Melissa Zelikoff is a senior fellow with the National Security and International Policy department at the Center for American Progress, where she focuses on U.S.-Africa policy.
Most recently, Zelikoff served at the National Security Council, where she directed the U.S. government’s response to the war in Sudan and advised the president on sub-Saharan Africa strategy. Previously, she spent more than a decade at USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives, leading and managing conflict mitigation and political transition programs in Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, and Ukraine. She also served as chief of staff to the special envoy for the Horn of Africa at the State Department, where she advised on peace negotiations and regional diplomacy. Earlier in her career, she worked on democracy and human rights issues at the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; the American Bar Association; and Freedom House.