Dina Habib Powell
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs

Dina Habib Powell was nominated by President Bush to be Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs on April 29, 2005, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 24, 2005. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also designated her as Deputy Under Secretary and principal deputy to Ambassador Karen Hughes, the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Assistant Secretary Powell led the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), the team that administers exchange programs that are among the most effective tools of public diplomacy.

Previously, Assistant Secretary Powell served as Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, a senior staff member at the White House. Assistant Secretary Powell has served as Director of Congressional Affairs for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and was a staff member of then- U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX).

Assistant Secretary Powell is currently a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Member of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders. Assistant Secretary Powell graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelors degree in Humanities. She was born in Cairo, Egypt.