James M. Peters is a Deputy Assistant Administrator and Acting Global Water Coordinator in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment (E3). His portfolio includes the Offices of Water, Planning, Learning and Coordination, and Professional Development/Management Services. Prior to arriving to E3 in October 2016, Mr. Peters served as Deputy Mission Director for USAID/Pakistan, as one of two deputies assigned to the Islamabad mission. His portfolio included the program, financial, and executive management offices, as well as several mission management initiatives; it also included the USAID/Pakistan education program. Mr. Peters is a member of the U.S. Government Senior Executive Service, and has been with USAID since July 1997.

Previously, Mr. Peters served in USAID/Washington as the Assistant General Counsel for Ethics and Administration, where he was responsible for a myriad of ethics and administrative law matters and defended USAID in litigation before the U.S. District Court and multiple administrative panels. Additionally, in 2014, he served as the Acting Mission Director for USAID/Albania, and he served as the Acting Director of USAID’s Office of Education in 2015.

Prior to joining USAID, Mr. Peters was an attorney and served in the military. Following his admission to the Bar of the State of Illinois in 1987, Mr. Peters received a commission in the U.S. Air Force. He served as a member of the Judge Advocate General's Department until 1997, attaining the rank of major. During his ten-year term of military service, Mr. Peters held a variety of criminal prosecution and civil litigation positions, including an assignment to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, immediately following the Gulf War and a four year assignment as a trial attorney litigating personnel cases Air Force-wide.

Mr. Peters received a B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1984, with a major in International Relations. He is a 1987 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law.