Fay Hartog-Levin

About Fay Hartog-Levin

Fay Hartog-Levin is a distinguished fellow at the Council where she works on a variety of political, international, and environmental issues. She is also a member of the Council’s board and executive committee.

Previously, Hartog-Levin served as a trustee and board chair of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland, and was a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, teaching a course on federalism and state social policy.

Hartog-Levin was the 65th ambassador of the United States of America to the Kingdom of the Netherlands during President Barack Obama’s first term. In that capacity, she was chief of mission of an embassy that included 15 federal agencies, four locations, and over 250 employees.

Before she was appointed ambassador, Hartog-Levin was a senior consultant at Res Publica Group, a public relations and government affairs consultancy in Chicago. At Res Publica, she advised clients on all aspects of internal and external communications and relationship building, emphasizing the nonprofit and cultural sectors. She also served on the executive management team at Chicago's Field Museum as vice president of external affairs. In that capacity, she led the museum's campaign for public funding. She also was the museum's liaison to all city, state, and federal governments and led the museum's outreach activities to a variety of community organizations.

Ambassador Hartog-Levin began her career as a legal advisor at the Illinois State Board of Education, advising the state superintendent and regional superintendents of education on the interpretation and application of the Illinois school code. In private practice, she joined the law firm Seyfarth Shaw, representing primarily school boards, private and public colleges, and social service agencies. She published many articles and was a frequent speaker on a variety of topics related to school and public employment law and crisis management.

Ambassador Hartog-Levin is currently a member of the boards of the Field Museum, Interfaith America the Hold Onto Your Music Foundation, and a member of the Harris School of Public Policy's Leadership Council. She served previously on the boards of WWCI (WTTW-WFMT), Chicago, IL; the Foundation for the National Archives, Washington, DC; and the Roosevelt Institute, New York, NY. Hartog-Levin was a member of the Arts Alliance Illinois board of directors and served as its chairman. She also served on the board of trustees of the Merit School of Music, DePaul University, and Columbia College Chicago.

In 2013, Ambassador Hartog-Levin was honored with the Illinois Arts Alliance's "Citizen Advocate Award" and was the 2016 recipient of Loyola Law School's Damen Award for distinguished community service. In 2018, the King of the Netherlands awarded her the royal decoration of Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau for her commitment to strengthening the bilateral relationships between the United States and the Netherlands.

Ambassador Hartog-Levin is a graduate of Northwestern University with a BA in Russian language and literature. She received her JD from Loyola University School of Law, and an honorary LLM from Knox College in 2017.