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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ambassador Catherine M. Russell, Co-Chair Ambassador Catherine M. Russell served as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues from August 2013 to January 2017. In this position, Russell led the State Department's efforts to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls around the world. Prior to assuming this position, she served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Second Lady Jill Biden focusing on military families and higher education. During her tenure at the White House, Russell coordinated the development of the Administration's strategy to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally. Russell previously served as a Senior Advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on international women's issues. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Associate Deputy Attorney General. Russell also served as Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senior Counsel to Senator Patrick Leahy. She received a BA in Philosophy from Boston College and a JD from George Washington University. @AmbCathyRussell
Lois Romano, Co-Chair Lois Romano has had a distinguished career as a political journalist at The Washington Post, Newsweek and POLITICO. She now serves as a strategic advisor at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. Romano was most recently the editor of Washington Post Live, the news organization's editorial events platform. In early 2015, she returned to the Post where she had a long career as a political correspondent and profile writer. Previously, she was a senior political reporter and the first editorial director of POLITICO events. She had been instrumental in shaping live editorial programming and content for the organization's dozens of issue-driven events. During her first career at the Post, she covered seven presidential races, served as a columnist, and was a regional correspondent based in Tulsa. Romano serves on the board and on executive committee of the International Women's Research Center. She holds a Masters degree in international relations from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. @loisromano
Theresa Loar, Vice Chair Theresa Loar has been working at the nexus of business, human rights and diplomacy for over thirty years. Most recently, she was Senior Vice President for Global Corporate Affairs at CH2M, a Fortune 500 engineering firm where she worked with governments around the world on the political issues related to major infrastructure programs. She has particular expertise in multi stakeholder initiatives to combat modern slavery in supply chains. During the Clinton Administration, Ms. Loar worked at the highest levels of the US government to promote and protect women’s human rights, supporting the commitment of First Lady Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to put the advancement of women at the center of US foreign policy. She was also a co-founder and founding President of the Vital Voices Global Partnership and a Foreign Service Officer with postings overseas and in Washington, DC. @TheresaLoar
Anita Botti, Treasurer Anita Botti, a consultant, previously served as chief of staff in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues. Before that, Botti served as a legislative liaison officer in the Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs and as the first congressional coordinator for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs and for the Under Secretary for Economic and Business and Agricultural Affairs. In 1997, Botti was seconded to the President’s Interagency Council on Women and served as chair of the US Interagency Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings. Botti worked closely with Congress to gain bipartisan support for, and ultimate passage of, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. Botti also represented the US in domestic and international fora dealing with trafficking and other global issues affecting women. Previously, Botti was as director of the US Refugee Reception and Placement Program (1992-1997). She began her career serving with the Peace Corps, both overseas and in the US.
Allison Ford, Secretary  Allison Ford is a manager of international government relations for United Technologies, a high-tech aerospace and building systems manufacturer with over 240,000 employees around the world. In her role, Ford monitors and analyzes developments in global policies that impact UTC’s business and international operations. She is responsible for engaging with embassies, NGOs, and foreign and US government officials to advocate on behalf of UTC’s international interests. Prior to working for UTC, Ford was a policy practice coordinator for Van Ness Feldman, an environmental and energy law firm with offices in Georgetown and Seattle. Ford graduated from Gonzaga University in 2004 with a BA in History and was a member of the UTC Employee Scholar Program where she received her Master of Public Administration degree in 2014 from George Mason University. @araeraeford
Mary Brady 
Mary Brady oversees The Economic Club of Washington, DC, a premier forum for speakers, with a membership roster of senior executives representing over 800 businesses with offices in the Washington Metropolitan region. Since its founding in 1986, the Club has served as a global forum for the world’s government and international business luminaries who share insights about the critical issues of the day. Since 2008, Brady has directed the Club's scholarship program with annual giving of more than $1m each year. She is a 2014 winner of the Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business Award, and a member of the Board of the Girl Scouts of the Nation's Capital, and the Women's Foreign Policy Group.
Elisabeth Bumiller  Elisabeth Bumiller is Washington Bureau Chief of The New York Times. Previously she was The Times' Washington Editor and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief. Before that she covered the Pentagon, the White House, John McCain's 2008 campaign and New York's City Hall for The Times. She also worked for The Washington Post in Washington, New Delhi, Tokyo and New York. In 2006 and 2007, Bumiller was a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund. She has published three books, the most recent of which was Condoleezza Rice: An American Life. @BumillerNYT
Dawn Calabia Dawn Calabia is a consultant who works on issues of statelessness, aid to displaced populations, resettlement, and asylum. She served ten years in the UN as deputy director for the United Nations Information Center Washington office and as senior external relations officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Calabia was also director of refugee policy and development at the US Catholic Conference and has worked on the Hill. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a founder and commissioner of the Women’s Refugee Commission. In 1996, she was honored at the White House for her work with refugee women and children.
