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Ambassador Wahba retired from the U.S. Department of State on April 30, 2008, class of Minister Counselor, after a twenty two-year career spent mostly in the Middle East. Her experience and competencies demonstrate well honed strategic planning, negotiating, leadership, management and interpersonal skills. Ambassador Wahba has been recognized throughout her career for excellence in leading people, managing institutions with multi-million dollar budgets and for achieving results. She is a fluent Arabic speaker and her bi-cultural background allowed her to operate with equal effectiveness in the U.S. the Gulf and the Middle East. She has also established strong working relationships at the highest levels with governmental, educational and the private sector in the region. August 2006- April 2008: Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, US Department of Defense, Washington D.C. Acted as the State Department’s senior advisor on U.S. foreign policy and international developments relevant to the USAF Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Air Force,. August 2004 - 2006: Deputy Commandant & International Affairs Adviser at the National War College of the National Defense University Deputy to the
Commandant and as foreign policy adviser to the faculty and the Commandant,
Ambassador Wahba was responsible for liaison between the Department
of State and the National War College. She had oversight responsibilities
for State Department Faculty assigned to the college and the 20 State
students enrolled in the Master’s Degree program. During her
tenure she: • Developed and launched the George F. Kennan Lecture Program hosting prominent speakers to explore future challenges to the U.S. in the global arena. • Successfully instructed several graduate seminars on Global Security and the role of the Media in National Security. October 2001 – June 2004: US Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Ambassador Wahba directed the Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate in Dubai with an annual operational budget of over $50 million and an interagency team of 17 U.S. government agencies with over 300 employees. During her time the US Mission grew by over 35% to reflect the expanded US/UAE relationship and the Mission’s expanded activities throughout the seven Emirates focusing on security, commerce & trade, education and culture. For her outstanding service in the United Arab Emirates Ambassador Wahba received a U.S. Presidential Meritorious Service Award from the White House and the first envoy to receive the UAE’s Order of Independence (First Class) from His Highness President Shaykh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan. During her assignment she: • Successfully led and negotiated several initiatives in the post 9/11 environment on counter-terrorism, non-proliferation, and anti-terrorist financing, while gaining robust support for military operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq. • Established the first US/UAE Strategic Partnership which encompassed a broad range of policy objectives throughout the Emirates to include political, economic, commercial, educational and cultural activities. • Launched the process for negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the UAE, the U.S.’s third largest trading partner in the Arab World. • Advocated forcefully for US business in the UAE’s lucrative market and helped realize several multi-billion USD deals for American firms and expanded bilateral trade by more than 30 percent. • Traveled throughout the UAE to build relationships and engage on a variety of issues with the political leadership, the business, academic and cultural communities in each of the seven Emirates. • Re-structured and enlarged the US Mission to respond to increased policy objectives in the UAE and supervised a three year project to build and move into the $75 million dollar new Embassy building in Abu Dhabi. August 1999 - June 2001: Minister-Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs, US Embassy Cairo, Egypt Ambassador Wahba supervised over 60 officers and staff in Cairo and Alexandria, two large American Resource Centers and managed a multi-million dollar budget to implement the largest educational and cultural program for the US government in the Middle East. During her tenure in Cairo she: • Played a key advisory role to the Ambassador and the US Agency for International Development Director in managing the largest U.S. assistance program in the world. Had direct input on the 1 billion USD program focused on improving the economy, health care, social network, and judicial and parliamentary performance in Egypt. • Directly administered a large annual grant designed to promote the development of a civil society in Egypt through public/private partnerships. The programs focused on capacity and institution building of non-governmental organizations and training for Egyptian professionals identified as social reformers. • Served as the U.S. Embassy’s Chairperson for the Interagency Democracy Working Group which led and coordinated the multi-million dollar USG program. July 1995 - June 1999: Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs, US Embassy Amman, Jordan Ambassador Wahba administered a robust program of educational and cultural programming that was structured to bring together the burgeoning Jordanian private sector and non-governmental community organizations to serve the interests of civil society in Jordan while promoting US/Jordanian ties. She managed a large American Resource Center and a staff of over 35 people. Ambassador Wahba received a U.S. State Department Superior Honor Award for her accomplishments in Jordan: • Administered a series of programs, in cooperation with the private sector and the non-governmental community, to promote good governance, environmental protection, English language instruction, women’s support programs and more broadly a vibrant civil society. • Served for long periods as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge’ during the difficult time of leadership transition from King Hussein to King Abdulla. • Advised and supported the newly arrived Ambassador at a critical time for U.S interests in Jordan and the region in the aftermath of King Hussein’s death. July 1991 - June 1995: Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs & Chairperson of the U.S. Fulbright Commission, US Embassy Nicosia, Cyprus In Cyprus, Ambassador Wahba, served as the Board Chairperson of one of the largest Fulbright Academic Exchange Programs in the region. Funded at over 5 Million USD the Fulbright program provided undergraduate and graduate scholarships to Greek and Turkish Cypriots. She administered educational and cultural programs and supervised the American Resource Centers on both sides of the divided island. Her achievements included: • Leading the bi-communal Fulbright Commission board on the divided island to successfully administer USD 5 Million annually for educational and cultural programs. • Developing and launching the concept of bi-communal programming to support the US government’s and the UN’s effort at re-unification of the island. • Working with Conflict Resolution experts from the US she supervised hundreds of bi-communal programs and activities that successfully brought together the Greek and Turkish-Cypriot communities to new levels of cooperation. February 1988 – June 1991: Spokesperson, US Embassy Cairo, Egypt Marcelle M. Wahba served as the US Embassy Spokesperson for one of the largest US Embassies in the world and certainly the largest in Middle East. She supervised a Press Section of over 40 staffers in Cairo and provided oversight on all press issues to the Public Affairs Office in the U.S. Consulate in Alexandria. During her tenure she: • Worked closely with the US Agency for International Development and the Egyptian Press Syndicate to establish the first multi-year professional training program in the United States for hundreds of Egyptian journalists. • Engaged actively with the Egyptian and Western media to cover one of the largest US assistance programs in the world. Initiated a successful program of Press Tours to cover the progress of the huge infrastructural, educational, health and cultural heritage projects funded by the US government throughout Egypt. • Received several honor awards for improving bilateral relations during a time of tension by effectively using her fluency in Arabic and knowledge of Egyptian society to identify common ground between the U.S. and Egypt. June 1986 – January 1988: Deputy Policy Coordinator, Near East Area Office, U.S. Information Agency, (USIA) Washington D.C. Served as the Deputy Policy Officer in charge of supporting all the Public Affairs posts in U.S. Embassies in the Near East covering countries from North Africa to Southeast Asia. During her Washington assignment she: • Developed the first one-page daily policy guidance document to go out to Embassy Posts and coordinated media programs funded by USIA for overseas audiences. • Launched a series of interactive Worldnet Dialogues bringing together American speakers with counterpart professionals in the Middle East through a satellite exchange on a wide variety of foreign affairs topics.
Responsible for the administration of all University grants and contracts amounting to over $5 million annually. At AUC she: • Worked closely with faculty in project development, proposal and budget preparation and annual reporting. • Negotiated proposals and grant amendments with sponsoring agencies. • Developed systems to ensure compliance with sponsoring agency requirements. • Researched and wrote a Grants Policy Manual for the University. • Conducted Training workshops for faculty and staff in project administration.
Ambassador Wahba is married to Derek M. Farwagi, Vice President for New Business Development with RTI International. They have one daughter, Mrs. Morwenna Farwagi Buckley, who lives in Sydney, Australia. References are available upon request. |
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