Ambassador Kristen Silverberg is Managing Director and General Counsel at the IIF. She previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union from 2008 to 2009 where she led a mission of 100 diplomats from 8 federal agencies. From 2005 to 2008, she served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, where she managed a team of 300 and oversaw U.S. contributions to the United Nations of over $3.5 billion. Prior to her time at the State Department, she held a number of senior positions at the White House, including Deputy Assistant to the President and Advisor to the Chief of Staff. She served in 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq for which she received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Ambassador Silverberg formerly practiced law at Williams and Connolly, LLP in Washington, DC and served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge David Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals. She attended Harvard College and the University of Texas School of Law, where she graduated with High Honors. Ambassador Silverberg serves on the Board of Directors of Vorbeck Materials and on the Advisory Board of Beacon Global Strategies. In 2009, she was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader.