Ambassador Don Steinberg

View Don’s full oral history and transcript at the Georgetown University Library.

Ambassador Donald Steinberg was born and raised in Los Angeles, California to a family that prioritized social responsibility, thereby developing an awareness and sensitivity to issues of gender, diversity, and inclusion at a young age. He was educated as an economist at UCLA and Reed College and earned a master’s degree in development economics from the University of Toronto. Steinberg details various aspects of his long career working to empower marginalized people around the world, beginning as a US foreign service officer working on economic development issues to his appointments as Ambassador to Angola and Deputy Administrator of USAID and, later, his non-governmental work with organizations such as World Learning, International Crisis Group, United States Institute of Peace, InterAction, and the Women’s Refugee Commission.