Contact:

Lauren Sucher
+1-202-429-3822
lsucher@usip.org

(Washington) – The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has named Tara Sonenshine as the Executive Vice President of the Institute.

Image on right: Tara Sonenshine

Sonenshine joined the USIP leadership team in January 2009 as Vice President for Planning and Outreach. In that capacity, Sonenshine has overseen strategic planning, public outreach and publications. She also manages the planning of the Public Education Center that will be a major feature of the Institute’s new Headquarters project on the National Mall.

In announcing her new position, USIP President Richard H. Solomon said, "After a long search and careful deliberation, I am pleased to announce that Tara Sonenshine has been named Executive Vice President of the Institute. In addition to her current duties under Planning & Outreach, Tara will take on primary responsibility for program coordination, including oversight and integration of substantive activities."

Sonenshine has been involved with the Institute since 1995 in various consulting capacities. She has also been a strategic communications advisor to the International Crisis Group, CARE, Internews, the American Academy of Diplomacy and Women of Washington. She is currently on the boards of Tufts University Tisch School of Citizenship and Public Service, Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and Internews Network.

She has also served in various White House capacities, including transition director for the National Security Council (NSC). In that position, she was responsible for coordinating an interagency process to review foreign policy goals and priorities for the Clinton administration’s second term. Before that, she served as special assistant to President Clinton and deputy director of communications for the NSC (1994-1995).

In 1998, Sonenshine was at the Brookings Institution studying foreign policy and communications. Her career began in broadcast journalism in 1982 at ABC News in New York, where she served as assistant to David Burke, the vice president of news. Sonenshine went on to become editorial producer of ABC News’ Nightline, where she worked for more than a decade. She was also an off-air reporter at the Pentagon for ABC’s World News Tonight. During her tenure at ABC News, Sonenshine earned ten News Emmy Awards for coverage of China, Iran, the Philippines, and South Africa. She also won the Columbia-DuPont Award for coverage of the Los Angeles riots. A former contributing editor for Newsweek, Sonenshine is the author of numerous articles on foreign affairs published in the The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers.