Biography of Donald Steinberg
Deputy Administrator
Donald Steinberg serves as Deputy Administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development. In this capacity, he provides overall direction and management for the principal U.S. development agency and is particularly focused on developments in the Middle East and Africa, reforms under USAID Forward and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, integration and mainstreaming of gender and disabilities into agency programming, and enhanced dialogue with development partners, including civil society, business, foreign donors, international institutions, Congress, and other U.S. government agencies.
Ambassador Steinberg previously served as deputy president for policy at International Crisis Group, where he directed policy, advocacy, and report writing for this nonprofit organization seeking to prevent, contain and resolve deadly conflict. He also served as a Randolph Jennings Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he researched, wrote, and advocated on behalf of the world's 25 million internally displaced persons.
During his nearly 30 years with the U.S. government, he served as Director of the State Department's Joint Policy Council, Deputy White House Press Secretary, National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs, Special Haiti Coordinator, U.S. Ambassador to Angola, and Special Representative of the President for Humanitarian Demining. Other diplomatic postings included officer-in-charge at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, during the period of transition of South Africa from apartheid to non-racial democracy, Mauritius, Brazil, Malaysia and the Central African Republic. His Capitol Hill experience includes as senior advisor for defense and foreign policy to House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and as director of the House Task Force on Trade and Competitiveness.
He holds master's degrees in journalism from Columbia University and political economy from University of Toronto, and a bachelor's degree from Reed College. He has published more than 100 articles on foreign policy, African developments, gender issues, post-conflict reconstruction, children and armed conflict, and disarmament. He served as a board member of the Women's Refugee Commission, senior advisor to the UNIFEM executive director, and advisory committee member of the Institute for Inclusive Security.
His honors include the Presidential Meritorious Honor Award, the Frasure Award for International Peace, the Hunt Award for Women in Policy Formulation, the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship, the State Department Distinguished Service Award, and six State Department Superior Honor Awards.
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