Goli Ameri

Infobox Politician


image_size = 150px
name = Goli Ameri
office = U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs
party = Republican
birth_date = birth date and age|1956|9|26
birth_place = Tehran, Iran
residence = Portland, Oregon
nationality = Iranian-American
education = Stanford University (B.A., 1977), (M.A., 1979)
spouse = Jamsheed "Jim" Ameri

Goli Ameri (in Persian: گلی عامری "née" Goli Yazdi, born September 26, 1956) is an Iranian-American politician, diplomat and businesswoman from the U.S. state of Oregon. She is the current United States Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs. She ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican in 2004, and is a former delegate to the United Nations. She was born in Tehran, Iran.

Life and business career

Ameri first came to the United States when she was 17 in 1974 to attend Stanford University. There, she earned a B.A. in Communications and French Literature and, later, her M.A. in Communications. She also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. At Stanford, she met and later married then-fellow student Jamsheed "Jim" Ameri, now a real estate investor. She became a United States citizen in 1989. [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/mar/102400.htm Goli Ameri Sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs] ] She has two sons. [http://www.usmission.ch/humanrights/2005/bios/ameri.htm U.S. Delegation to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights: Biography of Goli Ameri] ]

Ameri was founder and president of eTinium, Inc., a telecommunications consulting firm in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of over fifty market studies and wrote a bi-monthly industry analysis column for "Telephony" magazine. She has been quoted in such publications as The National Business Journals, "The Oregonian, The Seattle Times, The San Jose Mercury News," and "Internet Week" and has been invited as a speaker and moderator to industry conferences worldwide. Prior to founding eTinium, Ameri was a director at U.S. Leasing, a former division of Ford Credit and Fleet Bank, in San Francisco.

She served on the steering committee of the Babson in Oregon M.B.A. program, and is a member of the Oregon Steering Committee on the Campaign for Undergraduate Education for Stanford University. She was a trustee and the Vice Chair for Development for the Catlin Gabel School, overseeing fundraising activities for the scholarship fund and teacher education. Ameri has also taught Junior Achievement classes in Oregon. She is fluent in English, French and Persian, as well as conversant in Spanish.

In October 2007, Ameri was named as one of the "100 Most Powerful Women in the Northwest" by "The NW Women's Journal" for her UN service and her position on the Advisory Board of the National Education for Women’s Leadership program at the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. [ [http://www.nwwomensjournal.com/pdf/100women.pdf NW Women's Journal 100 Most Powerful Women in the Northwest] ]

Ameri received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor on May 11, 2008. [ [http://www.neco.org/08medalists.htm NECO: The 2008 Ellis Island Medal of Honor Recipients] ] The award is given annually to 100 recipients to pay tribute to the experiences and individual achievements of immigrants to the United States.

2004 campaign for Congress

In 2004, Ameri handily defeated moderate, small businessman Tim Phillips and conservative, software executive Jason Meshell by a 2-1 margin each to become the Oregon Republican Party's nominee for ushr|Oregon|1, in a challenge to three-term incumbent Democrat David Wu. [ [http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/may182004/abstract/rc.pdf May 18, 2004, Primary Election Abstract of Votes, Representative in Congress, 1st District] ]

Ameri's campaign gained a great deal of attention from political insiders in Washington, D.C. because of her fast-paced fundraising skills. [ [http://www.iranianamericanpac.org/candidates/2004_iapac/IA_C06.shtml IAPAC: Biography of Goli Ameri] ] She was dubbed one of the National Republican Congressional Committee's "Super Six" candidates. She was also ranked by the Federal Elections Commission as the number-one Congressional challenger candidate in the country in total dollars raised for the 2004 primary and general elections cycles. [ [http://www.fec.gov/press/press2004/20041028canstat/hsechlrec12g.pdf Federal Elections Commission: Top 50 House General Election Challenger Campaigns by Receipts] ]

The contest received national attention when, late in the campaign, Wu admitted that he had been disciplined for attempted sexual assault of a female classmate while he was a student at Stanford in 1976. Ameri did not focus on the issue initially, but heavily pushed it in the closing days of her campaign. Wu won the election with 58 percent of the vote; Ameri received 38 percent, and Dean Wolf, the Constitution Party candidate, received 4 percent. [ [http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/nov22004/abstract/rc.pdf November 2, 2004, General Election Abstract of Votes, Representative in Congress, 1st District] ]

United Nations service

In 2004, Ameri was appointed by George W. Bush as one of three public members of the United States' delegation to the 61st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which meets annually in Geneva, Switzerland.

In the summer of 2005, President Bush appointed Ameri as the head of the United States' delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, which is headquartered in New York City. There, she worked on UN Management Reform, the creation of the UN Human Rights Council and, due to her background in the field of high-technology, on the Internet Governance Portfolio. She was sworn in by then-U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton in September 2005 and served until the end of the session in December. She was confirmed retroactively by the United States Senate for this position on May 26, 2006. [ [http://thomas.loc.gov/r109/r109d26my6.html U.S. Senate: Friday, May 26, 2006 Daily Digest] ]

Ameri has also spoken at events on Middle East issues, democracy promotion and UN reform nationwide, including a testimony before the United States Helsinki Commission's Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe hearing, "The Iran Crisis: A Transatlantic Response," as well as at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, the World Affairs Council of Oregon, and the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder. [ [http://www.csce.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=ContentRecords.ViewDetail&ContentRecord_id=351&ContentType=H&CFID=3658792&CFTOKEN=82766250 CSCE :: Hearing :: The Iran Crisis: A Transatlantic Response] ] [http://www.newleadershiporegon.org/goli.html NEW Leadership Oregon: Goli Ameri] ]

In cooperation with the World Affairs Council of Oregon, Ameri organized and hosted a visit by eight East Asian United Nations Ambassadors as part of a public diplomacy trip to Portland in the spring of 2007.

