Professional Development Series

How can you job hunt and network from your living room? Join us for a virtual conversation with international affairs and human resources professionals on preparing for video interviews, informational interviews and how to tailor your job search. While open to everyone, this discussion is designed for recent graduates and young professionals.

Clarissa Balatan, Senior Human Resources Manager at World Resources Institute, has over 13 years of human resources and leadership experiences with the National Labor Relations Board, Owens Corning, and Lockheed Martin. She has held roles of increasing responsibility supporting talent management, diversity and inclusion, compensation, talent acquisition, HR information systems, workforce strategy, and labor relations. Clarissa holds a BA in human resources management from Michigan State University, and MBA and MS degrees in finance from Indiana University. She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and recently completed Georgetown’s Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate program. She speaks Mandarin and Spanish and volunteers at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC.

Alyssa Best is an independent career coach and a part-time career advisor at American University. She opened her practice in 2009 to support non-profit professionals. Since then, she has expanded her focus to serve clients undergoing career transitions in diverse industries and sectors, including foreign policy. At AU, she advises students and alumni and offers guidance on resume writing and interviewing. Previously, Alyssa worked in non-profit program management and advocacy at The OpEd Project, Wider Opportunities for Women, Center for Progressive Leadership, and Rutgers Institute for Women's Leadership. She is passionate about helping individuals identify their dream careers and providing them with the tools to achieve their goals. She has a certificate in personal development coaching and an MA in Women’s and Gender Studies from Rutgers.

Nadia Crevecoeur is a Government & Public Services Analyst at Deloitte Consulting. She currently supports USAID’s Workforce Transformation project, and consults pro-bono for non-profits in the DC area. Previously, Nadia served as the Senior Program Assistant at Women In International Security (WIIS), worked in the special victim's unit of the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office, and researched measuring UN peacekeeping success with the Global Governance Institute in Brussels. Nadia received a BA from the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs with a concentration in Conflict Resolution.

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. Since joining the WFPG team in 2006, she has held roles of increasing responsibility supporting the organization’s global issues programs, membership outreach, mentoring initiatives, and strategic development. Previously, Kim was a Fulbright teaching fellow in Tirol, Austria, and researched public housing for the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service in DC. Kim was a 2011 State Department Young Turkey/Young America Fellow, and holds a BS in International Politics from Georgetown and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy.

Our third webinar event entitled Federal Service: Navigating applications and landing your first job will be held on July 16th. There will be a panel from 1:00 - 1:45 PM EDT followed by breakout sessions from 1:45 - 2:15 PM EDT. What does a career in federal international affairs look like and what does the application process entail? Learn about different pathways to government service, how to decipher usajob.gov, and what opportunities exist both in Washington and overseas in a variety of government agencies.

This event is co-sponsored with Women's Foreign Policy Group (WFPG) and the Robertson Foundation for Government. Registration is free for WIIS and WFPG members. WIIS members can access the code for free registration on the member homepage. If you have any questions, please contact info@wiisglobal.org.

Jennifer Hawkins is a Senior Women, Peace, and Security Advisor in USAID's Bureau of Conflict, Prevention, and Stabilization (CPS). She joined USAID in 2014 as a Democracy Fellow. Prior to joining USAID, Jennifer served as a Gender and Policy Advisor at the State Department's Bureau of Conflict Stabilization Operations, where she led the implementation of the Bureau's Gender Policy and the National Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. In 2013, she served as the first US secondee to Justice Rapid Response, an intergovernmental organization in Geneva, where she worked to increase multilateral diplomacy on atrocity prevention and develop a global "rapid response" capacity within Rule of Law and Sexual Gender-Based Violence. During her five years at the State Department, she also served in the Bureau of West African Affairs as Desk Officer for Burkina Faso and Niger, and as the Special Assistant in the Bureau of African Affairs. Jennifer holds a BS from Syracuse and a MSW, with a concentration in children and policy, from Howard, and is currently a Doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California.

Erin McGown joined the Department of Justice in March as a Program Analyst on the Africa team in the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training (OPDAT). Before joining DoJ, Erin served in the Peace Corps in the Republic of Georgia, where she advised a small NGO focused on local democracy development; authored, implemented, and closed out a Let Girls Learn grant for a Peace Corps-led camp for youth; and designed and implemented trainings related to gender equality. Erin also served as a Communications and Outreach Program Specialist at USAID, which she joined as an intern. She also interned at the Department of State's Office of UN Political Affairs, the German Marshall Fund and the Women's Foreign Policy Group. Prior to moving to DC, she worked for the City of Boise Mayor’s Office and South Sound YMCA in Olympia, Washington. Erin holds a Masters in International Affairs at the George Washington University’s Elliott School and a BA from the University of Idaho in International Studies and German.

