The Aspen Institute

Jendayi Frazer is the Duignan Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution Stanford University, and Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her experience spans public service, academia, and the private sector. She served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, 2005 to 2009, and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the NSC from 2001 until becoming U.S. Ambassador to South Africa in 2004. Frazer was a Distinguished Public Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and Assistant Professor at Harvard University and University of Denver. She is the co-editor of Preventing Electoral Violence in Africa (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2011). She is Managing Director of Africa Exchange Holdings Company, Ltd that establishes agricultural commodity exchanges in Africa to enhance price discovery and market access for smallholder farmers. She serves on several corporate, foundation, and non-profit boards. She is a recipient of the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award bestowed by the U.S. Secretary of State. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia awarded Frazer with the distinction of Dame Grand Commander in the Humane Order of African Redemption in recognition of her contributions to end Liberia’s civil war and restore peace and democracy to the country. Frazer received her BA in political science (honors) and African and Afro-American studies (distinction), MAs in international policy studies and international development education, and PhD in political science, all from Stanford University, and MBA from American University.