Donald Steinberg is Senior Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion at InterAction. He is also Special Advisor to World Learning, Inc., providing strategic guidance to the Board of Trustees and senior staff, having previously served as CEO of the organization from 2013 to 2017. In addition, Steinberg is a former Deputy Administrator of USAID.
Steinberg brings more than 35 years of experience in government and nongovernmental organizations, and expertise in the fields of international relations and development. At USAID he focused on the Middle East and Africa; organizational reforms under the USAID Forward agenda; the inclusion of women, people with disabilities, LGBT persons, and other marginalized groups into the development arena; and expanded dialogue with development partners.
In his previous work with the United States government, Steinberg served as director of the U.S. Department of State’s Joint Policy Council, White House deputy press secretary, National Security Council senior director for African Affairs, special Haiti coordinator, U.S. Ambassador to Angola, and the president’s special representative for Humanitarian Demining. He was also deputy president for policy at the International Crisis Group, a Randolph Jennings senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, and has advised the Women's Refugee Commission, the UN Development Fund for Women, the UN Civil Society Advisory Group for Women, Peace and Security, and the Institute for Inclusive Security.
Steinberg has authored more than 100 articles on foreign policy, African development, gender issues, post-conflict reconstruction, children and armed conflict, and disarmament, published in media outlets including Christian Science Monitor, The Guardian, The Nation, International Herald Tribune, Africa Economic Digest, and Yale Global Online. He holds MAs in journalism from Columbia University and political economy from the University of Toronto, and a BA from Reed College.
Steinberg's honors include the Presidential Meritorious Honor Award, the Frasure Award for International Peace, the Hunt Award for Women in Policy Formulation, the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship, the State Department and USAID Distinguished Service Awards, and six State Department Superior Honor Awards.