ABOUT:

The Honorable Jill Kelley is an international advocate and foreign policy adviser known for connecting the diplomatic community with American leadership.

 

Mrs. Kelley served as the first honorary ambassador to the coalition forces at United States Central Command under General James Mattis, meeting regularly with heads of state, ministers and parliamentarians to build military, security and cultural relationships across the 60-nation coalition.

 

Her diplomatic relationships and board experiences span her work across multiple industries that include energy security, trade, commerce and defense. She served as an executive director of a publicly traded company from 2021 to 2023, advancing plans for a United States rare earth supply chain, and she is an investor in publicly traded companies, as well as startups that have had very successful exits.

 

With her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley, Mrs. Kelley co-founded SafeGuard Surgical and is a co-inventor on its patented technology, which in 2024 received the FDA's Breakthrough Device Designation, a program that expedites the development and review of technologies intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions. She brings that inventor's mindset to her work across business, technology and diplomacy.

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Multilingual, and the daughter of a family that fled religious persecution in Lebanon, Mrs. Kelley has spent her career building dialogue across cultures. She is the proud mother of three daughters.

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