Washington, DC – Today, Paige Alexander was sworn in as Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia (E&E) at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Alexander is returning to USAID where she previously served for eight years (1993-2001) in a number of positions in the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, including as Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator. From 2001-2010, she held the position of Senior Vice President at IREX, an international nonprofit development organization that supports educators, journalists and community leaders in over 100 countries. Other notable positions include Associate Director of Project Liberty at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; and as a Consultant to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the C.S. Mott Foundation and the Open Society Institute in Prague. Alexander currently serves on the Boards of the Basic Education Coalition and the Project on Middle East Democracy. She holds a B.A. from Tulane University.

Alexander will oversee the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia as it brokers new development approaches to tackle the key objectives that will help to set these countries on a path towards Euro-Atlantic integration. “This is an exciting time at USAID with unprecedented support from across the Administration to elevate development,” said USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah. “I look forward to working with Paige and counting on her tremendous expertise to lead the Bureau for Europe & Eurasia and advance critical reforms to enhance our agency.”

Upon confirmation by the Senate, Alexander remarked: “I look forward to working with the dedicated staff in the Bureau for Europe & Eurasia and across USAID to fulfill the President, Secretary, and Administrator's shared goal of modernizing and strengthening the agency, elevating development, achieving core objectives in E&E, and forging new partnerships with emerging and established donors to confront global development challenges.”