Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs
Ambassador Hilda M. Arellano, Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs (CDDEA)
Hilda M. Arellano
Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs (CDDEA)
Term of Appointment: June 2012 to present
Before joining Embassy Kabul, she served as the Counselor to the United States Agency for International Development. She previously served as the USAID Mission director in Cairo, Egypt. Ms. Arellano joined USAID in 1987 and was first assigned to Ecuador as a General Development Officer. From 1990-1993 she served in Guatemala as Democracy Officer before becoming Deputy Mission Director (1993-1996), Deputy Mission Director in Bolivia (1996-1998), and Mission Director in Ecuador (1998-2001). From 2001-2004 she served as Mission Director for the Regional Services Center for Europe and Eurasia in Budapest, Hungary, and from 2004 to 2006 in Lima, Peru. She then assumed the Directorship of USAID/Iraq from 2006-2007 before her assignment in Egypt.
A graduate of Cornell University with a BA in Political Science, Ms. Arellano has a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin. She also received her Masters of Arts in Teaching from Antioch College. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Before joining USAID, Ms. Arellano lived and worked in Latin America, as well as other developing countries, for 17 years. In 1971 Ms. Arellano joined the United Nations Volunteer Program and was posted to Peru and Bolivia for three years working on credit projects for rural women. From 1974 to 1979 she worked with the World Bank and the UNDP as a program evaluation consultant and manager for income generation projects targeted to low income women. From 1979 to 1986 she managed the Appropriate Technology for Rural Women Project that was jointly sponsored by the Organization of American States and USAID. From 1986-1987 she was personal services contractor with USAID/Bolivia managing rural and non-formal education projects.
A native of Westfield, New Jersey, Ms. Arellano and her husband, Jorge, have four children, Marcelo, Michael, Daniel, and Cristina.