Lindsay Rodman is Executive Director of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS). She began her career as an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP. Lindsay then joined the Marine Corps and served as a judge advocate for eight years, including deployment to Afghanistan, serving as Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as a White House Fellow at the National Security Council. After transitioning into the Reserves, Lindsay was a political appointee in the Pentagon, serving first as the Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness and then as the Senior Advisor, International Humanitarian Policy in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Prior to joining LCWINS, Lindsay was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Canada and worked at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Lindsay remains an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the Kennedy School, and Duke.

Sharon Swabb is a Career Coach at George Washington University’s Elliott School, where she manages GW's mentorship program with USIP and the Elliott School's graduate-level, cross-cultural exchange program with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to arriving at GW, Sharon served as an Associate Director in the White House Presidential Personnel Office, where she contributed to the recruitment, placement, and retention of political appointees at national security agencies. Previously, she was a Press Assistant in the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. Before her work in the Federal Government, she was a research fellow at GovLoop, served as a program assistant for the DC semester programs of the University of Georgia and NYU, was a volunteer staff member for Young Professionals in Foreign Policy. Sharon is a member of the Robertson Foundation for Government. She holds a BA in International Affairs and Spanish from the University of Georgia and a Master’s in Pacific International Affairs from UC San Diego.

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. Since joining the WFPG team in 2006, she has held roles of increasing responsibility supporting the organization’s global issues programs, membership outreach, mentoring initiatives, and strategic development. Previously, Kim was a Fulbright teaching fellow in Tirol, Austria, and researched public housing for the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service in DC. Kim was a 2011 State Department Young Turkey/Young America Fellow, and holds a BS in International Politics from Georgetown and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy.

Thinking about switching sectors or finding a new career path? What should you consider before you jump? How do you leverage your connections and network to find your next position? Join us for a conversation on mid-career transitions and advancing your career in international affairs.

This event is co-sponsored with Women's Foreign Policy Group (WFPG) and the Robertson Foundation for Government. Registration is free for WIIS and WFPG members. If you have any questions, please contact info@wiisglobal.org.

Monday, August 10th, 2020 | 1 to 2:15 PM EDT
Panel Discussion: 1:00 to 1:45 PM EDT
Breakout Sessions: 1:45 to 2:15 PM EDT

Barrie Freeman is the deputy and political director of the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office. Prior to her appointment in 2018, she served as the Chief of Staff for the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), and before that as the Mission's Political Affairs Director. Before joining the UN, she managed democracy and governance programs at NDI, first in Central and West Africa and then later in North Africa in the wake of the Arab Spring. Freeman spent 15 years with the State Department, working in Tunisia, Morocco, Lesotho, and Nigeria. In Washington, she served in the Office of the Inspector General and in the Office of African Analysis as the chief political analyst for Nigeria and other West African countries. While at the State Department, she earned the Department's Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, as well as a Distinguished Analyst Award.

Reta Jo Lewis is a Senior Fellow and Director of Congressional Affairs at The German Marshall Fund. She joined GMF in 2015, as a Senior Resident Fellow with the Transatlantic Leadership Initiative Program. During the Obama Administration, she served as the State Department’s first Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs, where she focused on building peer-to-peer relationships between the Department, state and local officials, and their foreign counterpart, and was awarded the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award for her work. Previously, she was the Director of Business Outreach for the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. Earlier in her career, she served as the Vice President and Counselor to the President at the US Chamber of Commerce, Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, Of Counsel at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, and as a Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton. In 2014, Lewis ran for mayor of DC. She began her career as a Presidential Management Fellow.

Wanida Lewis has directed programs and strategic partnerships for Environment360 in Accra, Ghana. Previously, she was a senior economic evaluation program analyst at the Department of State's Office of Global Women's Issues. Lewis completed a fellowship as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow working in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. During her fellowship, she founded Young, Gifted, & Brown, LLC, a pipeline program supporting young Ghanaian women and entrepreneurs in STEM. Lewis was named by New America as one of the thirty-five "Black American National Security in 2018, and Foreign Policy Next Generation Leaders" and is a 2019 Young Professionals in Foreign Policy "Gender Issues in Foreign Policy Fellow."

