Beth Dunford is the Assistant to the Administrator in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Bureau for Food Security, as well as the Deputy Coordinator for Development for Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. In this dual role, she coordinates implementation of Feed the Future across the U.S. Government, oversees its execution, reports on results, and leads engagement with the external community to ensure that food security remains high on the development agenda. She also oversees USAID’s technical and regional expertise focused on improving food security to sustainably reduce hunger, poverty and undernutrition.

A career Foreign Service Officer, Dr. Dunford most recently served as Director of USAID’s Mission in Nepal, overseeing the country’s massive earthquake recovery and reconstruction effort. Dr. Dunford has also served in Ethiopia and Afghanistan where she directed agriculture, resilience and emergency food assistance programs, as well as in a number of roles in Washington, D.C., including Deputy Assistant to the Administrator in the Bureau for Food Security and Senior Development Advisor to the Secretary of State’s Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Dr. Dunford earned her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and her Ph.D. in Sociology from Michigan State University.