James Mazzarella provides strategic public affairs and communications advice to non-profit organizations and for-profit companies seeking to understand or influence the U.S. and other governments.
Before becoming an independent consultant, Jim was Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Communications at the Global Innovation Fund, a non-profit, impact-first investment fund seeking to catalyize positive economic benefits in the world’s poorest countries. Immediately prior to joining GIF, Jim was the Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs for the World Wildlife Fund, the international environmental organization dedicated to creating conditions where both animals and people can thrive.
From 2017 through 2019, Jim was at the White House’s National Security Council and National Economic Council, first serving as Director of International Development and then Senior Director for Global Economics and Development. While at NSC, he was a primary architect of a new government agency, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and a senior member of the U.S. G20 and G7 teams. His responsibilities at the National Security Council included coordinating U.S. policy on foreign assistance, especially development finance and global infrastructure programs, as well as foreign anti-corruption efforts.
For 10 years prior to his work in the White House, Jim served as Deputy Vice President of Congressional and Public Affairs for the Millennium Challenge Corporation. In 1998, Jim was appointed by Governor George Pataki as Director of New York State’s Office of Federal Affairs, the governor’s primary liaison to Congress, the White House, and other states’ federal offices. Jim served as Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Susan Molinari from New York and before that her Press Secretary from 1993 to her retirement in 1997. From 1991 to 1993, he was a senior account executive at Ruder Finn Public Relations working on government and media affairs for Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo as each worked to win its independence from the former Yugoslavia.
From 2019 to 2022, Jim volunteered as a Board Member Alternate for the Millennium Challenge Corporation and is currently a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. He has B.A. in International Relations from Michigan State University’s James Madison College.
