Constance Berry Newman

Constance Berry Newman is a Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Africa Center, Atlantic Council and Special Counsel, African Affairs, the Carmen Group.

She has had extensive experience in developing programs for the U.S. Government, the District of Columbia Government and international organizations. She held seven presidential appointments, five confirmed by the Senate. In 2019, Government Executive Magazine selected Newman as one of 20 members inducted in the Inaugural Government Hall of Fame.

Newman’s primary interests and hence contributions have been addressing: poverty; civil and human rights; and advancing democracy around the world.

Newman served as Director of the Office of Personnel Management under President George H. W. Bush. Under President George W. Bush, she was assistant administrator for Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development and assistant secretary of State for African Affairs. Newman was the President of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund beginning in 2005.

Newman began her federal career as a clerk-typist in the Interior Department in 1962. Later, she was director of VISTA, a Consumer Product Safety Commissioner, and assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development. For eight years, beginning in 1992, Newman was undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Newman serves on the boards of the International Republican Institute, National Council of Negro Women, and the Graduate School, USA. Since 2010, she has been adjunct faculty member, Georgetown University Department of Government. She is faculty member, Masters Series for Distinguished Leaders. Her 1956 undergraduate degree was from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. In 1959, she earned a law degree (B.S.L.) from the University of Minnesota Law School.