Leadership Council: Chidi Blyden-Rowe

Chidi Blyden-Rowe is an expert on Africa’s conflicts, security and development issues. She most recently led the Africa Program at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, responsible for strategy, growth, and implementation of the Africa portfolio. She served in the Obama Administration from 2013-2017 as the Special Assistant and Regional Director to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense for African Affairs in the Office of Secretary for Defense for Policy. In this capacity she worked on security issues in East and Central Africa and as the Africa Peacekeeping Advisor to the office of Stability and Humanitarian Affairs. Prior to her appointment, she was the Academic Operations Coordinator at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), providing strategic leadership in the business and administrative operations of the Academic Dean’s Office. From 2007–2011 she served as an Academic Associate at ACSS—researching East and Southern Africa and contributing to academic material for programs on counter-terrorism, defense economics, conflict management, security studies and civil-military relations for Africa’s security sector professionals. She is an alumni of Texas A&M University (BS-Sociology), and George Mason University (MS -Conflict Analysis and Resolution) and the Annie Walsh Secondary School for Girls (Freetown, Sierra Leone).