Miriam Sapiro

Ambassador Miriam Sapiro is an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at SIPA and a non-resident Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). 

An accomplished leader in national security, foreign policy and international economic policy, Miriam has held senior positions at the State Department, the White House and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Under Republican and Democratic administrations, she has worked closely with governments and international organizations around the world to address complex challenges. 

At USTR, Miriam was Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and Acting U.S. Trade Representative, directing major trade negotiations and enforcement efforts to strengthen U.S. competitiveness, advance labor and environmental rights, and promote innovation. She was also a senior official on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

At the White House, Miriam served as Special Assistant to the President and Counselor for Southeast European Stabilization & Reconstruction, and earlier as Director of European Affairs at the National Security Council. She began her career as an international lawyer at the State Department before joining the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, where she helped negotiate the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia. She is the recipient of two Superior Honor Awards from the State Department.

Miriam is a member of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Board of Directors of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). She has served on the Board of Directors of Lufthansa and of Project Hope, and as the inaugural Polis Distinguished Fellow and a Visiting Professor of the Practice at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

Miriam earned a BA from Williams College and a JD from New York University School of Law, and was a Rotary Fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. 

Education

• JD, New York University School of Law;
• BA, Williams College (Phi Beta Kappa with Highest Honors in Political Science).

Honors and Awards

• Individual Superior Honor, U.S. Department of State
• Group Superior Honor Awards, U.S. Department of State