USUN Welcomes Dina Esposito, Newly Appointed Director of the USAID Office of Food for Peace, February 22, 2011

February 22, 2011

ROME - The U.S. Mission to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agencies (USUN) was pleased to welcome Ms. Dina Esposito, newly appointed Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace, who attended her first World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Board in Rome, Italy February 14-16. Providing over $1 billion per year to support WFP emergency and protracted relief and recovery operations worldwide, Food for Peace is the U.S. Government's designated lead for WFP. In FY 2010, Food for Peace provided $1.4 billion to WFP between in-kind commodities and cash for local/regional procurement to meet the most urgent hunger needs.

Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Esposito managed and advised on democracy, governance, and conflict mitigation programs for Pact, a U.S. nongovernmental organization, serving in both Ethiopia and Pact's regional office in Kenya.  From 2000 to 2006, she was a consultant for a variety of organizations including USAID, nongovernmental organizations, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, and the International Organization for Migration, where she focused on post-conflict reconstruction and conflict mitigation, planning, policies, and programs.  From 1992 to 1999, Ms. Esposito worked in USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Response, where she served in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, the Office of Transition Initiatives, and the Office of Program, Planning, and Evaluation.  She also served in the Africa Bureau's Office of Central and West African Affairs. Before joining USAID, Ms. Esposito served as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Department of State's Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration. She is a graduate of Williams College and holds a Master's Degree from Johns Hopkins University, School for Advance International Studies.