Service as Assistant Secretary of State

On November 15, 2007, Ameri was nominated by President Bush to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, succeeding Dina Habib Powell and presiding over the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Bureau is largely responsible for the United States government's public diplomacy efforts abroad. After a series of Senate hearings in January and February 2008, she was confirmed by the Senate for the position on March 13, 2008. [ [http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/one_item_and_teasers/nom_confc.htm U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Nominations > Nominations Confirmed (Civilian)] ] Ameri was sworn in for the position on March 19, 2008. She is due to serve through the end of President Bush's second term in office.

thumb|right|U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Clifford Sobel, former Brazilian Supreme Court Chief JusticeEllen Gracie Northfleet, Mrs. Sobel, Goli Ameri andBrazilian Supreme Court Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski at the Brasilia International Visitor Reception.

As part of her duties, Ameri has traveled to different regions of the globe to promote cross-cultural understanding. Her first trip, in May 2008, was to the Persian Gulf, where she visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar to promote cultural and educational diplomacy in the region. In Dubai, Ameri met with alumni and officials of the International Visitor Leadership Program, which brings foreign participants to the United States each year to meet and confer with their professional counterparts. [ [http://exchanges.state.gov/EDUCATION/IVP/ International Visitor Leadership Program Information] ] In addition, she met with Sheikh Hahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. In Qatar, Ameri delivered remarks at Qatar University. [ [http://exchanges.state.gov/news/2008/051908.htm Assistant Secretary Ameri Travels to U.A.E. and Qatar to Promote Educational Diplomacy] ]

In late May 2008, Ameri traveled to Brazil to review U.S. public diplomacy efforts and meet with local leaders. In the capital city of Brasilia, Ameri met with Brazilian Minister of Education Fernando Haddad and Minister Eliana Zugaib, acting head of the Cultural Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While there, Ameri also announced an additional $1 million investment for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' Fulbright Program and signed a new Fulbright Agreement with the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. [ [http://exchanges.state.gov/news/2008/053008.htm Assistant Secretary Goli Ameri Visits South America] ]

In June 2008, she traveled to Azerbaijan. During her trip, she signed an agreement on behalf of the United States with Azerbaijani Minister of Education Misir Mardanov to increase the number of Azerbaijani students studying in the United States. [ [http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=50852 Azerbaijan and the US sign agreement on cooperation in study of Azerbaijanis in the United States] ] While in the capital city of Baku, Ameri also met with the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Mahmud Karimov and the leadership of the Academy's Manuscripts Institute, promising American help in preserving the country's ancient manuscripts. [ [http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=50826 US wants to cooperate with Manuscripts Institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences] ] She concluded her trip with a meeting with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, where the two stressed the importance of American-Azerbaijani relations. [ [http://ans-dx.com/nid77744.html Azerbaijani President receives US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs] ]

In July 2008, Ameri traveled to Indonesia to meet with educators, cultural experts, and alumni from U.S.-Indonesian exchange programs. While in the capital city of Jakarta, Ameri met with the Director General of Higher Education, Fasli Jalal, from the Ministry of National Education. Ameri also visited the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF) to meet with Fulbright Program alumni, board members, and staff. [ [http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=85330944 Senior US Cultural Affairs Official Visits Indonesia to Promote Exchanges] ]

Ameri appointed "The Nanny" star Fran Drescher as a United States Public Diplomacy Envoy on September 8, 2008, joining Michelle Kwan and Cal Ripken, Jr. as the third celebrity appointed to this role. Drescher will support American public diplomacy efforts, including raising awareness of women’s health issues, cancer awareness and patient empowerment. Drescher’s first trip will be to Romania, Hungary, Kosovo and Poland. [ [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/sept/109184.htm Assistant Secretary of State Goli Ameri to Name Fran Drescher as Public Diplomacy Envoy] ]

Ameri traveled to China and Vietnam as part of her duties in September 2008. In China, she met officials from the Ministry of Education. [ [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-09/18/content_7036922.htm Chinese education attractive to US students] ] While in Vietnam, Ameri opened a new consultancy and information office of the U.S. Institute of International Education in Ho Chi Minh City. [ [http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/250908/life_ne.htm http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/250908/life_ne.htm] ]

See also

* United States Department of State
* Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
* Iranian American
* Iranian women
* List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs

References

External links

* [http://exchanges.state.gov/ United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs] , Official website
* [http://exchanges.state.gov/ameribio.htm Goli Ameri Bio] , her official State Department biography
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/11/20071115-9.html Official White House Nomination] , press release on her 2007 nomination to be Assistant Secretary of State
* [http://www.etinium.net eTinium, Inc.] , her telecommunications consulting company
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1963061 "An All-American Race in Oregon"] , 2004 NPR Piece on Ameri-Wu campaign
* [http://www.fec.gov/press/press2004/20041028canstat/hsechlrec12g.pdf FEC Fundraising Rankings for 2004 Congressional Challengers] , slightly out-of-date, as it lists Ameri as #2, FEC filings from the campaign show almost $2.2 million raised overall, making her #1.

s-ttl|title=Republican Party Nominee
Oregon's 1st Congressional District|years=2004U.S. Secretary box
before= Dina Powell
after= Incumbent
start= March 2008
president= George W. Bush
department= Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs