Ms. Friedman is the founder and CEO of the Wisteria Group, an international advisory firm dedicated to expanding the international presence and effectiveness of business and nonprofit clients. She brings to her work over twenty-five years of experience as a U.S. diplomat.

As White House National Security Council director for Afghanistan in the Obama Administration, she advised the president on Afghanistan policy and negotiated the U.S.-Afghan Strategic Partnership. Prior to that, she was embedded in a US brigade in Afghanistan, where she managed an international development team. Her diplomatic portfolios have included speechwriter and political adviser to Ambassador Walter Mondale; member of the US delegation to the Six-Party Talks with North Korea; participation in the 1995 Dayton Peace negotiations for Bosnia and Herzegovina; and UN oversight of the destruction of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction during the first Gulf War.

Ms. Friedman received her BA with honors from Harvard University and her JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.