Dr. Miemie Winn Byrd is an Adjunct Fellow in the Office of External Affairs where she is working on projects related to Myanmar (Burma). A civil affairs officer in the reserves, Dr. Byrd was mobilized in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003.  While on active duty from 2003 to 2007, she served as the Deputy Economic Advisor, Civil-Military Operations Plans Officer, and Interagency Operations Officer at U.S. Pacific Command.  She had also served as a linguist and cultural advisor to the U.S. delegations attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum, POW/MIA recovery negotiations in Myanmar, and Operation Caring Response to Cyclone Nargis.  Prior to the mobilization, Dr. Byrd was the Controller for Law and Economics Consulting Group in the San Francisco Bay area.  Her sixteen years of civilian professional experience included a wide range of auditing, accounting, and financial management positions with multinational corporations such as Gillette, General Telephone and Electronics (GTE) and Ernst & Young and also with a Silicon Valley start-up firm, Wyzdom.com.

Dr. Byrd is currently serving on the Boards of the Pacific Gateway Center, The Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College, University of Hawaii Shidler School of Business Center for International Business and Education Research, and is President/Chair of the Managing Committee of the Suu Foundation.

Some of her publications include "Why the U.S. Should Gender its Counterterrorism Strategy" in The Military Review Journal; "Combating Terrorism: A Socio-Economic Strategy" and "Combating Terrorism with Socioeconomics: Leveraging the Private Sector" in Joint Force Quarterly, a professional military and security journal published for the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff by National Defense University.  Dr. Byrd also served as the editor for USPACOM's Asia-Pacific Economic Update publications.

Dr. Byrd received a Bachelor of Arts in economics and accounting from Claremont McKenna College and holds a Master of Business Administration with emphasis in Asia-Pacific economics and business from University of Hawaii.  She earned her Doctorate in Education Leadership from the University of Southern California.