Colin Thomas-Jensen

"Colin Thomas-Jensen is a senior expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he works on inclusive peace processes and international partnerships. From 2013 to 2017, Thomas-Jensen served as senior policy advisor for Africa to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and as deputy director of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations’ Washington, D.C. office. From 2010 to 2012, he worked at the Department of State as the special advisor to the special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan. Earlier in his career, Thomas-Jensen worked in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance at USAID, including as a humanitarian responder in Darfur, Sudan in 2004 and in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.

"Thomas-Jensen has held senior research and policy positions with the Center for American Progress, where he helped found the Enough Project, and at the International Crisis Group. In 2017 and 2018, he was a member of the U.N. Panel of Experts for South Sudan. His research and analysis have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Current History, the Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Globe, and the Yale Journal of International Affairs.

"Thomas-Jensen served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia and Mozambique and has traveled extensively throughout Africa. He is a graduate of Pomona College and has a master’s in African studies from the University of London’s School for Oriental and African Studies. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his two daughters." "