ABOUT MERYL

Meryl Frank is an international champion of women’s leadership, human rights and political participation. She provides expert advice to women on effective communication, campaigning, constituent relations and good governance, as well as strategic planning for effective policymaking. She is also a frequent speaker on gender, health, environment, and refugee issues worldwide.

Frank was appointed as the United States Representative, and subsequently, as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) by President Barack Obama in February 2009.

She was selected as one of “The Fifty Most Influential Jews in the World” by the Jerusalem Post (2012) for her work on behalf of women around the world.

Prior to her appointment as Ambassador, Frank was elected Mayor of Highland Park, New Jersey. She served in that capacity for ten years, from January 2000 to January 2010.

Frank is currently the President of Makeda Global Network, an international consulting firm specializing in leadership and media training, messaging and strategic planning. At MGN she works with thousands of women worldwide, as diverse as Masaai women in Kenya, women Members of Parliament in Afghanistan, and managers at the Microsoft Corporation.

She is the co-editor of The Parental Leave Crisis - Toward a National Policy, and was Director of the Infant Care Leave Project at the Yale Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy. She was instrumental in the development and passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Frank has served in the leadership of many national and international organization’s governing boards, including the President of American Jewish Congress - Women’s Division, Jewish Women International (JWI) and Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom (SOSS) and Warmheart Worldwide and The Connecting Group. She was appointed by President Biden to the US Holocaust Memorial Council in May 2022 and the Board of YIVO in September 2022. She has also played leadership roles in many political councils and boards including, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) National Women’s Leadership Forum, the National Finance Committee (NFC) for the Kerry for President, Hillary Clinton for President, Obama for President and Biden for President campaigns.

Frank is a graduate of Rutgers University and Yale University where she earned graduate degrees in International Relations, Political Science and Public Health.