JOANNE BERRY FAULKNER

Joanne Faulkner serves as a Senior Advisor for HillStaffer, and brings over 20 years of foreign affairs, appropriations, grants, and foreign governance democracy program experience to HillStaffer and its clients through work on Capitol Hill, at the State Department, and with USAID (United States Agency for International Development). Ms. Faulkner advises international clients on a variety of appropriations, advocacy, education, and strategic matters.

Ms. Faulkner is a former Foreign Affairs Officer with the United States Department of State, where she was the lead policy officer on Iraq at Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and managed several hundred million dollars in democracy and governance programs while overseeing all NEA proposals for Quick Response Funding (QRF), including regular/supplemental funding requests for FY 2008, 2009 and 2010. While at the State Department Ms. Faulkner also served as a Grant Awards Facilitator, with oversight of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) programs in 16 Middle Eastern countries and responsibility for education and women’s empowerment matters.

Ms. Faulkner has also worked with IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems), where she coordinated Middle East North Africa (MENA) projects in the West Bank/Gaza and Lebanon and had responsibility for donor interest in new projects in Tonga, Fiji and Samoan Islands. In addition, she served as an advisor to The Burka Foundation, representing the organization at Foreign Operations Appropriations Advocacy meetings of MFAN (Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network) as well as USAID.

Ms. Faulkner began her career as a Legislative Assistant with Senator Paul Sarbanes, and a Legislative Aide at the United States Senate, Senate Foreign Relations Committee where she provided oversight of foreign aid programs.

Mr. Faulkner earned a Masters Degree in International Relations from Georgetown University, and a Bachelors Degree in Government, Politics and International Relations from the University of Maryland, where she was a Deans List Scholar.