Stefanie Hausheer Ali was the deputy director of empowerME at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. EmpowerME focuses on shaping innovative investments to empower entrepreneurs, women, and the private sector in the Middle East. EmpowerME also develops strategies and policies to drive sustainable prosperity through the creation of dynamic entrepreneurial economies, the economic participation of women, the integration of regional economies, and educational transformation. Stefanie helped establish and currently oversees the WIn (Women Innovators) Fellowship for women entrepreneurs, a new collaboration between the Atlantic Council and Georgetown University launched in Saudi Arabia in 2022.

Stefanie joined the Atlantic Council in 2013. Her past work at the Council includes serving as project manager for: the Iraq Initiative; the Middle East Strategy Task Force co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley; and the Task Force on the Future of Iraq chaired by Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

Stefanie was formerly a research fellow with the King Salman Center for Local Governance in Riyadh where she studied the impact of Saudi Arabia’s recent higher education initiatives and was a graduate research assistant at George Washington University’s Institute for Middle East Studies. She holds a master’s degree in Middle East Studies from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and a bachelor’s degree in political science and Italian studies from Saint Louis University. She is proficient in Arabic and Italian.