Speaker Bios:
Deborah E. Lipstadt was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 30, 2022, as the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, with the rank of Ambassador. As Special Envoy, she leads efforts to advance U.S. foreign policy to counter antisemitism throughout the world. Ambassador Lipstadt has a storied career as a historian, academic, and author. At Emory University’s Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, which she helped to found, she served as the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies. She also taught at the University of Washington, UCLA and Occidental College. Ambassador Lipstadt also served as the director of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute and was a research fellow at the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ambassador Lipstadt was a historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, helping design the section of the Museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust. She has held a Presidential appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council (from Presidents Clinton and Obama) and was asked by President George W. Bush to represent the White House at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Ambassador Lipstadt holds a BA from the City College of New York and an MA and PhD from Brandeis University.
Ned Price currently serves as the Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. He has
worked at the Department of State since January 2021, when he assumed the role of Department Spokesperson, a title he held until March 2023. He previously was Co-Founder and Director of Policy and Communications at National Security Action, a non-profit advocacy organization.
During the Obama-Biden administration, he served as Special Assistant to President Obama on the National Security Council staff, where he also was the Spokesperson and Senior Director for Strategic Communications. Prior to his time at the White House, he was at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he was a senior analyst and Spokesperson. He has been an NBC News analyst and contributor and taught at Georgetown University. He graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and received a Master’s from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is originally from Dallas, Texas.
Aaron Keyak currently serves as the Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism
at the U.S. Department of State. In helping lead this office, he works to advance U.S. foreign
policy to counter antisemitism throughout the world. Deputy Special Envoy Keyak is an experienced leader and interfaith coalition builder who has previously held senior roles advising members of Congress, the Obama Administration, and the Biden-Harris Administration transition team.
As an accomplished foreign policy hand and publicist, he has counseled various members of
Congress and served as the top Middle East adviser and Communications Director for
Representatives Jerry Nadler and Steve Rothman. Deputy Special Envoy Keyak serves as a term
member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and was selected as a Truman National
Security Project scholar. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Washington
University in St. Louis.