Ali Khedery

Ali Khedery is chairman and chief executive of Dragoman Partners, an international strategic advisory firm. He was previously an executive with Exxon Mobil Corporation where he was the architect and chief political negotiator of the company’s historic billion-dollar entry into the Kurdistan Region. Deemed “one of the best-connected men in Iraq” in a Pulitzer finalist Reuters special report, Khedery also served as special assistant to five American ambassadors in Iraq and as senior adviser to three four-star chiefs of U.S. Central Command. Khedery was the longest continuously serving American official in Iraq; involved with the drafting of Iraq’s Constitution and oil- and revenue sharing laws; and a member of the Strategic Framework and Security (SOFA) agreements negotiating team. He was a member of the U.S. government’s Senior Executive Service, and recipient of the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the Secretary of State’s Tribute, and the Joint Civilian Service Achievement Medal for his contributions to American and allied national security interests. An Aspen Institute Middle East Leadership Initiative fellow, he previously worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Office of the Governor of Texas. He attended The University of Texas at Austin.