Wenchi Yu is the Head of Global Public Policy at VIPKid, an education technology platform company. In this role, she launched the social impact initiative and VIPTeach.org, a non-profit seed funded and incubated by VIPKid to promote equitable access to education through technology. She is a Nonresident Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and a life member of Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to VIPKid, Yu was the Head of Corporate Engagement for Goldman Sachs in Asia, where she led strategic philanthropy for stakeholder engagement and social impact in Asia. Before joining the private sector, she was a senior advisor on global women’s issues at the Department of State, and conducted research on rule of law and civil society development for the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. She began her career working for various nonprofit organizations on women’s rights, human trafficking, and immigrant issues.

Chantal de Jonge Oudraat has served as President of Women In International Security (WIIS) since February 2013. Prior to joining WIIS, she was the founding and executive director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) North America. Her previous positions include senior advisor to the US Institute of Peace Center for Gender and Peacebuilding; associate vice president and director of the USIP Jennings Randolph Fellowship Program; adjunct associate professor at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service; and senior fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Her areas of specialization include women, peace and security, international organizations, arms control and disarmament, and peacekeeping. She did her undergraduate studies at the University of Amsterdam and received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Paris II (Panthéon).

Join us for our next Professional Development Series event: Mindful Connections and Virtual Communication. This online event will be held on September 30th, 1:00-2:00 pm ET.

What makes for a compelling and engaging virtual presentation? How can you use your screen time effectively and develop meaningful professional relationships through remote interaction? Join us for a conversation with communications expert Scott Morgan on the do’s and don’t of giving virtual presentations and leading meetings.

Scott Morgan has been teaching leadership and communication skills for over 30 years. His clients include scientists, policy makers, graduate students and global corporations. Scott also teaches media and communication strategy to many think tanks and research organizations around the world. He is a Senior Associate at the Leadership Academy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), graduated with honors from the University of California Davis, and holds a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University. He authored the book Speaking about Science published by Cambridge University Press (2006) and launched a mindfulness app for young adults called 3rdi in 2014. www.MorganGp.com

This event is free to WIIS and WFPG members and $10 for non-members. WIIS members can access the on the member homepage.

Are the stresses of today's reality affecting your professional life? Join us for a conversation with the creator of Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training, Elizabeth Stanley. Learn how to use mindfulness skills that you can apply to your daily life and at work in order to build resilience. CARE USA Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives & Development Beth Solomon and Co-President of the NY Chapter of WIIS Min Kyriannis will also give brief opening and closing comments.

Panelist:

Elizabeth A. Stanley, PhD, is an associate professor of security studies at Georgetown University. She is the award-winning author of two books, Paths to Peace and Widen the Window: Training Your Brain and Body to Thrive during Stress and Recover from Trauma. She is also the co-editor (with Risa Brooks) of Creating Military Power. She speaks, teaches, and writes about resilience, decision-making, political psychology, civil-military relations, technology and innovation, and international security.

She’s the creator of Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT)®, which has been taught to many thousands in civilian and military high-stress environments. She has collaborated with neuroscientists and stress physiologists to test the efficacy of MMFT® in four studies with U.S. troops preparing for combat deployment. This peer-reviewed scientific research has been featured on 60 Minutes, ABC Evening News, and NPR, as well as in Time magazine and many other media outlets.

Earlier in her career, she served as a U.S. Army intelligence officer in South Korea, Germany, and on two peacekeeping deployments in the Balkans. She has served on several advisory boards, including the National Security Advisory Board of Sandia National Laboratories, the U.S. Army Science Board, the Advisory Board for the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, and the executive board of Women in International Security. She holds degrees from Yale, Harvard, and MIT. She’s also a certified practitioner of Somatic Experiencing, a body-based trauma therapy. (www.elizabeth-stanley.com)

Remarks:

Min Kyriannis has 25+ years in converged, global, information technology, cybersecurity, physical security, as well as risk management across the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia. She has been cited in many professional publications and is widely recognized as a leader in the Security Technology industry. She currently serves as the cybersecurity and business development lead at Jaros, Baum & Bolles where she focuses on promoting cybersecurity, physical security, and technology as an integral part of all building technology systems. She currently serves as Chair of SIA’s Cybersecurity Advisory Board and Vice-Chair of SIA’s New Product Showcase Committee, the Advisory Board for SecuritySpecifiers, as well as Co-President of Women In International Security – NY Chapter.

Beth Solomon serves as Managing Director of External Affairs and Development for CARE USA, a global humanitarian and development organization dedicated to defeating poverty and fighting for women and girls. Before joining CARE, she worked on the staff of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, as Vice President of the Government Practice of US Bank Global Corporate Trust, and spearheaded strategic initiatives at the International Franchise Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. Beth began her career as a reporter for the Voice of America, based in Nairobi, Kenya. She reported for ABC News and Radio France International on the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first free elections in post-Soviet East Europe. She holds a BA from Yale and pursued graduate studies in the National Security Studies at Georgetown.

