Biographies

USAID Afghanistan Leadership in Washington D.C.

Karen Freeman - Assistant to the Administrator

Jason Foley - Deputy Assistant to the Administrator

Kevin Brownawell - Acting Deputy Assistant to the Administrator

USAID Mission Director Peter Duffy

Peter Duffy is the Mission Director for USAID/Afghanistan. He previously served on the faculty of the Department of National Security and Economic Policy at the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School. In this role, he taught Economics, Business Strategy, and American Studies, as well as guest lectures on a range of subjects related to foreign affairs.

A Senior Foreign Service Officer with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), he has more than eighteen years’ experience designing and overseeing U.S. government economic development programs overseas. From 2015-2019, he served as Mission Director of the USAID Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In that role, he led USAID’s efforts to promote the country’s increased Euro-Atlantic integration by fostering more effective and accountable institutions and advancing market-oriented economic reforms.

Mr. Duffy has completed two prior assignments to Afghanistan. From 2014-2015, he served as a Deputy Director at USAID/Afghanistan, where he oversaw strategic planning and implementation of USG efforts in health, education, and governance. From 2012-2013, he was the Director of the Office of Program and Project Development, overseeing budget, project design and coordination with the World Bank on the implementation of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund. He also supported the establishment of the Mission’s “Third Party Monitoring” and “On-Budget” programs.

He has also previously served in Ukraine, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 2003, Mr. Duffy served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan.

Mr. Duffy holds a B.S. in Television, Radio, and Film Management and Business Administration from Syracuse University and an M.B.A from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management. Mr. Duffy is a native of Reading, Massachusetts.

USAID Deputy Mission Director Gabriel "Gabe" Grau

Mr. Gabriel Grau is currently the Deputy Mission Director for the USAID Mission to Afghanistan. In this role, he leads the Mission’s staffing and program portfolios valued at $1.6 billion with 210 total staff. Previously, Mr. Grau served as USAID’s Senior Development Advisor for the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). He provided CENTCOM with strategic advice and guidance on humanitarian, stabilization and development policy and trends throughout the region.

Mr. Grau is a Senior Foreign Service Officer and has served with USAID for twenty-four years starting in D.C. and moving through Thailand, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Djibouti and in Tampa, FL. Mr. Grau worked as a Development Credit Officer structuring multi-million dollar credit guarantees for Latin/Central America, the Caribbean, and South and East Asia. He has also served as a Project Design Officer, a Program Officer, a Stabilization Officer, and most recently, as a Country Director. He started his career on the Hill as a member of Congressman Donald Payne’s office staffing the Congressional Black Caucus and subsequently moved into international financial consulting. Mr. Grau also served in the Colombian Military Forces, deployed with the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai, Egypt.

Mr. Grau holds a Master degree in Public Affairs from the University of Maryland. Mr. Grau speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese and has a working knowledge of Japanese and French.