Sarhang Hamasaeed

I’m a professional with more than 20 years of experience as a leader, manager, strategist, analyst, writer, and public speaker. My expertise spans development, governance, and peacebuilding across governmental, non-governmental, private sector, and media organizations.

From February 2011 until April 2025, I worked at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, DC, serving as director of various Middle East programs from 2016 onward. My areas of focus included political and conflict analysis, problem-solving dialogue processes, reconciliation and post-conflict stabilization, ethnic and religious minorities, and organizational development. In addition, my policy work encompassed analysis of U.S. bilateral relations with countries in the region and the broader U.S. role in the Middle East.

Since 2014, I have been a regular lecturer at the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, covering topics such as challenges and opportunities to governance in Iraq, the fight against ISIS and violent extremism, and broader Middle East dynamics.

In events and briefings, I cover Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the Gulf as well as regional (e.g., Iran, Türkiye/Turkey, and the GCC) and global power competition (e.g., the U.S and China). I provide analysis and interviews to U.S. and international media. I have served a member on the Task Force on the Future of Iraq, the Rebuilding Societies Working Group, and U.S.-Europe-Iraq Track II Dialogue — all initiatives by the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.

My prior positions include deputy director general at the Council of Ministers of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (2008-2009), where I managed strategic government modernization initiatives through information technology with the goal of helping improve governance and service delivery; program manager for the Research Triangle Institute International (2003-2004), where I managed civic engagement and local democratic governance programs in Iraq; planning and relations manager at Kurdistan Save the Children (1997-2002); and correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and other international media organizations.

I hold a master’s degree in international development policy from Duke University (2007) and am a Fulbright alumnus.