Karen Erika Donfried[1] is an American foreign policy expert who previously served as the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.

In 2005, she returned to the German Marshall Fund to serve as senior director of policy programs and later as executive vice president until 2010.

[6] After NIO, Donfried worked at the National Security Council as a special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs.

[9][10] Since 2019, Donfried has been co-chairing on the Transatlantic Task Force of the German Marshall Fund and the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung (BKHS), alongside Wolfgang Ischinger.

[11] On March 26, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Donfried as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.