Allison Lombardo

Allison Lombardo (LinkedIn) is non-resident senior associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ humanitarian agenda and human rights initiative. She served as deputy assistant secretary for international organization affairs at the U.S. Department of State, with a focus on human rights and humanitarian affairs during the Biden administration from 2021 to 2025. During this time, she also served as a Senior Advisor at the National Security Council on the Horn of Africa. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Lombardo was a strategy consultant at Deloitte. Ms. Lombardo’s prior public service began at the U.S. Department of State in 2009 as a presidential management fellow in the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan. From 2009 through 2012, she represented the United States at peace talks between Sudan and South Sudan, and from 2013 to 2014, she served as a director for African affairs at the National Security Council. In 2016, Ms. Lombardo served as senior adviser to the USAID administrator, where she guided action on humanitarian issues and international development policy in Africa and Latin America.

Prior to her time in public service, Allison worked for the UN special representative on business and human rights and Human Rights Watch. Ms. Lombardo graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and from Brown University.