Nicole Bibbins Sedaca '93

Nicole Bibbins Sedaca '93 serves as the senior director for strategic planning and external affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for the U.S. Department of State. In this position, she manages the bureau's long-range planning efforts and outreach to key partners, including Congress, non-governmental organizations and media.

Prior to this position, she served as senior advisor to the Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. Her portfolio included democracy promotion initiatives, as well as the Community of Democracies, the Millennium Challenge Account and Trafficking in Persons. She also served as the Special Assistant to the Undersecretary, handling democracy, human rights, religious freedom, labor issues, and trafficking.

From 1997-2001, she was the special assistant to the coordinator for counterterrorism, the Balkans refugee affairs officer, and special assistant to the ambassador for Kosovo Implementation, each at the U.S. Department of State. During the Kosovo crisis, she was detailed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Prior to her government service, Bibbins Sedaca worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ankara, Turkey, and the Regional Center for Foreigners' Concerns in Berlin, Germany. She earned a bachelor of arts in international affairs from the College of William and Mary and a master of science in foreign service from Georgetown University. As a Rotary Ambassadorial Fellow, she also studied international politics at Humboldt Universitaet in Berlin.

"Seek a school truly dedicated to serious education and one where professors will be committed to you as an individual," she said. "At William and Mary that is true in a way you don't find at many places."

She has earned three Superior Honor Awards and a Meritorious Honor Award. -- Sources: State Department, W&M News

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