Aler Grubbs

Aler Grubbs is a Senior Foreign Service officer and is  USAID’s Mission Director for West Bank and Gaza. She was recently USAID’s Mission Director for Burma and directed $180 million of annual USG assistance for democracy and governance, economic growth, health, education, and humanitarian assistance. She led USAID’s immediate response to Burma’s military coup in 2021 and defined a new strategy for assistance. Aler was Deputy Director for USAID’s Office of Budget and Resource Management (2017-2020) and provided direction and oversight for USAID’s annual, worldwide program budget of approximately $26 billion. She was Deputy Mission Director for USAID/Nigeria (2015-2017) and helped direct US development and humanitarian assistance of over $500 million annually. Her other assignments include: Egypt/regional Middle East Programs (2006-2008), Pakistan (2008-2009), Bosnia (2009- 2012), South Sudan (2012-2013), and Central Asia (Kazakhstan) (2014-2015). Aler’s work advances U.S. development and diplomacy to achieve U.S. foreign policy goals.

Prior to joining USAID, Aler worked at the UN headquarters in Geneva; supported research and analysis at the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (Monterey); taught English in Central America and Germany; and worked on local journalism and advertising at a newspaper in Boulder, Colorado.

Aler has an M.A. in International Policy Studies from Middlebury Institute of International Studies (in Monterey, California), and a B.A./Magna Cum Laude in Humanities from University of Colorado. She speaks Spanish and German and has basic knowledge of Arabic and Russian.