Jehane Sedky, MA

Jehane Sedky is a senior executive with over two decades of experience at the United Nations, where she led teams under the direction of global leaders including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, and the late Dr. Paul Farmer of Harvard University. She led UNICEF’s child protection global communications strategy, served as President Clinton’s senior advisor and head of office during his tenure as UN Special Envoy for Haiti, and earlier as his spokesperson and speechwriter as UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery. She later led Dr. Paul Farmer’s United Nations team and served as Co-Director of the Science of Implementation Initiative – a think tank he founded.

Prior to her work with President Clinton and Dr. Paul Farmer, Jehane played a pivotal role as senior strategic advisor to UN Assistant Secretary-General responsible for countries in crisis. In this chief of staff role, Ms. Sedky was instrumental in shaping the strategic direction and overall program strategy of a 200-person global operation.

Jehane is the author of a book on children and armed conflict and a contributing author to Haiti After the Earthquake by Paul Farmer. She led primary research at the United Nations and subsequently at the Science of Implementation Initiative, which has been cited in Paul Farmer’s published scholarship. The data analysis she directed at the United Nations on Haiti’s post-earthquake recovery remains among the most widely cited empirical assessments of the period.

Earlier in her career, Jehane served a stint at CNN International and later led the UNICEF’s Global Media Relations team responsible for spearheading the organization’s child rights messaging across 150 country offices.