written a book on El Salvador's peace process. She is a board member of Freedom House, Opportunity International and the Global Leadership Council of Habitat for Humanity International. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Ponchitta Pierce

Ponchitta Pierce is a journalist with extensive experience as a television host, producer and magazine writer. She worked at CBS Television, WNBC-TV New York and hosted programs for WNET Channel 13 (PBS). In addition to her work in television, Pierce writes on subjects ranging from politics and health to finance and social policy. She has served as a Contributing Editor for Parade magazine and McCall's magazine and Roving Editor for Reader's Digest and has written for many national publications including AARP The Magazine (Modern Maturity); Family Circle, More, Newsday, and Ladies Home Journal. Several of her interviews appear in My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience (AARP/Sterling Publishing), a book that presents eyewitness accounts from people who played pivotal roles in the civil rights movement. She serves on the boards of several nonprofits and the Foreign Policy Association, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mary Catherine Toker

Mary Catherine Toker is Vice President of Government Relations for General Mills. In this capacity, she leads the company’s government relations initiatives and provides strategic leadership on a broad range of public policy issues around the world. Toker joined General Mills in 1988 having served on the legislative staff of Senator George J. Mitchell (D-Maine). She currently serves as the Chair of the International Committee of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. She is also an appointee to the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade, which provides recommendations to the US Trade Representative on a wide range of agricultural trade policy issues. Toker also serves on the Boards of Directors of the Congressional Hunger Center and the Public Affairs Council.

Patricia Ellis, Ex-Officio

Patricia Ellis, President and Co-Founder of the Women's Foreign Policy Group, previously covered foreign affairs for the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, was a fellow at Harvard's Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, and taught at American University, specializing in foreign affairs news coverage. She is a founding member of the International Women's Media Foundation and member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She frequently moderates programs and speaks on the media and foreign policy, and international affairs careers.