Elizabeth M. Allen is Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy at the Department of State, where she leads a team of almost 5000 professionals around the world and oversees a budget of $1.5 billion. She previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs. Allen spent 7 years in the Obama-Biden White House, including as White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Director of Communications for then-Vice President Biden. She’s a veteran of Democratic campaigns and international public affairs and crisis communications consulting, and began her career at the U.S. Department of State in the Office of Global Women’s Issues and Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.