Nancy Ely-Raphel has most recently served as Vice President and Managing Director of Save the Children. Prior to that appointment she was the Counselor on International Law in the U.S. Department of State.

Ambassador Ely-Raphel served as Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State and Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons where she established that office and led the State Department’s efforts to develop and implement policy to combat trafficking in persons until January 2003. From 1998 until 2001 she served as the United States Ambassador to Slovenia. Prior to her service in Slovenia, she served as the Coordinator for the Balkans where she was a principal player in formulating programs to implement the Dayton Peace Accords. She was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and as Assistant Legal Adviser for African Affairs played a critical role in developing a legal assistance program for political detainees inside South Africa and drafted the document which formed the basis for the Constitution adopted by the first democratically elected government in the Republic of Namibia.

She has worked as an Assistant United States Attorney, Associate Dean of Boston University School of Law and senior trial attorney with the Organized Crime Strike Force of the Department of Justice. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she is the recipient of various awards, including the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive in 1986, 1991 and 1999, in 2001 the University of San Diego’s Author E. Hughes Award for lifetime career achievement and in 2004 the Director General’s Cup of the Department of State.