Hon. Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley
Amid these roles, she expanded our counterterrorism partners and programs and coordinated the largest evacuation of American citizens from a war zone since WWII. Earlier in her career she participated in election monitoring in the Gaza strip and actively supported gender equality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the first woman to lead a diplomatic mission there. She has served as Chairwoman for Middle East Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute, has held senior positions at the Defense Department and at the National Security Council focused on the Middle East, and was a Presidential Management Fellow with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Prior to her most recent senior appointment as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the U.S. Department of State, Ambassador Abercrombie-Winstanley was a member of the Middle East Policy Council’s Board of Directors. She has degrees from The George Washington University and The Johns Hopkins University.
Jasmine Zaki
She assisted clients with structuring commercial contracts, distribution agreements, and services agreements and provides legal advice related to public international law, banking, policy, and political risk, economic development, and investment. In addition, she advised clients on entering emerging markets in post-conflict countries and countries in transition in the Middle East and Africa, with an emphasis on negotiating political, regulatory, and formation matters. She has advised clients seeking investments in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and Middle Eastern and North African nations, including Syria, Iraq and Libya; numerous US- and UK-based companies on market entry, establishment and compliance in Iraq and the Kurdistan region, with political and risk analyses; and sovereign governments in public international law, policy, banking, investment, and transactional matters. Jasmine serves on the board of SEED for Change as the Kurdistan Board Member, is a media contributor on current events in the Middle East, and serves on the Iraqi Business Council. She holds a JD from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and a BA from University of Memphis (cum laude). Prior to attending law school, Jasmine worked at the United Nations as the Press Officer for the UN Mission to Iraq. She is fluent in English and Arabic.
Bassima Alghussein
Ms. Alghussein is a Truman National Security Project Political Expert, a Board Member of Women of Color Advancing Peace & Security (WCAPS) and a member of the Meridian International Center Young Global Leaders Council. She frequently appears on international news outlets to discuss foreign and domestic policy issues. Ms Alghussein earned her master's degree from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service in Security Studies and her bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College in International Relations.
