Karen Donfried

Dr. Karen Donfried returned to the German Marshall Fund in 2005 as Senior Director for Policy Programs following a leave of absence during which she served in the U.S. Department of State. In her new position, she provides strategic direction to GMF’s programs and bolsters its continued work on U.S.–European relations. While at the State Department from October 2003 through to May 2005, Donfried handled the Europe portfolio on the policy planning staff in the Office of the Secretary of State. She previously served as GMF’s Director of Foreign Policy and, prior to that, worked as a European affairs specialist in the foreign affairs, defense, and trade divisions of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). She has written numerous articles and reports for Congress on German foreign and defense policy, European integration, and transatlantic relations. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Council on Germany. Donfried completed a Ph.D. and MALD at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a Magister at the University of Munich in Germany.