Ambassador Harriet C. Babbitt (Hattie) is a member of Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, PLC, and practices international law in Washington, D.C. Ambassador Babbitt served as U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) from 1993 to 1997. While in that role she led the U.S. negotiating effort for the world’s first anti-corruption convention and helped strengthen the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.

Formerly, Ambassador Babbitt served as senior vice president of Hunt Alternatives Fund and directed the Washington office of The Initiative for Inclusive Security. She also served as a senior public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

She served as deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from 1993-1994. As the second most senior official overseeing the U.S. foreign assistance program, Ambassador Babbitt oversaw programs in the fields of democratization, humanitarian relief, women’s empowerment, economic growth, education, health, and the environment. Her responsibilities included managing the Clean Development Mechanism efforts to combat global climate change and overseeing USAID efforts to assist post-conflict reconstruction in the Balkans and East Timor.

Ambassador Babbitt is an alumna of Arizona State University and of the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University.