Biography

Owen Kirby has recently served as the Director of USAID Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) where he oversaw U.S. assistance programs to nations struggling to build democracy and peace. He is one of the foremost international political consultants with more than 25 years of foreign policy experience working with a range of partners in the private and public sector.

He was the director of OTI from 2018-2021. Prior to that, he was appointed as the senior governance advisor in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan in 2009 and served as the senior adviser in the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs from 2004-2009. Additionally, he held senior posts in the George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations. As a highly regarded Middle East expert, he played a key role working closely with an array of clients throughout in the Middle East, including top political leaders of Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority. Kirby specializes in governance issues, particularly political party development, public opinion polling and elections.