Neilesh Shelat

Neilesh Shelat is the Deputy Assistant to the Administrator (DAA) of USAID’s Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization. Previously, he served as DAA to the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the U.S. government lead for international disaster response.

Within USAID, he served as the Agency’s Executive Secretary, Defeating-ISIS Coordinator, and Stabilization Advisor based in Erbil, Iraq. In support of Operation Inherent Resolve, he deployed to northeast Syria to advise U.S. military civil affairs teams and coordinate stabilization activities in areas liberated from ISIS. He was a director at the National Security Council, and conducted five tours to Afghanistan, working on provincial and district stabilization efforts while embedded with U.S., Polish, Turkish, and Afghan military forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Prior to returning to government, Mr. Shelat worked in the technology industry focused on data access, misinformation, and media influence. He worked with non-governmental organizations on HIV/AIDS and counter-trafficking efforts of marginalized communities in Chennai, India; and he was in-country during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami where he led relief efforts in two coastal villages. He began his career as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer on Arorae atoll in the Republic of Kiribati.

Mr. Shelat has degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.