Sarah M. Beran served as Deputy Executive Secretary at the U.S. Department of State from 2021 to 2023. Prior to her current assignment, she served as the Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP/CM), overseeing a team of 35 desk officers covering China, Hong Kong, and Mongolia policy. She has also served overseas in Beijing, Islamabad, Jerusalem, and Quito. Her previous domestic assignments include Office Director for Economic Policy in EAP, Special Assistant to then-Secretary Condoleezza Rice, and Lebanon Desk Officer. She speaks Mandarin, Arabic, and Spanish and joined the Foreign Service in 2002. Sarah graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1999. She is a native of Washington state and married to a fellow Foreign Service Officer.