Ambassador (ret.) Greta C. Holtz joined Amideast in August 2023, following 35 years as a career diplomat with extensive experience in the Middle East and North Africa. She served as the U.S. Ambassador to Oman from 2012 to 2015, the Chargé d'affaires in Qatar from 2020-2021, and the Minister-Counselor for Provincial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 2009 to 2010.

Ms. Dana Al-Ajlani is currently Senior Director of Corporate Affairs at Eli Lilly, with close to 20 years’ experience in public and government affairs. She is a strong leader who held different positions in the corporate and nonprofit industries. 

Ambassador (ret.) Michael Ratney served for over three decades as a distinguished U.S. diplomat, most recently as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Amb. Ratney served as the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, as the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy to Israel, as well as postings in Baghdad, Beirut, Casablanca, Doha, Mexico City, Tunis, Bridgetown, and Washington DC. Over his career, Amb. Ratney has been at the center of high-profile diplomatic initiatives throughout the Middle East, including as U.S. Special Envoy for Syria.

F. Gregory Gause III is Professor of International Affairs and John H.

Mr. Jonathan McKay currently serves as the Head of Growth at OpenAI, where he is responsible for driving user and revenue growth for ChatGPT. His responsibilities also extend to the strategic allocation of the GPU fleet and developing product infrastructure to support GPU allocation, internationalization, and comprehensive A/B testing initiatives across ChatGPT platforms.

Dr. Hanine Salem is a senior strategist and established public sector expert with over 20 years of executive level working experience in the field of education, higher education and human capital development. Throughout her career, she has been advising heads of states, prime ministers, ministers and public sector officials in areas related to her field of expertise.

Ambassador (ret.) William A. Rugh was the president of Amideast from 1995 to 2003, following a distinguished diplomatic career that included service as U.S. ambassador to Yemen (1984-86) and to the UAE (1992-95). He was a foreign service officer with the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) from 1964 to 1995 and served at six posts, all in the MENA region: Cairo (twice), Jidda, Riyadh, Damascus, Sanaa, and Abu Dhabi. In Washington, he served in USIA’s Near East/South Asia Bureau three times. He retired in 1995 as a career minister.  

Ms. Erica Pelletreau is a senior member of the communications team at Ford Foundation where she provides strategic advice and communications support to the Global Governance and US and International Civic Engagement and Government teams, and the offices in the Middle East and North Africa and Mexico/Central America. Ms. Pelletreau chairs Amideast’s governance and nominating committee and the board of The Communications Network. Previously she led social justice communications for the Empire State Pride Agenda, PolicyLink, Physicians for Reproductive Health, and the ACLU. Ms.

Ms. Mona Oswald is a retired Financial Marketing Executive with experience in broad-based strategic sales planning, market expansion, and relationship management. As a Vice President of Investments with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney she advised high-net-worth individuals, family offices, law firms, and other corporate clients concerning investment opportunities, retirement, and pension planning.