​Deputy Consul General Barbara Thomas
Barbara Thomas began serving as the Deputy Consul General of the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey in June 2017. Prior to her current assignment, she served as a Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. In Washington, Barbara has also served as the Deputy Director for Political and Security Affairs in the Office of EU and European Regional Affairs, the Deputy Director of the Office of Multilateral Coordination and External Affairs in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, a Senior Watch Officer in the Operations Center, the Peru Desk Officer in the Office of Andean Affairs, and as a NATO Policy Officer in the European Affairs Bureau. She has also completed diplomatic assignments at the U.S. Mission to the European Union, the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, and the U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara, Mexico.
​
Since joining the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in 2000, Barbara has received several Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards. She graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota with a degree in International Relations, and has a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. She and her husband have five children.

Rabayl Mirza Impact Specialist at the Business Call to Action United Nations Development Programme, Turkey

Rabayl Mirza is the Impact Management Specialist at the Business Call to Action, a UNDP initiative to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. She has a strong track record of supporting organisations and companies measure and manage their impact. She has over 8 years of experience conducting impact assessments, program evaluations, log-frame analyses and trainings. A large part of her career has been dedicated to field work in developing countries in the areas of health, education, and poverty reduction.
​
She has an MSc in Economic Development and Policy Analysis from the University of Nottingham (UK) and a Bachelors in Business Administration from the Institute of Business Administration in Pakistan.