Amanda Catanzano

Biography

Amanda Catanzano is a Visiting Scholar at Penn Washington, where she leads a project on the future of U.S. foreign assistance.

She has more than two decades of experience in national security, humanitarian policy, and foreign assistance across government, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as a foreign policy advisor in the Office of President William J. Clinton.

Previously, Amanda served as Vice President, Global Policy at the International Rescue Committee, where she led policy and advocacy work grounded in IRC’s humanitarian and refugee programming in more than 40 crisis-affected countries and U.S. resettlement communities. She has testified before Congress multiple times on humanitarian crises and U.S. foreign assistance, and has provided analysis to outlets including BBC, NPR, Washington Post, New York Times, and the Financial Times.

Earlier in her career, Amanda served as Director for Strategic Planning at the National Security Council, on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, and as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State. Her work focused on South and Central Asia, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, and stabilization policy.

She holds a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. in U.S. foreign policy and international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.