Sara Minkara is a former Ambassador-level U.S. diplomat, global strategist, board director, and trusted advisor to Fortune 500 executives, corporate boards, and senior government leaders navigating geopolitical complexity, growth, and change.
Sara’s expertise spans geopolitical risk, global market strategy, artificial intelligence and technology governance, workforce and human capital strategy, stakeholder engagement, and disability inclusion. She helps organizations strengthen resilience, navigate complexity, identify growth opportunities in underleveraged markets (including the disability economy), and build trusted relationships that enable market access across the Middle East and broader Muslim world.
Appointed by President Biden as U.S. Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, Sara led the integration of disability across U.S. foreign policy in more than 70 countries and developed the Disability Foreign Policy Playbook, a first-of-its-kind framework adopted across embassies, bureaus, and senior leadership. She expanded disability inclusion into strategic domains where it had historically been absent, including artificial intelligence, trade, economic development, peace and security, and digital transformation, demonstrating how disability can serve as a lens for innovation, risk mitigation, workforce strategy, and long-term value creation.
Sara has built coalitions and driven strategic initiatives across some of the world’s most influential multilateral institutions and forums. She led the U.S. delegation to the inaugural G7 Ministerial Meeting on Inclusion and Disability in Perugia, Italy, where she signed the historic Solfagnano Charter. She co-hosted the ASEAN-U.S. High-Level Disability Dialogue during Indonesia’s presidency, engaged 21 economies through APEC in advancing the Arequipa Goals, and convened a special C5+1 session at the United Nations with Central Asian government and civil society leaders. Across the G7, ASEAN, APEC, NATO, the Munich Security Conference, the Delphi Economic Forum, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Sara successfully navigated competing interests, influenced senior decision-makers, and advanced consensus on complex global challenges.
Today, through her independent advisory practice, Sara works with public- and private-sector leaders to strengthen governance, manage risk, accelerate growth, and embed disability into enterprise strategy, operations, workforce development, and emerging technologies. She is particularly focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence, accessibility, technology governance, and global competitiveness.
Sara is the founder and principal of In the Dark, an immersive leadership methodology used by corporations, governments, and institutions to strengthen decision-making under uncertainty, improve communication, challenge hidden assumptions, and build high-performing teams. Through carefully designed blindfolded experiences, leaders gain practical insight into navigating ambiguity, fostering trust, and leading through change.
Sara also serves on boards, providing strategic guidance on governance, long-term value creation, stakeholder trust, and organizational effectiveness. She currently serves on the board of the Center for Independent Living, a pioneering organization that has helped shape the independent living movement and advance the rights, inclusion, and leadership of people with disabilities.
Sara developed and teaches the first university course on Disability and Diplomacy at Georgetown University, helping establish a new academic and policy field while preparing future diplomats to integrate disability into foreign policy and international affairs.
Previously, Sara founded and led Empowerment Through Integration, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding educational and economic opportunities for youth with disabilities across the Middle East and North Africa.
A graduate of Wellesley College and the Harvard Kennedy School, Sara is a member of the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders community. Her leadership has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30.
