Hagar Hajjar Chemali is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. She is an expert on sanctions, counter-terrorist financing policy and the Middle East.

Chemali hosts a weekly, 10-minute world news show on YouTube called Oh My World! She is the founder and CEO of Greenwich Media Strategies, LLC, which provides strategic communications consulting and public affairs services in the areas of national security, counter-illicit finance, and business. She is also a writer and commentator on national security issues and is regularly featured on MSNBC, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, and Cheddar.

Chemali’s professional background and expertise has been shaped by a number of senior public affairs and policy-making positions she held over the course of 12 years in the US Government. Prior to launching her company in 2016, she was director of communications and spokesperson for the US Mission to the United Nations under President Obama.

Before joining the US Mission, Chemali was spokesperson for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Department of the Treasury where she handled all public affairs related to sanctions policy, illicit finance, and enforcement actions.

From 2010-2012, Chemali was director for Syria and Lebanon at the National Security Council at the White House, where she advised on and coordinated the implementation of US policy toward Syria and Lebanon. Chemali also worked as a senior policy advisor on Asia and policy advisor on the Middle East in the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the US Treasury.

Chemali is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs where she concentrated in International Security Policy and the Middle East. She is also a graduate of Columbia University’s Barnard College where she majored in Political Science.