Farah Pandith

Farah Pandith is a world-leading expert and pioneer on countering violent extremism (CVE). She served as a political appointee in the George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama administrations on the National Security Council, at the U.S. gency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State. Most recently she was the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities (2009-2014). Her book is How We Win: How Cutting-Edge Entrepreneurs, Political Visionaries, Enlightened Business Leaders, and Social Media Mavens Can Defeat the Extremist Threat. Prior to re-entering government in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Ms. Pandith was Vice President of International Business at ML Strategies, LLC. She is a frequent media commentator and public speaker. She advises government, business and civil society on CVE. She is a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School, an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and senior advisor at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. She served on the secretary of homeland security’s Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) from 2015 to 2017, where she also chaired the HSAC subcommittee on countering violent extremism and delivered a report in June 2016. Most recently, the Muhammad Ali Center named Pandith the first-ever Muhammad Ali Global Peace Laureate for her proven track record of and commitment to promoting diversity, cohesion and respect.