Gayle Smith has worked in the field of international affairs for her entire career. She lived and worked in Africa for almost 20 years as a reporter covering regional conflicts and in humanitarian emergencies. She joined the Clinton Administration as Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, and as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, where she led the Sustainable Security Program.
She served on the Obama-Biden Transition Team and then at the National Security Council as the Senior Director covering global development, democracy and humanitarian emergencies, and as the Administrator of the US Agency for International Development. In 2017 Smith was appointed CEO of the ONE Campaign. During the pandemic she took temporary leave to serve as the Coordinator for the Global Covid-19 Response and Health Security at the Department of State. She serves on the board of the Skoll Foundation and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.