Sarah Morgenthau

Special Representative Sarah Morgenthau was appointed by President Biden in October 2023 to lead the Office of Commercial and Business Affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. The Office of Commercial and Business Affairs advances trade, commercial, and economic policies for America’s workers and the middle-class to help create jobs and strengthen U.S. communities. Special Representative Morgenthau leads efforts to expand U.S. exports through commercial advocacy and to create and advance a level playing field for U.S. workers and companies overseas.

Special Representative Morgenthau has extensive experience in senior federal government and private sector roles and brings strong leadership expertise in building relationships and advancing organizational, program, and policy objectives. 

Special Representative Morgenthau recently ran as a candidate for U.S. Congress in Rhode
Island. Prior to that, she was a Deputy Assistant Secretary for travel and tourism in the
Department of Commerce where she worked across the federal government and in close
coordination with industry leaders to reopen international travel during the pandemic. She also
served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, where she was
the liaison between the business community and government, facilitating engagement and
strategic communication on key national security issues while expanding public-private
partnerships. She was also a senior official at the Peace Corps, where she helped lead the
exploratory for and launch of a global health public private partnership in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Special Representative Morgenthau’s deep private sector background includes serving as a
lawyer and as co-head of business development for a global investigations firm. As a lawyer,
she practiced at an international firm in New York City, as a staff attorney in the Enforcement
Division at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was a law clerk to a U.S. District
Court Judge. She has served on the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations, including the
international non-governmental organization Pact, the Anti-Defamation League, the DC
Volunteer Lawyers Project, and the Homeland Security Advisory Board in Rhode Island. She is
also a member of the $40 million capital campaign for the new labor and delivery unit at
Women & Infants Hospital in Rhode Island.  

Special Representative Morgenthau graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard College with a
degree in Political Science and earned a Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law.