Alyse Nelson Biography

Alyse Nelson is President and Chief Executive Officer of Vital Voices Global Partnership. A co-founder of Vital Voices, Alyse has worked for the organization for twelve years, serving as vice president and senior director of programs before assuming her current role. She has worked with women leaders to develop training programs and international forums in over 120 countries and has interviewed more than 200 international leaders. Prior to her work with VVGP, Alyse served as deputy director of the Vital Voices Global Democracy Initiative at the U.S. Department of State. Her position aided former First Lady Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s commitment to promote the advancement of women as a U.S. foreign policy objective. Alyse helped design, coordinate, and implement Vital Voices conferences, projects and initiatives throughout the world. Alyse worked with the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the White House and U.S. Department of State from July 1996 to July 2000. She attended to UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995 and has served as an advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She completed her graduate degree work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and she is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She serves as a board member of Running Start, which helps young women and girls in the United States get involved in politics and their communities. She is also a present member, of the Advisory Committee on the Secretary of State's Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society. In 2006, she was named one of “Ten Women to Watch” by the Washingtonian Magazine and in 2007, she was honored by Emerson College with the Distinguished Leader Award.