Cyndee Pelt is a seasoned international development professional with over 15 years of experience in policy analysis, strategic planning, donor coordination, foreign assistance budgeting, and program design and management. At the GW Elliott School of International Affairs, she teaches a graduate-level course on Foreign Assistance Analysis. Ms. Pelt currently serves as the Senior Advisor for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) in the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources at U.S. Department of State. In this position, she provides policy recommendations and analysis to senior leadership within the Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to ensure that the U.S. DRG assistance budget of over $2.3 billion is aligned with foreign policy and development objectives.

Ms. Pelt has significant management and policy leadership experience working for non-profits and the U.S. government both overseas and in Washington, D.C. She has significant technical expertise working on foreign assistance programming in the areas of strengthening political processes, supporting good governance, empowering women and girls, mitigating and preventing conflict, building the capacity of civil society organizations, and monitoring elections. She has a Masters in Public Administration with a focus on international development from American University.