Liz Brailsford is president & CEO of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, joining the office from the World Affairs Councils of America, the umbrella organization in Washington, DC, where she served as chief operating officer.
Liz’s career has crossed all sectors: nonprofit, private, and public. She joined the Council with a career in stakeholder relations, business development, program and event management, operations, and talent engagement. Her love of all things international began after undergrad during her years in the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Program, a Japanese government program that places native English-speaking teachers in public schools across the country. This experience cemented her desire to pursue a career in the international arena. Following Liz’s time in Japan, she led the international department at Relocation Today, a global mobility firm, where she headed operations, business development, client relations, and staff management of the department. After Relocation Today, she served as a consultant both to Panagora, a DC-based implementing partner of USAID, and the USDA’s Food for Progress Program, responsible for communications at the former and research and analysis at the latter.
Liz currently serves as an international task force member of the Dallas Regional Chamber; an ex-officio board member with the North Texas Commission; a board member of Asia Society Texas; and an advisory committee member of the U.S. Global Leadership Commission of the Southwest region. In the past, Liz served on the boards of multiple Japan-related nonprofits, such as the Japan America Society of Minnesota, the JET Alumni Association of Minnesota, and the Saint Paul-Nagasaki Sister City Committee. She also regularly participates as a mentor in programs for young women professionals seeking careers in foreign policy and international relations. Liz is currently a member of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, the UN Association of the U.S., League of Women Voters, and a sustaining member of the U.S. JET Alumni Association.
She holds an M.P.A. in global policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School (and served on the school’s alumni association board) and a B.A. in media arts from the University of South Carolina.
