The Worldwide Women’s Association Recognizes Merissa Khurma

Merissa Khurma is a distinguished policy expert, global strategist, and thought leader on Middle East affairs, currently serving as a non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute at Rice University and founder and CEO of AMENA Strategies LLC, a consulting firm focused on geopolitical analysis and strategic communications. She recently founded AMENA Foundation which centers its work on women and youth empowerment in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. With decades of experience spanning diplomacy, policy development, and international leadership, she is widely recognized for her work at the intersection of geopolitics, economic development, and social transformation across MENA.

From 2018 to 2025, Khurma served as Program Director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, where she led high-impact programming across four strategic pillars: regional geopolitics and U.S. national security, economic development in MENA, sociopolitical dynamics and civil society, and the Middle East Women’s Initiative. Under her leadership, the program became a key platform for advancing dialogue, research, and policy solutions on some of the region’s most pressing challenges.
Khurma brings extensive leadership experience across a wide range of policy initiatives throughout the Middle East and Africa. Her work has focused on political risk analysis, economic growth and digitization, migration and refugee issues, education, youth and gender development, as well as governance and leadership. Her ability to connect policy, practice, and people has made her a trusted voice among global policymakers and stakeholders.

Earlier in her career, Khurma served in diplomatic roles for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, including directing the Office of Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein from 2010 to 2013 and serving as Director of the Jordan Information Bureau in Washington, D.C. from 2003 to 2010. In these roles, she played a critical part in advancing Jordan’s international engagement and strategic communications.

In addition to her policy work, Khurma is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches leadership and mentors the next generation of global leaders.
She holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, a Master of Science in International Security and Foreign Policy from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from McGill University. Fluent in Arabic and French, Khurma brings a truly global perspective to her work.

Worldwide Women’s Association member Merissa Khurma can be found on the directory where she is looking forward to networking with you.