Ambassador Leaf served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2022-2025, overseeing 21 diplomatic posts, $7.5 billion in foreign assistance, and policies and programs from Morocco to Yemen. Appointed in January 2021 as Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa and Special Assistant to President Biden, Ambassador Leaf left The Washington Institute for Near East Policy where she had directed the Arab Politics Program from 2018-2021.

Ambassador Leaf served as the U.S. Ambassador to the UAE from 2014-2018.

She previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Arabian Peninsula and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq. Earlier assignments included Basrah, Rome, Director of the Office of Iranian Affairs, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Paris, Cairo, Tunis, Jerusalem, and Port-au-Prince.

Awarded the Distinguished Honor Award by Secretary Blinken, Ambassador Leaf received numerous Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards during her career. Ambassador Leaf is a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute, Washington, DC, and has joined Arnold and Porter, where she serves in the storied law firm as a Senior International Policy Advisor.