Cecily Brewer is a nonresident scholar in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her research focuses on the U.S. approach to, and conduct of, international negotiations to advance American foreign policy.

Brewer was previously a senior expert with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) where she focused on international negotiations, mediation, and peace processes. Prior to that, she was a career civil servant in the White House and with the U.S. Department of State for more than 15 years. At the White House, Brewer served as the Vice President’s foreign policy advisor for Africa and global counter-terrorism. In that role and at the State Department, she helped craft and implement a forward-looking U.S. Africa policy. As a member of the Secretary of State’s policy planning team, she also enhanced how the U.S. conducts policy planning through the systematic anticipation and incorporation of potential future events into planning. This included the creation of a senior-level group to identify and plan for major potential policy disruptions and opportunities.

In earlier positions at the State Department, Brewer advised four special envoys/representatives, was part of the U.S. mediation team for Sudan-South Sudan negotiations, and drafted U.S. whole-of-government strategies for the Sahel, Burma/Myanmar, and Afghanistan. She served at seven U.S. embassies and consulates in Africa, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Before joining government, Brewer worked for an NGO in South Sudan, a foreign policy think tank in Berlin, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 

Brewer has published a scholarly paper on ending proxy wars in the journal International Negotiation as well as analytic pieces on timely negotiation cases and trends. She grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana, and holds a B.A. from Amherst College and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).