Heather F. Hurlburt

Writer and Consultant

Heather F. Hurlburt is a Michigan-based writer and consultant — and former presidential speech writer.

In 2002, Ms. Hurlburt helped lead the start-up of DATA (Debt AIDS and Trade in Africa), a new non-profit formed to bring celebrities, experts and grassroots citizens together to press for a stronger response to the twin crises of AIDS and poverty in Africa.

Previously, she had been the U.S. deputy director of the International Crisis Group (ICG), an international non-profit working to prevent and end conflicts.

From 1996 to 2001, Ms. Hurlburt served in the Clinton Administration. She initially served as a State Department speechwriter and member of the policy planning staff for Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright. From 1999 to 2001, she was a Special Assistant and speechwriter to President Clinton.

Prior to joining the Clinton Administration, Ms. Hurlburt ran a public speakers’ program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She also participated in European security and human rights negotiations as a staff member on the Congressional Helsinki Commission — and worked at the Center for Foreign Policy Development (now the Watson Center at Brown University).

Ms. Hurlburt writes and speaks extensively on foreign policy and security issues. Recent publications include "Can Europe Hack The Balkans?" Foreign Affairs (with Morton Abramowitz, September/October 2002) — and "Why Democrats Can’t Think Straight About War," (The Washington Monthly, November 2002. She lives in Michigan with her husband, Dr. Darius Sivin.