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. She previously served in government from 1998 to 1999 as a CFR International Affairs Fellow, first at the Pentagon as a political-military planner with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, working on West Africa during Nigeria’s transition to civilian rule, and then as Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, working on Central and East Africa.
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 (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 B.A. in political science (honors) and African and Afro-American studies (distinction), master’s degrees in international policy studies and international development education, and Ph.D. in political science, all from Stanford University, and M.B.A. from American University.