Azita Raji

“I want everyone who saw the U.S. as a country where justice, accountability, and respect for human dignity were honored at every level of government and society to continue to see us that way,” Azita Raji, former U.S. ambassador to Sweden, wrote in a recent “Newsweek” op-ed. Raji, the first female to hold the ambassadorship, was nominated for the State Department's highest award for a non-career ambassador, the Sue M. Cobb Prize for Exemplary Diplomatic Service, in 2016. During the 2012 presidential elections, Raji served as national finance vice chair and chair of the Swing State Victory Fund for the Obama campaign. She has held various leadership roles on national boards at organizations including Barnard College, the Center for American Progress, and the National Partnership for Women and Families. A former investment banker, Raji has extensive experience in U.S. and global financial markets, and has held senior executive positions on Wall Street. She is a senior fellow at the Institute of European Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and is a recipient of the 2017 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which celebrates distinguished Americans. Updated 2018