The Middle East Institute announced today that Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin has been named President of MEI, following the retirement of Ambassador Edward S. Walker.

Ambassador Chamberlin will assume her new position on March 1, 2007.

Wendy Chamberlin is currently Deputy High Commissioner for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) where she has spearheaded humanitarian missions during several emergencies, including the crisis in Darfur and South Sudan. Ms Chamberlin was Assistant Administrator in the Asia-Near East Bureau for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2002 to 2004, where she led USAID reconstruction projects in Iraq and pioneered private/public sector partnerships to support Islamic education in the Middle East and East Asia.

“Wendy Chamberlin has a deep respect for the Arab and Muslim world and a commitment to bridge the gap of misunderstandings between our societies”, said Wyche Fowler, Chairman of the Board of Governors. “We are honored and delighted that she has accepted to lead the Middle East Institute at a critical time in US relations with the Middle East.”

Chamberlin was in the US diplomatic service from 1975 to 2004. She served as US Ambassador to Pakistan (2001-2002) and to Laos (1996-1999). Her assignments also included Director of Press and Public Affairs for the Near East Bureau, Director Global Affairs and Counter-Terrorism at the National Security Council, Deputy in the Bureau of International Counter-Narcotics and Law Programs, as well as Deputy Chief of Mission in the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and other postings in Morocco, Pakistan, Malaysia and Zaire.

A graduate of Northwestern University, Chamberlin has a MS in Education from Boston University and also participated in the Executive Program at Harvard University.

MEI Acting President David Mack said, “Ambassador Chamberlin brings a wealth of experience and energy to MEI, having dealt with the Middle East on several levels – as an ambassador working with foreign leaders to supervising aid and reconstruction projects to developing and defending humanitarian relief missions.”