Michelle D. GavinMichelle D. Gavin is the Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She has over twenty years of experience in international affairs in government and non-profit roles. She was formerly the anaging director of The Africa Center, a multidisciplinary institution dedicated to increasing understanding of contemporary Africa. From 2011 to 2014 she was the U.S. ambassador to Botswana and served concurrently as the U.S. representative to the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Prior to serving as Ambassador, Gavin was a special assistant to President Obama and the senior director for Africa at the National Security Council, where she led major policy reviews of Sudan and Somalia and helped to originate the Young African Leaders Initiative, a U.S. government effort intended to deepen policymakers' understanding of young African priorities.

Gavin is the author of numerous articles and discussion papers, and she writes regularly for CFR's Africa in Transition blog. She received an MPhil in international relations from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and earned her BA from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where she was a Truman Scholar. She serves on the board of directors of Points of Light and Emerging Public Leaders. Gavin is based in New York City. Read More Read Less