Sarah Sewall

Sarah’s international security career spans government and academia and combines hard security with values and ethics. She has served as Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, responsible for issues ranging from counterterrorism to refugees; a member of the Defense Policy Board under Secretaries Gates and Hagel; the inaugural Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping, and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

Dr. Sewall served on the Harvard Kennedy School faculty for a decade, where she also directed the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, pioneered research on civilian protection in war, and contributed to new operational military doctrine. She has been Minerva Chair at the Naval War College and the Speyer Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. A graduate of Harvard College, she received her doctorate from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.