Ambassador Catherine Russell
Ambassador Catherine Russell, JD ‘88, served eight years at the White House and U.S. Department of State where she shaped U.S. foreign policy on gender equality. In the first term, she guided the creation of the first-ever U.S. global strategy on gender-based violence while serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden. In the second term, Ambassador Russell was appointed by President Obama as the U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, and she led the U.S. Department of State in integrating women’s issues into U.S. foreign policy.
During her time as Ambassador, she was responsible for U.S. efforts to advance gender equality and the status of women and girls around the world. She worked with foreign governments, multilateral organizations, and civil society on issues from women’s economic empowerment to adolescent girls’ education to women’s roles in peace and security. Ambassador Russell previously served as the senior advisor on international women’s issues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she drafted the International Violence Against Women Act.
Ambassador Russell served as Associate Deputy Attorney General, as the Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as Senior Counsel to Senator Patrick J. Leahy. Ambassador Russell is currently a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She serves as the board co-chair of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, as a board member of Women for Women International, as a member of the KIVA advisory council, a member of the Sesame Street Global Advisory Group, a member of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, and as a member of the Thomson Reuters Trust Women Foundation.
Past recipients of the Belva Lockwood Award were trailblazers in their fields, and Law Association of Women believe she exemplifies this trait with her distinguished career spanning private practice, the judiciary, and the federal government as well as her many philanthropic endeavors.
Please join us for this special event honoring one of GW's finest graduates, network with alumnae attendees, and acknowledge the law school's crucial role in championing the careers of female attorneys.
For more information or questions, please e-mail alumni
law [dot] gwu [dot] edu (alumni[at]law[dot]gwu[dot]edu) or call 202.994.7166.