Melanne Verveer is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University. She is a founding partner of Seneca Point Global, a worldwide women's strategy firm, and a co-founder of Seneca Women. Melanne Verveer co-authored the book Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose with Kim Azzarelli.
She served as the first United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, nominated by President Barack Obama in February and confirmed by the United States Senate in April 2009. In that role, she directed the Office of Global Women's Issues.
Previously, Verveer served as the Chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, which she co-founded with Hillary Clinton in 2001. Vital Voices is a global NGO that supports emerging female leaders who are advancing economic, political and social progress in their societies.
During the Clinton Administration, Verveer served as Assistant to President Bill Clinton and Chief of Staff to the First Lady Hillary Clinton. Among her duties was overseeing Hillary Clinton's global initiatives on women's rights as human rights.
Prior to serving in the White House, she was executive director of People for the American Way, a progressive advocacy group, where she was involved in the passage of civil rights legislation. Earlier, she was Coordinator for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs for the U.S. Catholic Conference. She served on the staff of US Senator George McGovern and Representative Marcy Kaptur.
She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development. She served as the 2013 Humanitas visiting professor at Cambridge University. In 2008, the President of Ukraine awarded her the Order of Princess Olga. She holds several honorary degrees and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the U.S. Secretary's Distinguished Service Award.
Personal life
Verveer was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. She is married to Philip Verveer, a Washington communications lawyer who served as Ambassador and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. They have three children and two granddaughters.
Public service
Clinton administration
Verveer served as Deputy Assistant to President Clinton (1993–96) and then as Assistant to President Clinton (1997–2000). (See: Executive Office of the President of the United States) As a member of the White House Senior Staff, she provided advice and implemented a wide range of substantive policies, including judicial selection and legal services, arts policies, healthcare, and women's issues. She was instrumental in the adoption of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and led the effort to establish the President's Interagency Council on Women.
First, as Deputy Chief of Staff (1993–1996) and then as Chief of Staff to the First Lady (1997 2000), she served as Mrs. Clinton's chief assistant for her international activities. (See: Office of the First Lady of the United States) These included overseeing her global initiatives on women's rights as human rights, democracy-building micro-enterprise, girls' education, and other development programs. She organized the first lady's foreign trips to over 70 countries. She helped to create the US government's Vital Voices Democracy Initiative to promote women's economic and political progress. The initiative grew out of the US response to the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing in 1995. It was in Beijing that Hillary Clinton made her historic Women's Rights Are Human Rights speech." Verveer was responsible for much of the planning for the US participation in the Beijing conference.
In her White House memoirs, Clinton notes, "A true policy wonk who loves the complexities and nuances of issues, Melanne had worked for years on Capitol Hill and in the advocacy world. I used to joke there wasn't a single person in Washington she didn't know. Not only was she a legend in the nation's capital; but so was her Rolodex. … There is no way to catalog the many projects that Melanne masterminded. … She also became a key player on the president's team, advocating for policies affecting women, human rights, legal services and the arts."