Bio
Michele Dunne - Michele Dunne is an expert on Arab politics and U.S. policy. Formerly a specialist at the State Department and White House on Middle East affairs, she has also been a visiting assistant professor of Arabic language at Georgetown University.
Dunne's research interests include political, economic, and social reform in the region and U.S. policy toward the Middle East and the Muslim world. Her recent publications include "Incumbent Regimes and the 'King's Dilemma' in the Arab World: Promise and Threat of Managed Reform" (with Marina Ottaway) and "The Ups and Downs of Political Reform in Egypt" (with Amr Hamzawy), which appears in Beyond the Facade: Political Reform in the Arab World (January 2008).
Dr. Dunne holds a Ph.D. in Arabic language and linguistics from Georgetown University.
Marc Lynch - Marc Lynch is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Williams College.
Lynch is the author of Voices of the New Arab Public and State Interests and Public Spheres: The International Politics of Jordan's Identity. His articles have appeared in The Wilson Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, and the Middle East Report; and, he maintains the Abu Aardvark blog, a widely read running commentary on the Arab media, American public diplomacy, and Arab popular culture.
Stephen McInerney - Stephen McInerney serves as POMED's Director for Legislative Affairs and Editor of the POMED Wire blog. He has more than six years experience in the region, including graduate studies of Middle Eastern politics, history, and the Arabic language at the American University in Cairo and the American University of Beirut.
He has spoken on Middle East affairs before the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Network of Arab American Professionals, the WESPAC Foundation of New York, and with numerous media outlets including MSNBC and CBS News.
He originally developed an interest in the Middle East while teaching mathematics in Qatar after earning an M.S. in math from Stanford University.
Ambassador Nicholas Veliotes - Ambassador Nicholas A. Veliotes was born on Oct. 28, 1928 in Oakland, California. After service in the U.S. Army from 1946-1948 he attended the University of California at Berkeley and was awarded both a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree. He is married to the former Patricia Nolan who is a teacher, actress and musician. She is also a graduate of the University of California.
He received his commission in the Foreign Service of the United States in 1955 and served in a variety of posts in Vientiane, New Delhi, Rome and Naples. In 1969 he was selected as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Princeton University.
Ambassador Veliotes was Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State (1970-73), then served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Tel Aviv, returning to the Department of State as Deputy Director of the Policy Planning Staff (1976-77) and then Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (1977-78).
He was Ambassador to Jordan (1978-81) and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (1981-84). He then served as Ambassador to Egypt until his retirement from the Foreign Service in April, 1986.
Ambassador Veliotes became President of the Association of American Publishers in May, 1986, and retired in June, 1997, as President Emeritus.
Ambassador Veliotes is a member of the Middle East Institute, the Council on Foreign Relation and the Veterans of Foreign Wars; he serves on the Boards of AMIDEAST and the American Academy of Diplomacy. Mrs. Veliotes is a member of the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association and the Screen Actors Guild.
