Corinne Graff

Corinne Graff is an international affairs scholar and practitioner specializing in conflict prevention, geopolitical risk and public policy accountability. She is a part-time faculty member at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, where she teaches on conflict, promoting good governance and U.S. foreign policy.

From 2017 to 2025, Dr. Graff held senior leadership roles at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), including Chief of Strategy, Chief of Staff, and Senior Advisor. At USIP, she shaped institutional strategy and led initiatives to inform U.S. conflict prevention and stabilization policies and programs, advising the cabinet-level task force that helped inform the Global Fragility Act of 2019.

Previously, she served in the U.S. government as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Director for Development and Democracy at the National Security Council, and Senior Advisor on Africa to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Before entering government, Dr. Graff was a fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she co-edited Confronting Poverty: Weak States and U.S. National Security (Brookings Press, 2010), co-directed research on education and extremism, and developed analytical tools linking economic trends to conflict risk.

She holds a doctorate in international relations from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, and a bachelor’s degree from Smith College.