Varina Winder is the former Chief of Staff and senior advisor in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues. Prior to serving at the State Department, she worked at the United Nations Foundation in support of improving women’s access to global family planning

She served previously as Senior Policy Advisor in S/GWI, where she advised on gender-based violence, women’s and girls’ health, and multilateral affairs. She has also worked in the office of the Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources, at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, and on the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration’s Gender and Youth team. She began her career as a policy analyst for the Alliance for Children and Families and as legislative aide to her hometown Congressman.

Varina holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Bachelors’ degrees in English and Spanish from Georgetown University. She speaks fluent Spanish and lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two children.