Amanda J. Van Dort

Amanda J. Van Dort is a human rights and gender equality expert with over 15 years of experience spanning the U.S. government, nonprofit, multilateral, and academic sectors. She is a 2026 American Democracy and Technology Fellow at the McCain Institute, where her work examines how foreign actors weaponize gendered disinformation to erode democratic trust in the United States. She also serves as a Foreign Policy Fellow at Our Secure Future overseeing research studies on the impact of Women, Peace, and Security National Action Plans; and Senior Director of Policy and Programs at PeacePays.AI where she focuses on advancing inclusive, AI-enabled approaches to conflict prevention and democratic resilience.

Amanda is an Adjunct Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and Adjunct Professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs – where she teaches courses on feminist statecraft, women and global politics, and gender and conflict.

Until 2025, Amanda served as Chief of Staff and Division Chief for Policy, Planning, and Public Diplomacy in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State. In 2021, Amanda played a key role in Operation Allies Welcome, supporting the evacuation and resettlement of over 74,000 Afghan allies. Previously, she served as Policy Team Lead and Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations; and as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Prior to her government service, Amanda was a Harold W. Rosenthal Fellow with the International Organization for Migration in Geneva and Country Director for Emerge Global in Sri Lanka, where she supported adolescent girl survivors of sexual violence. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University’s School of Health Sciences.