Therese Shaheen

International business leader and experienced foreign policy professional Therese Shaheen established USAsia Commercial Development Corporation in 1987. She has led the company as both COO and CEO and, upon selling part of the business in order to return to work with government, became its chairman and chief executive officer. Over the course of her career, Therese Shaheen has worked extensively in areas of refugee affairs, including time in Tokyo working with Refugees International, Japan.

Therese Shaheen completed her undergraduate studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., focusing her work on foreign service at the university’s School of Foreign Service. During her time at Georgetown she took on a number of outside responsibilities, including work for Action/Peace Corps in areas of global refugee affairs. She was particularly involved with helping refugees throughout Southeast Asia who had been displaced due to military activities in Vietnam and Afghanistan. After receiving her bachelor of science in foreign service, Ms. Shaheen achieved a master of international public policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.