President Joe Biden has appointed Buffalo native Elizabeth Allen to serve as the Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
In this position, Allen will be responsible for communicating U.S. foreign policy priorities and diplomacy to American and foreign audiences.
A graduate of Williamsville South High School and a magna cum laude Political Science graduate of SUNY Geneseo, Allen is a partner at the worldwide strategic communications and public affairs firm Finsbury Glover Hering. There she specializes in message and campaign strategy, crisis management and leadership communications.
Allen is a White House veteran, having previously served as Deputy Communications Director under President Barack Obama, White House Director of Message Planning and Deputy Director of Communications to then-Vice President Joe Biden.
In 2020, Allen took a leave of absence from FGH to serve as Vice President Kamala Harris’ Communications Director on the Biden-Harris presidential campaign.
Allen previously served at the State Department of State as Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, focusing on U.S. public diplomacy efforts, and in positions in the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and Office of Global Women’s Issues.
