Executive Director, Qatar Foundation International
As Executive Director of Qatar Foundation International, Maggie champions K-12 Arabic language & Arab culture education and interactions between young people across geographic, cultural and social boundaries. Prior to joining QFI, Maggie was Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), a leading democracy and governance NGO, where she implemented innovative programs in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen. Prior to IFES, Maggie worked as an independent communications consultant to leading U.S., European and Middle Eastern companies, nongovernmental organizations and academic groups. She also served as director of communications and external relations at the Middle East Institute where she developed a five-year strategic media plan and placed more than a dozen op-eds and letters to the editor in American newspapers and magazines, including The Washington Post, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle and The New Yorker. Maggie's career began as a foreign service officer for the U.S. State Department where she served as a special assistant to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and as a staff assistant to Ambassador Martin S. Indyk at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. A Fulbright to Syria in 1990 shaped her understanding of the peoples of the region and shaped her career aspirations. Maggie completed coursework for a master’s degree in contemporary Arab studies at Georgetown University and holds bachelor’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University in political science and psychology