Jennifer Clinton Jennifer Clinton has devoted her career to the fields of international education and business and recently joined Cultural Vistas as their president and CEO. Previously, as president of Global Ties US, she has worked to help strengthen the reach and capacity of member organizations, particularly in board governance, partnership and resource development, and strategic communications. She has also led a comprehensive effort to raise awareness in Congress and the public about the importance of public and citizen diplomacy. Previously, Clinton served as executive vice president of The Washington Center, special assistant to the president of OPIC, manager of international marketing for the Telecommunications Industry Association, and program manager for the STS Foundation, an international academic high school exchange program. Clinton holds an executive MBA from the UMD, a PhD from the UC Davis, BA from Marquette University. @CDJClinton
Gloria Story Dittus Gloria Story Dittus, chairman of Story Partners, is a trusted communications strategist to CEOs, business executives, Congress, and Administration officials. She built three successful companies working with leading companies including Shell, HSBC, Home Depot, Exxon, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, General Motors, Airbus, Southern Company, Noble Energy, British Telecom and Clear Channel. Wired Magazine called her the nation’s first “technology Public Affairs maven.” She has been awarded multiple Silver Anvils and recognized as Public Affairs Executive of the Year. She serves on numerous boards, including Ford’s Theater, the Arthur Page Society, the Public Affairs Council, and the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF). An active mentor, she works with emerging global leaders. Dittus splits her time between Washington and Aspen where she is actively involved with the Aspen Institute. A native of Augusta, Georgia, she is a passionate golfer and world traveler. @GloriaDittus
Laura Cox Kaplan Laura Cox Kaplan is the creator and host of the “She Said/She Said” podcast, and an adjunct professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University. She has more than two decades of experience in communications, corporate governance, stakeholder engagement, and public policy strategy. Kaplan spent almost 12 years as the Partner-in-Change of Government, Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and a decade on the firm’s executive management team. She also served in senior positions at the SEC, the Treasury Department, and on Capitol Hill. She serves as a corporate director at CoStar Group and The Hunt Companies, Board co-chair of Running Start, and on the Board of the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M. Kaplan holds a MA from American University and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin. @LauraCoxKaplan
Michele Lynch Michele Lynch served as a member of the Public Policy & Government Affairs team at Google, leading their outreach to the diplomatic community in Washington, DC, and various international organizations until March 2020. Prior to Google, Lynch managed a global technology project at the American Red Cross which explored the use of emerging technology for disaster response and served as Director in the Office of the Chairman of the Board of Governors. She also worked at the British High Commission in Malaysia, USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance and the White House Office of Presidential Advance. Lynch earned a MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London and a BA in International Relations and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. @michmlynch
Shaista Mahmood Shaista Mahmood, originally from Pakistan, has been a leading figure in Washington’s philanthropic, diplomatic, ecumenical and political circles for over twenty years. She has devoted her considerable talents to encourage bipartisan bridge building among cultures and faiths and support for global efforts to promote the empowerment of women and girls. In response to 9/11, Shaista Mahmood and her husband Ray were moved to promote a better understanding of their Muslim faith through dialogue and their discussions have continued and expanded with the active participation from leaders from across the political spectrum. She serves on the International Advisory Board of USIP, the board of the World Affairs Council of Washington, DC and the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. She was instrumental in advocating for the creation of the US Pakistan Women’s Council launched at the UN in 2012.
Ambassador Capricia Penavic Marshall Capricia Penavic Marshall serves as Ambassador-in-Residence at the Atlantic Council. She is also President of Global Engagement Strategies, which advises international public and private clients on the nexus of business and cultural diplomacy. From 2009 to 2013, she was Chief of Protocol of the United States, bearing the rank of Ambassador and setting the stage for diplomacy at the highest levels. She also fostered connections between the foreign Diplomatic Corps and American civil society through the new Diplomatic Partnerships Office. Previously, she served as Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary (1997-2001) and Special Assistant to First Lady Hillary Clinton (1993-1997). She holds a BA from Purdue and a JD from Case Western Reserve. In 2013, she was awarded the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award and the Order of the Cross of Isabel La Católica. She serves on several boards including the Blair House Restoration Fund and Council of American Ambassadors.
Gebe Martinez Gebe Martinez, founder and principal of GM Networking, was a journalist for 33 years for news organizations including the Los Angeles Times, Politico and Congressional Quarterly. She also served as a news analyst for networks including PBS, NPR, and BBC. Martinez entered the issue advocacy arena as a writer and policy analyst for the Center for American Progress. Beginning with the 2012 election season, she has focused her communications work on campaigns to engage the Latino vote. Martinez has provided strategic communications services for groups such as National Immigration Law Center, Mi Familia Vota, and Voto Latino, to promote commonsense immigration reform policies and to advance Hispanic civic engagement including voter registration and voter turnout. She also works with Diane Guerrero, an actress who is a cast member of “Orange Is the New Black” and “Jane the Virgin.” @gebemartinez
Kristi M. Rogers Kristi M. Rogers is an executive and former senior government official with extensive international leadership experience in the public and private sectors. Her strategic advice and counsel are regularly sought on issues relating to risk management and mitigation, security and disaster response, federal government contracting, the role of business in complex and challenging environments, public-private partnerships, and strategic and crisis communications. Rogers is presently the co-founder and managing partner of Principal to Principal. A recovering start-up CEO, Rogers successfully launched two companies with overseas operations. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Qualys Inc. and the Advisory Council for ForgePoint Capital. Rogers was the founder of the Women in National Security group within Business Executives for National Security and serves on their board of directors. She is also the president of the Michigan State Society, a regular speaker at Michigan State and a frequent speaker on business and security issues.
