Toni G. Verstandig

Ms. Verstandig is currently a Senior Policy Advisor at the Center for Middle East Peace & Economic Cooperation and a Senior Policy Advisor to the Aspen Institute Middle East Strategy Group. She also served as an adjunct Professor of International Studies at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and is a Board Member of the Social Science Foundation at the University of Denver.

From November 1994 until January 2001, Ms. Verstandig served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department. In this capacity, she directed and coordinated U.S. bilateral relations and overall policy development concerning Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, as well as U.S. economic and commercial policies in the Middle East.

Ms. Verstandig worked directly with the Secretary of State and the Special Middle East Coordinator, as a member of the Peace Team where she participated in bilateral and multilateral Middle East peace negotiations. She has a particular expertise in economic, civil affairs and water issues. She also chaired the bilateral Committees on Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

Prior to joining the Peace Team, Ms. Verstandig served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, where she coordinated the Bureau’s relations with the congress. In that capacity, she was also responsible for the development and management of U.S. bilateral relations with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen.

She also served for 17 years as senior staff to the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives where she specialized in international terrorism policy, aviation security issues and U.S. military assistance programs.

Ms. Verstandig is a graduate of Boston University and Stephens College, and also holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Seton Hill College. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on The Children’s National Medical Center Board and its Executive Committee, The National Advisory Board for the Catholic Center for the Study of The Holocaust and The Board of Trustees of the American Friends of the Yitzhak Rabin Center. Ms. Verstandig is married, and they have one child.

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