Our Team

Peter Yeo

President of the Better World Campaign and Senior Vice President at the United Nations Foundation

As President of the Better World Campaign, Peter Yeo leads the Campaign’s strategic engagement with Congress and the Administration to promote a strong U.S.-UN relationship. Under Yeo’s leadership, the Better World Campaign has helped ensure multibillion dollar payments from the U.S. government to the UN. Yeo also serves as the Senior Vice President at the United Nations Foundation.

Yeo joined the Better World Campaign in 2009 with over twenty years of legislative, analytical, and management experience, including senior roles on Capitol Hill and in the State Department. Prior to arriving at UNF, Yeo served for ten years as the Deputy Staff Director at the House Foreign Affairs Committee chaired by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA). He has worked on a broad range of foreign policy and foreign aid issues. On behalf of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats, he led the successful negotiations for the landmark HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003, commonly known as PEPFAR, as well as the successful $50 billion reauthorization of the law in 2008.

He also shepherded into law several measures dealing with China, Tibet, Burma, and East Timor. Prior to his work with the Committee, he served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. State Department during the second Clinton Administration, where he led the negotiations around repayment of the U.S. arrears to the United Nations and was part of the U.S. delegation to the climate negotiations in Kyoto. Yeo holds a BA in East Asian Studies from Wesleyan University as well as a MA in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a leading independent nonpartisan foreign policy think tank, and a Board Member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.

Peter Yeo in the News

"This vote in particular shows the value of the U.N. as a global convening body…"

Peter Yeo

U.S., Europe whip U.N. votes for historic Russia rebuke

I think ‘gumbo diplomacy’ works wherever she can get her kitchen together and invite diplomats over to make gumbo.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the New UN Envoy, Heads Into Her Job Sprinting

Putting Samantha Power at the table...can really transform the way that USAID implements the programs...in some of the real hotspots around the...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Samantha Power, Biden’s Pick for USAID a ‘Respected Voice’ on Humanitarian Issues

The incoming administration must work with Congress to champion reforms and secure U.N. funding that will change the future of the organization...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

A Roadmap to Reconnecting with the United Nations

We are going to have more leverage if we have met our financial commitments and if we are not behind on them.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

With the U.S. Still Owing Nearly $2B, UN Looks at How to Fund 2021

I think another day one action is Paris Climate Accord. We will have missed the deadline, unfortunately, to withdraw...But the U.S. could...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

How Joe Biden Could Restore US Leadership at the United Nations in His First 100 Days

To cut money from the World Health Organization just as the WHO is on the front lines of the conoravirus rattles the...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Trump Administration Again Proposes Slashing Foreign Aid

This is precisely the wrong time to be cutting funds to the World Health Organization.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Trump Seeks to Halve U.S. Funding for World Health Organization as Coronavirus Rages

This is basically a slash and burn approach as it relates to the U.N. regular budget and U.N. peacekeeping.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Despite Pompeo’s Call for ‘Swagger,’ Trump Slashes Diplomatic Budget

U.N. workers face unbelievable risks to help people all over the world.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

United Nations Mourns 21 Employees Killed in Ethiopian Airlines Plane Crash

A lot of State Department employees feel that there is not a lot of direction right now.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Ahead Of Boise Visit, Peter Yeo Discusses Government Shutdown And United Nations

There’s a real danger that a withdrawal from the UPU would set off postal wars.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Companies Split on U.S. Exit From Postal Pact Benefiting China

It's impossible to get anything done in the U.N. if you don't have American support, not only financially, but also diplomatically.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

UNGA Begins As Trump Has Worked To Limit U.S. Support For International Agencies

[The UN] is also the first place the world turns to when peace is under threat.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

President Trump at the UN General Assembly — Making the UN Great Again?

The ‘we pay the bills’ rhetoric doesn’t help.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Where Does US Relationship with UN Stand?

When the world comes together to talk and to fight for human rights, the U.S. should be at the table.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

US Exit from UN Human Rights Council Widens Gaps for Human Rights NGOs, Experts Warn

U.S. leadership matters. We’re still the only ones with credibility on human rights on the world stage.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

U.S. Withdraws from U.N. Human Rights Council Over Perceived Bias Against Israel

The response to not getting reform shouldn’t be to pull out. It should be to redouble American leadership.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

The US Just Quit The United Nations Human Rights Council

The U.S. government must help lead the international response and ensure that first responders have the resources they need to act quickly...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

US and Global Community Has to Keep the Ebola Outbreak from Spreading — Don’t Cut Funds

The stark numbers contained in the report don’t reflect the fact that countries agree with the United States the vast majority of...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Nikki Haley’s Loyalty Test Backfires

The progress that has been made so far is unbelievable.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

UN Peacekeeping Mission Ends in Liberia

The closing of the peacekeeping mission in Liberia is a milestone moment.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

UNMIL Provides Lessons on What Makes a Successful Peacekeeping Mission

By supporting UN Peacekeeping efforts, the U.S. saves money and doesn’t have to put its own boots on the ground – it’s...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Report Highlights Value of UN Peacekeeping Contributions Trump Admin Wants to Cut

The Trump administration has made burden-sharing an essential part of its foreign policy strategy. U.N. peacekeeping operations provide a prime example of...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

The UN Is Reformed and Ready

By working through the U.N., we can ensure that other nations share the responsibilities of global security and humanitarian relief.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

United Nations Is an Invaluable ‘Club’ and Trump Should Say So

He’s a forceful outspoken leader on the global stage and that’s something the U.N. needs.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Security Council: Portugal’s Guterres Is Choice for Next U.N. Secretary-General

If the U.N. is to extricate the bad actors...it must show that new policies will be implemented with unshakable resolve.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

No Place for Rapists in Peacekeeping

UN peacekeepers are targets because they’re viewed as trying to work to establish peace and stability and to work with the political...

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Peter Yeo on MSNBC Discussing the Attack in Mali

U.S. must ensure security in region for safety of Americans.

Peter Yeo

President, Better World Campaign

Congress Should Fund UN Peacekeeping Mission in Mali