Evan Ryan Evan Ryan, executive vice president of Axios, previously served as assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs (2013-2017) and in the White House as assistant to the Vice President and special assistant to the President for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement (2009-2013). Ryan was a consultant for the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, deputy chair for the governance track of the Clinton Global Initiative, and deputy director of scheduling for First Lady Hillary Clinton and special assistant to the first lady’s chief of staff (1994-2000). Ryan has also worked on numerous political campaigns including Senator Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign, John Kerry for president campaign, and Hillary Clinton’s 2000 senatorial campaign. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds a BA from Boston College and an MIPP from the Johns Hopkins SAIS. @EvanMRyan
Samantha Vinograd Samantha Vinograd is a National Security Analyst at CNN and a Senior Advisor at the Biden Institute. Named a Woman of the Future by Newsweek in 2018, Vinograd began her career in Iraq as the Deputy Attaché for the US Department of the Treasury and subsequently served on President Obama’s National Security Council in several roles including Director for Iraq, Director for International Economics, and Senior Advisor to the National Security Advisor. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2013, where her work focused on building public-private sector partnerships across a broad range of policy and business issues, and later led Global Public Policy at Stripe. Vinograd is deeply engaged in social impact work and serves as an advisor to the US Fund for UNICEF, and was named a David E. Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission and a Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council. @sam_vinograd
Maureen White  Maureen White is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS. She was the senior advisor on humanitarian issues in the Office of the Special Representation to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Department of State (2009-2013). In the Clinton administration, she represented the US at the United Nations Children’s Fund (1997-2001). In addition, she was national finance co-chair of the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign 2008 and served as national finance chair of the Democratic National Committee. Prior to that, she had a career in international economic research in New York, London and Tokyo. She serves on the boards of numerous organizations involved in global issues including the IRC, NDI, the Center for Global Development, International Women’s Health Coalition, and the American Academy in Berlin. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Atlantic Council. She has a BA from Mount Holyoke and an MSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics. @MaureenWhite
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Kim Kahnhauser Freeman Kim Kahnhauser Freeman is the executive director of the Women's Foreign Policy Group, a non-profit organization which promotes women’s leadership and amplifies their voices in international affairs through substantive global issues programming and mentoring. She brings nearly fifteen years of experience in international affairs and non-profit management to the role.
Before assuming this role in September 2017, Kim served as the organization's associate director where she oversaw programming, membership and the WFPG's internship program. Prior to joining the WFPG in 2006, Kim completed a Fulbright teaching fellowship in Tirol, Austria; conducted research on public housing for the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service at Georgetown University; and managed operations for the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. In 2011, she was a fellow in the State Department's Young Turkey/Young America program. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service in International Politics from Georgetown University and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy. She has also studied at the University of Vienna, the Warsaw School of Economics, and the University of Silesia in Cieszyn, Poland. She frequently moderates global issues and career-focused programs for the organization in Washington, DC and New York.Contact: kahnhauser[at]wfpg.org | @KimKFreeman
PRESIDENT EMERITUS
Patricia Ellis Patricia Ellis is President Emeritus and Co-Founder of the Women's Foreign Policy Group. She is also the President and Founder of Ellis Global Issues Forums LLC. In her 22 years leading the WFPG, she developed and moderated programs with high-profile speakers including Secretaries of State, ambassadors, and other foreign affairs experts. She also developed an active internship program and career events for thousands of next generation leaders. Before founding the WFPG, she was a foreign affairs reporter and producer for the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour and a producer in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Washington bureau. Patricia taught at American University’s Washington Semester Program specializing in news coverage of foreign affairs. She also previously conducted research at the US Mission to the UN, and the Center for International Studies at MIT, and was awarded a fellowship at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Patricia was part of the MacNeil-Lehrer team that won the George Peabody Award for the documentary series on South Africa, “Faces of Apartheid” and an Emmy Award for coverage of the Grenada Crisis. She participated in the European Community Visitors Program and received the Netherlands Universities’ Foundation for International Cooperation Scholarship for graduate study in The Hague. She is a founding board member of the International Women’s Media Foundation, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Cosmos Club’s International Affairs Committee. She holds a BA from Wheaton College, an MA in international relations from NYU, and a graduate diploma in international relations from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.
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