Nicole Wilett

Biography

Nicole Wilett is Deputy Director for Program Advocacy and Communications at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, leading the gender equality and family planning portfolios. In this role Ms. Wilett leads policy, advocacy, and communications strategies for Melinda Gates’ priority work in the world’s poorest nations. Previously, Ms. Wilett was Senior Vice President for Africa at the Albright Stonebridge Group. In these roles, Ms. Wilett has drawn on the breadth of her previous experience within the U.S. government foreign policy architecture, including at the National Security Council, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Senate, where she has long focused on international democracy and governance, human rights, development, and security issues.

Previously, Ms. Wilett served as a Senior Professional Staff Member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), where she managed oversight of U.S. policy on global health and Africa. Ms. Wilett served twice as Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, where she coordinated U.S. policy across key national security agencies.

Ms. Wilett was Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff to the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in South Africa. She has served in a variety of other capacities at the Department of State, including her long tenure in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, where she managed portfolios in South Asia and Africa and deployed to several U.S. missions. She was also a foreign policy fellow for Senator Hillary Clinton.

Before joining the State Department, Ms. Wilett worked for several non-profit organizations, including the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and on domestic campaigns. She has an M.P.A. from Indiana University, where she also concentrated in African studies, and a B.A. from Syracuse University in psychology and women’s studies.