Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba
President Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow, AGSI
marcelle.wahba@agsiw.orgAmbassador Marcelle M. Wahba is president emeritus and distinguished fellow of the Arab Gulf States Institute. She served as the founding president of AGSIW from December 10, 2014 until May 24, 2019. Prior to her appointment as president, Wahba led DerMar International, LLC, a consulting firm focused on assisting American businesses seeking to establish or expand their presence in the Middle East. Consulting assignments included PineBridge Investments, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Department of Defense, and Northrop Grumman.
Wahba retired from the U.S. Department of State in May 2008, class of Minister Counselor, after a 22-year career spent mostly in the Middle East. Wahba was confirmed as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates in October 2001. She received the White House Presidential Meritorious Service Award for her service in the UAE and was decorated with the UAE’s Order of Independence. Her Washington assignments included serving at the Pentagon as the foreign affairs advisor to the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force and as the deputy at the National War College of the National Defense University at Fort McNair.
Wahba graduated from Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a minor in international relations. She received a Diploma in National Security from the National War College, National Defense University, Washington, DC in June 2006.
Wahba is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the board of CIEE, and is on the board of advisors to the Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce.
Speeches
Keynote Address of Women in Energy Conference hosted by ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi, UAE, November 16, 2017
Analysis
The Son Also Rises: The One-Year Anniversary of Mohammed bin Zayed’s Presidency
Balancing family and state-federal dynamics while staying in line with regional tendencies on succession, Mohammed bin Zayed names his son Khaled crown prince.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan: The Unassuming Leader Who Laid the Infrastructure for the UAE’s Transformation to a Modern State
Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba, AGSIW president emeritus and former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, reflects on the rule of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, following the May 13 death of the UAE's president.
Social and Economic Transformation in the Gulf Has Already Begun, but It Remains in Its Early Stages
It is increasingly clear that energy resources and revenues alone cannot sustain Gulf Arab economies and societies for the long term. So, the quest for economic diversification is an overriding imperative and is a paramount economic, social and national security challenge. Therefore, two of the biggest challenges facing the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf...
Can the US Engage Effectively in Today’s Middle East?
The Middle East is undergoing a period of profound transition. There are failed or failing states in Libya and Yemen, a raging civil war in Syria and ongoing instability in Iraq. Egypt has returned to a familiar style of uneasy stability under a new authoritarian regime. The role of political Islam continues to be fiercely...
Sep 29, 2017
The Role of the Gulf Arab States in a Transforming Middle East
The Middle East finds itself at a moment of profound change. The transformations underway are significant enough to invite comparisons to the era in which the political landscape of the modern Middle East took shape. The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the events of the Arab Spring in 2010-11 have been key turning points....
Events
Sep 27, 2022
Contemporary Female Voices in the UAE Art Sphere
On Tuesday September 27, AGSIW and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, DC co-hosted a panel discussion featuring the curator and artists participating in the exhibition: “While the Coffee Grounds Settle: Stories from Women in the UAE.”
Speakers
Nov 5, 2020
Gulf-Palestinian Relations After the Abraham Accords
On November 5, AGSIW hosted a virtual panel discussion on the future of Gulf-Palestinian relations.
Speakers
Dec 9, 2018
UAE Security Forum 2018: “Yemen after the War: Addressing the Challenges of Peace and Reconstruction”
For the third consecutive year, AGSIW convened the UAE Security Forum, where U.S., UAE, and regional partners gather to find creative solutions to some of the region’s most pressing challenges.
Speakers
Nov 29, 2016
A Conversation with H.E. Yousef Al Otaiba
On November 29, AGSIW hosted a roundtable with H.E. Yousef Al Otaiba, ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, as part of a new AGSIW series, “The Trump Administration and the GCC Countries."
Speakers
Jun 30, 2017
Gulf Rift Threatens Region’s Stability
The dispute between Qatar and its Arab neighbors has now entered its fourth week, causing an uptick in tension throughout the Middle East. The Cipher Brief’s Bennett Seftel spoke with Marcelle Wahba, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, about the reasons behind Qatar’s isolation as well as why Qatar has elected to pursue...
1 min read