Senior International Affairs Adviser J. Adam Ereli
Adam Ereli is a proven leader and innovator in the fields of foreign government relations, international education, business development, commercial advocacy, and media relations and crisis communications. He built a 24-year career as a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State. During his distinguished tenure, he developed close relationships with leaders in government, business and the media in the United States and the Middle East.
Most recently, Ereli served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Affairs, where he oversaw U.S. government cultural and educational exchange programs with foreign governments, and managed a budget of $650 million. In addition to cultivating outstanding relations with Congressional staff in support of this significant budget appropriation, Ereli forged cooperative agreements with numerous foreign governments to expand the size and scope of educational and cultural exchanges.
As Ambassador to Bahrain from 2007-2011, Ereli tripled U.S. foreign direct investment, including significant joint-venture partnerships with such industry leaders as Occidental Petroleum and Thomson-Reuters, as well as the $3 billion sale of Boeing aircraft to the national carrier. He also negotiated important base access and security cooperation agreements on behalf of the United States.
As Deputy Spokesman for the Department of State from 2003-2006, Ereli managed strategic communications, media relations, messaging and crisis communications for Secretaries Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. He has appeared in hundreds of hours of on-the-record briefings, interviews and talk shows on U.S. and foreign news networks in English, Arabic and French. In addition to traveling with the Secretary, Ambassador Ereli played a pivotal role in leading the administration’s communications response to numerous international crises during this period, including the Ukrainian Orange Revolution, the global tsunami of 2005, the 2006 surge of U.S. forces to Iraq, and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.