WIIS Members can access the event recording and key takeaways here. 

Exploring The Field: International Affairs Research

Monday, February 08, 2021, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST

What does it mean to pursue a career as a researcher at a think tank, in academia, or in the field--and what do scholars really do? How does research intersect with policy formation? How has the field evolved with the explosion of data and the development of new technologies? Join us for a conversation with international affairs scholars to gain insight into the field, how to get started, and the different career paths and opportunities available.

WIIS Members can access the event recording and key takeaways here. 

Moderator:

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. Since joining the WFPG team in 2006, she has held roles of increasing responsibility supporting the organization’s global issues programs, membership outreach, mentoring initiatives, and strategic development. Previously, Kim was a Fulbright teaching fellow in Tirol, Austria, and researched public housing for the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service in DC. Kim was a 2011 State Department Young Turkey/Young America Fellow, and holds a BS in International Politics from Georgetown and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy.

Panelists: 

Chantal de Jonge Oudraat has served as President of Women In International Security (WIIS) since February 2013. Prior to joining WIIS, she was the founding and executive director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) North America. Her previous positions include senior advisor to the US Institute of Peace Center for Gender and Peacebuilding; associate vice president and director of the USIP Jennings Randolph Fellowship Program; adjunct associate professor at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service; and senior fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Her areas of specialization include women, peace and security, international organizations, arms control and disarmament, and peacekeeping. She did her undergraduate studies at the University of Amsterdam and received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Paris II (Panthéon).

Michele Dunne is the director and a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on political and economic change in Arab countries, particularly Egypt, as well as US policy in the Middle East. She was the founding director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council from 2011 to 2013 and was a senior associate and editor of the Arab Reform Bulletin at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 2006 to 2011. Previously, Dunne was a Middle East specialist at the State Department, where she served in assignments that included the National Security Council, the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff, the US embassy in Cairo, the US consulate general in Jerusalem, and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. She also served as a visiting professor of Arabic language and Arab studies at Georgetown.  

Elizabeth Hedge is a Research Associate at the Global Women’s Institute, directly supporting the Empowered Aid Research Project. Prior to joining the GWI, Elizabeth was the Policy & Resource Mobilization Specialist in UN Women's DC Liaison Office, where she supported advocacy, outreach, and partnership building with the government and DC foreign policy community. She also served as Gender Specialist for the Program on Gender Equality in International Affairs at GWU’s Elliott School, where she worked to mainstream gender in curriculum, research, events, and career guidance. She has taken part in multiple research and policy efforts on violence against women and girls in humanitarian settings and the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. She holds an MA in International Affairs with concentrations in Global Gender Policy & Conflict from GWU’s Elliott School, and a BA from Loyola Marymount University.  

Rui Zhong is the Program Associate for the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center. She holds an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a BA in International Studies from Emory University. She has completed coursework at Peking University and earned a graduate certificate at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in China. At the Kissinger Institute, she manages Mapping China’s Cultural Genome, a curated project that collects top-level speeches and commentary on China’s global cultural ambitions. Her research interests include China’s role in the East Asian Political Economy and how nationalist interests can impact business, technology and cultural policies. Rui's writing has appeared in publications including Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, and Chinafile.

What role does the Hill play in shaping US foreign policy and what opportunities are available? How does working for a member differ from staffing a committee? Join us for a conversation to gain a better understanding of what staffers do, what types of jobs are available, and how to get your foot in the door.

Register here. 

This event is free for WIIS Members. WIIS Members can access the code for free registration on the member homepage. 

