Ambassador Sarah E. Mendelson served as the US Representative to the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations until January 20, 2017. Confirmed by the Senate in October 2015, she was the USUN lead on development, human rights, and humanitarian affairs. There she oversaw campaigns for country-specific resolutions and to get NGOs accredited to the UN. She led efforts to combat human trafficking and was senior lead for the President's Summit on Refugees. Prior to her appointment as Ambassador, she served as a Deputy Assistant Administrator at USAID from 2010-2014 where she was the Agency lead on democracy, human rights, and governance.
A long time policy entrepreneur, she has spent over two decades working on development and human rights including in Moscow with the National Democratic Institute, at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and as senior adviser and inaugural director of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. There she also worked as a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program overseeing focus groups, public opinion surveys, and social marketing campaigns in Russia. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and author of over 70 scholarly and public policy publications, Ambassador Mendelson received her BA in History from Yale University and her PhD in political science from Columbia University. Sarah Mendelson joined the Heinz College Faculty in Spring 2018 as a Distinguished Service Professor of Public Policy and Head of Heinz College In Washington, DC.
