Rima Kawas is a Senior Advisor at the International Republic Institute (IRI) where she provides technical programatic advice and leads on strategic initiatives.

Prior to this, Rima was the Deputy Regional Director of MENA Division where she provided leadership to IRI’s country offices and a multi-million dollar portfolio focused on citizen-responsive governance, women’s political leadership and gender equality, legislative strengthening, and civil society capacity building throughout the MENA region.

With more than 15 years of governance experience, including her role as Director of Governance and Collaborative Learning at IRI, Rima’s public and private sector expertise is wide-ranging.  She worked at a Fortune 50 company in government relations where she led an extensive public policy portfolio and worked at many levels of government, most notably as a Senior Policy Advisor to a former Governor. 

Passionate about civic engagement both in her local and global community, Rima serves on the Humphrey School Alumni Board at the University of Minnesota and the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) Board of Trustees.

Rima has visited and implemented programs in over 50 countries. She has spoken at many global conferences and published in various outlets including the Diplomatic Courier and Modern Diplomacy.