Dr. Nancy H. Stetson has 26 years of experience on Capitol Hill, serving as Senator John Kerry's Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and as a Professional Staff Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for over 26 years.

While working with Senator Kerry from 1991 to 2007, Stetson advised the Senator on all national security issues as well as developed legislative strategies on a wide range of foreign policy issues, including Iraq, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, relations with China, the Middle East peace process, global HIV/AIDS issues, U.S. policy toward Cuba, and the normalization of relations with Vietnam. Nancy served as Senator Kerry's chief representative in meetings with foreign dignitaries and traveled with him extensively on all official missions. Nancy served, on a volunteer basis, as a senior advisor and member of Kerry’s national security strategy team during his 2004 presidential campaign.

As a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee staff, Nancy was involved in the formulation of legislation and strategy on high profile issues, nominations and treaties for the Democratic members. Nancy was the lead Committee staffer on global health issues, including HIV/AIDS, working to forge bipartisan policy responses. She served as the Democratic staff director for the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, with jurisdiction over a broad range of issues including nonproliferation, terrorism, counternarcotics, crime, and trade promotion. Nancy developed the legislative initiatives establishing both the Vietnam Fulbright Program and the Vietnam Education Foundation. In addition, her responsibilities on the Foreign Relations Committee included international exchanges, public diplomacy, and legislation authorizing funding for the Department of State.

During the 1980s Nancy served as the Committee's specialist on African affairs and spearheaded successful legislative efforts to establish the Development Fund for Africa as well as impose sanctions on South Africa to bring about an end to apartheid. More recently, her focus shifted towards developing comprehensive legislation to address HIV/AIDS and other deadly infectious diseases by increasing federal funding for care and treatment, and the creation of incentives for vaccine development. The Global Aids and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000, a product of legislative initiatives offered by Senator Kerry and others on the Committee, was the largest federal response at that time to a global health crisis. The U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2002, sponsored by Senators Kerry and Frist and unanimously approved by the Senate, mandated for the first time a comprehensive U.S. government strategy to respond to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and dramatically increased funding for the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In 2003 this bill became the foundation for the global AIDS legislation which created PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief).

After leaving Capitol Hill in 2006, Nancy worked independently as a policy, legislative, and campaign strategist for clients in the foreign policy and domestic health areas. She has traveled extensively in Asia and Africa, throughout Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

A native of Rhode Island, Nancy received her B.A. degree from Wellesley College and master's degrees and doctorate in Political Science from Columbia University where she was the recipient of a Presidential Scholar. Nancy was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah prior to working on Capitol Hill and has worked as an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University's Elliot School of International Affairs.

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