Connie Veillette was the Director of the Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Program at the Center for Global Development. Prior to coming to CGD, she served as a Senior Professional Staff Member for Senator Lugar (R-Ind) on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until August 2010. Her portfolio included oversight of foreign assistance and USAID, and aid reform issues. Previously, she was a Specialist in Foreign Assistance at the Congressional Research Service, where she researched foreign aid issues and advised Congress on policy options. She began her public service working for a Member of the House Appropriations Committee in a variety of capacities, the last 10 years as Chief of Staff. She is an adjunct professor at George Washington University where she has taught courses on International Relations, Legislative Politics, and Congress and Foreign Policy. She is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School Program for Senior Government Managers, and the Stennis Center Congressional Staff Fellows Program. In 1999, the Federal Republic of Germany awarded her the Verdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit). She hails from Ohio, is a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan, and currently lives in northern Virginia with her husband and son.
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