Safiya Ghori-Ahmad

Safiya Ghori-Ahmad is a global strategic advisor with experience in U.S. government, international consulting, and public policy. Based in Washington, D.C., Ghori-Ahmad has served as a strategic advisor on government affairs, political risk, and commercial issues in both the private sector and the U.S. government for more than 15 years. She has advised multinational companies on market entry and growth strategies across Asia, leveraging a global network of corporate and government leaders and a record of formulating market entry, government relations, and corporate development strategies.

Ghori-Ahmad developed expertise in South Asia through nearly a decade of government service. She served on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as an advisor to the chairman on South and Central Asia. At the State Department, she advised on Pakistan and Afghanistan in the Office of the Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan under Secretaries Clinton and Kerry. She began her State Department career in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, managing South Asia portfolios and traveling throughout the region to promote governance, transparency, and the rule of law. Government leaders, including secretaries of state and senators, have relied on her counsel for decision-making.

After her government service, Ghori-Ahmad moved to the private sector, becoming a senior managing director and partner at McLarty Associates. She advised Fortune 500 companies on policy and market entry strategies in South Asia and served as a global client manager, supporting clients with reputation management and engagement in multilateral forums. She later joined APCO Worldwide, where she leads global public affairs work in Washington, D.C., counseling government leaders and C-suite executives on political, regulatory, and geopolitical risks.

Ghori-Ahmad is involved in civic engagement and thought leadership. She serves as a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council South Asia Center and on the boards of Women in International Trade and the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. She is a founding member of CHIEF DC, serves on the Concordia Advisory Board, and sits on the Dean's Advisory Boards for the Clinton School of Public Service and the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. She was also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ghori-Ahmad regularly speaks on diversity, equity, and inclusion, women's empowerment, and foreign policy at events such as the Aspen Ideas Festival, SXSW, Council on Foreign Relations, and Festival of the Diaspora. She holds a JD and MA from the University of Arkansas and speaks fluent Hindi and Urdu and intermediate Arabic, providing expertise at the intersection of U.S. foreign policy, international business, and South Asian affairs.