Timeline
2015

Title: Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson (SFS’90, MSFS’90) becomes founding CEO of POLITICO Europe

After graduating from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1990 with the BSFS/MSFS degrees, Semsar founded the Development Institute International (DII), one of France’s leading conference providers, in 1993. In 2015, she became the founding Chief Executive Officer of POLITICO Europe, a position she held until 2021. Under her leadership, it became one of the most influential non-partisan publications ever launched in the continent, dominating the Brussels media scene. Prior to POLITICO, Semsar was the owner and publisher of European Voice, the leading media outlet in Brussels covering E.U. policy, which she acquired from the Economist Group in 2013.

Semsar has maintained strong ties to her alma mater. In 2021, she joined the McCourt Institute, an academic partnership between Sciences Po and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, as its inaugural Executive Director. She is also currently serving on the Advisory Board of the School of Foreign Service and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, and was a member of Georgetown University’s Board of Directors from 2013 to 2019. She has also supported the Semsar-de Boisséson Scholarship, a fellowship awarded to one MSFS student per year.

Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson discussed the economic impact of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson moderated this event co-sponsored by the Georgetown University Global Economic Challenges (GEC) Network, featuring economists Sergei Guriev and Tymofiy Mylovanov, two of the foremost experts on the Ukrainian and Russian economies. They discussed the ongoing crisis and its implications for the economic future of the region.