Wa'el Alzayat is CEO of Emgage, a national civic education and engagement grassroots organization for Muslim Americans, and a lecturer at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. Alzayat previously served as a U.S. Middle East policy expert at the U.S. Department of State for ten years, including as senior policy advisor to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, Syria outreach coordinator with Ambassador Robert Ford, and special assistant to U.S. Ambassador to the Iraq James Jeffrey.

Alzayat has long been a passionate advocate for protecting fundamental American values and freedoms, and increasing the civic engagement of minority communities. Alzayat was recently named Top 10 Inspiring Arab Americans Leaders by the Huffington Post. Alzayat is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute.