Nancy Halliday Ely-Raphel

b. 1937 -

Service History

• US Ambassador to Slovenia, 1998 – 2001

Biography

Nancy Ely-Raphel most recently served as vice president and managing director of Save the Children. Before that appointment, she was the counselor on international law at the US Department of State.

Ambassador Ely-Raphel served as senior advisor to the secretary of state. From 2001 to 2003, Ely-Raphel was director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, where she established that office and led the State Department’s efforts to develop and implement policy to combat trafficking in persons. From 1998 until 2001, she was the US ambassador to Slovenia. Before her service in Slovenia, she served as the coordinator for Bosnia, assistant legal advisor for African Affairs and Nuclear Affairs, and the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Ambassador Ely-Raphel worked as an assistant US attorney, associate dean of Boston University School of Law, and senior trial attorney with the Organized Crime Strike Force of the US Department of Justice. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she is the recipient of various awards, including the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive in 1991 and 1999, the University of San Diego’s Author E. Hughes Award for lifetime career achievement in 2001, and the Director General’s Cup of the Department of State in 2004.

Ambassador Ely-Raphel has three children—John, Robert, and Stephanie—and five grandchildren—Elizabeth, Katherine, Aaron, Toua, and Sarah.