Dr. Gregory Michaelidis is director of speechwriting for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He serves as chief speechwriter to Secretary Janet Napolitano and Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute, and plays a leading role developing the Department’s public message for the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, its efforts to counter violent extremism, and the creation of its “Hometown Security” initiative. Beginning in 2006 he was an outside foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. For more than a decade, Michaelidis has focused on integrating innovative research findings and policy ideas into clear, compelling outreach and advocacy campaigns. Before joining DHS in 2009 he directed research and strategic analysis for the office of the president at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, and sat on the board of the university’s think tank, the UB Regional Institute. Previously, Michaelidis was a foreign policy researcher at the Brookings Institution, senior policy and communications advisor at the Center for Global Development, and adjunct professor at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. From 2001 until 2005 he advised major national and international foundations on media, web, and communications strategy. A historian of migration and nationalism, he has written on national and international affairs for the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, and Encyclopedia of American Folklife, among other publications. Michaelidis earned his bachelors and masters degrees in American history from the University at Buffalo, SUNY. In 2005, he received his doctorate in history from the University of Maryland, College Park.