Ms. Chidi Blyden is a socio-cultural advisor on Africa’s conflicts, security and development issues. She currently serves as a Professional Staff Member for the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Policy Team, advising on Africa and South America’s defense equities for the 117th U.S. Congress. Prior to joining the HASC, she led the Africa Program at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) and was responsible for implementing the Africa portfolio as its first Director for Africa. In this capacity Ms. Blyden designed and implemented a pilot program focused on culturally specific training for the Nigerian Armed Forces on practices to minimize harm to civilians during the height of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Prior to CIVIC, Ms. Blyden served in the Obama Administration as the Special Assistant and Regional Director to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense for African Affairs in the Office of Secretary for Defense for Policy (OSDP) from 2013- 2017. During her tenure she managed several functional and regional responsibilities including U.S.- Africa defense policy for East and Central Africa and as the Africa Peacekeeping Advisor to the office of Stability and Humanitarian Affairs. In addition, she managed complex emergencies in the Central African Republic and South Sudan as well as provided invaluable expertise to the interagency protecting defense equities. As lead expert on the President’s Africa Peacekeeping Rapid Response Partnership, Ms. Blyden was instrumental in the planning and execution of travel by the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy to South Sudan. The visit ultimately resulted in new opportunities for support to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan which were announced at the 2016 UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial in London.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Blyden worked at the National Defense University: Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) from 2007-2012 as the Academic Operations Coordinator, leading the business and administrative operations of the Academic Dean’s Office and as the Senior Academic Research Associate. There she contributed to academic material and curriculum for over 30 programs on counterterrorism, defense economics, conflict management, security studies and civil-military relations for Africa’s security sector professionals. She received awards for her time in public service including the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service. Ms. Blyden is an adjunct at Georgetown University, where she teaches a graduate course on Africa Security Studies and Policy in the Security Studies Program. She is a Political Partner (2015) and Co-lead of the Africa Expert Group for the Truman National Security Project and serves on the Leadership Council for Memunatu Magazine, a magazine for young African girls. She is also the founder of the USG-Africa Diaspora Security Professionals Group (LinkedIn) for African-American USG Security Professionals, a member of Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS) and the Diversity in National Security Network (DINSN).

She is an alumna of Texas A&M University (BSc, Sociology), and the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University (MSc, Conflict, Analysis and Resolution). She also attended the Annie Walsh Memorial School for Girls in Freetown, Sierra Leone.Ms. Blyden speaks French and Krio and her interests include global education, women peace and security, and the  physical sciences. Ms. Blyden’s interests in U.S.- Africa defense and security issues were greatly influenced by her time as a teenager in Sierra Leone at the height of the country’s civil war and presidential elections. She is passionate about security challenges in Africa which she seeks to improve through her work in the US government.

Katherine Earle is a Professional Staff Member on the Republican staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee where she focuses on Europe, Russia and NATO. She is currently working on ensuring the robust implementation of the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act of 2020 to support the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people and the Protecting Europe's Energy Security Act, as am

ended to prevent the competition of the Russian malign Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Previously, she was a Nuclear Security Fellow in the office of Senator John Hoeven (R-ND). Before working on the Hill, Katherine served as the Senior Program Manager in the Foreign and Defense Policy Studies Department at the AEI. Prior to that, Katherine was a research associate for AEI’s Director of Russian Studies. She holds a MA in Security Studies from Georgetown and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with a focus on Russia and Eastern Europe from Middlebury.

Katarina O'Regan is an Analyst in Foreign Policy and Presidential Management Fellow at the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which provides policy and legal analysis to committees and Members of both the House and Senate, regardless of party affiliation. At CRS, Katarina provides authoritative, confidential, objective and nonpartisan analysis to Congress on topics relating to transnational crime, corruption, and trafficking. Prior to CRS, Katarina worked on international development and human security issues internationally in Tunisia, Bangladesh, Liberia, and Uganda and in Washington, DC at the British Embassy and the National Democratic Institute. She has a MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, where she served as Teaching and Research Assistant to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and a BA in International Studies from Fordham University. In 2019, she co-chaired the Women’s Foreign Policy Group’s Young Professional Network.

Maggie McNamara Cooper is a Professional Staff Member for the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) where her portfolio includes budget and policy issues related to US European Command, NATO, and Russia, US Africa Command, counterterrorism, information operations, and overseas humanitarian, disaster, and civic aid. Prior to joining the SASC staff in August 2010, Ms. McNamara Cooper worked in the personal office of Senator Carl Levin. She received a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in national security studies from the Naval War College.

Meghan Gallagher is a Professional Staff Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee for Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX) handling foreign assistance, sub-Saharan Africa policy, global women’s issues, UN peacekeeping, and conservation/wildlife trafficking and previously handled sub-Saharan Africa and conservation for Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA). Prior to this position, she worked for Senator Jeff Flake, assisting with foreign policy, defense, and international trade issues. Meghan also spent time in South Africa on a USAID Research and Innovations fellowship and in Uganda working with the Pulte Institute for Global Development. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in Political Science and International Development Studies and was born and raised in Napa, California.

Kim Kahnhauser Freeman (Moderator) 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. Since joining the WFPG team in 2006, she has held roles of increasing responsibility supporting the organization’s global issues programs, membership outreach, mentoring initiatives, and strategic development. Previously, Kim was a Fulbright teaching fellow in Tirol, Austria, and researched public housing for the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service in DC. Kim was a 2011 State Department Young Turkey/Young America Fellow, and holds a BS in International Politics from Georgetown and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy.