CAROLEE WALKER

Carolee Belkin Walker is the Chief of Staff to the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA) Ambassador, Roger D. Carstens, a role which she has served in since January 2020. Walker previously served in leadership positions throughout the U.S. Department of State including the Bureau of Consular Affairs, the Bureau of Public Affairs, the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, and as a brief stint as a Senior Watch Officer in the State Department’s Operations Center.

Walker lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband. In her free time (not much since 2020 as you can tell), Walker loves to write and train for races. She was a featured contributor for GovLoop – the government’s internal blog for civil service employees – where she wrote about leadership, mentoring, and career development. She began training for races in her 50s, becoming a marathon finisher at the Reggae Marathon in Negril, Jamaica, in 2015 and the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., in 2017 and became a frequent contributor to The Washington Post, interviewing scientists, sports medicine specialists, and athletes on subjects pertaining to training and aging. Her writing on these areas has also appeared in Women’s Running, Prevention Magazine, ThriveGlobal, and Huffington Post and led ultimately to the publication of her book Getting My Bounce Back in 2018. 

The views expressed here are her own and do not represent the views of the U.S Department of State or the U.S. government.