WASHINGTON – The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s President and CEO Liz Schrayer released the following statement on the nomination of Rex Tillerson to serve as the next Secretary of State:

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition congratulates the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and looks forward to working with him to strengthen America’s commitment to development and diplomacy around the world.

In his confirmation hearing, Tillerson called global development programs “powerful tools” that “project the best of American compassion.” He highlighted the importance of foreign assistance and said it should be designed to “advance America’s values” and help countries on their “journey [to] better governance.”

As America’s top diplomat, Tillerson will have no shortage of competing priorities – from tackling the global refugee crisis to combating ISIS. Our broad coalition looks forward to doing all that we can to work with the Secretary and his team to strengthen our nation’s civilian tools and advance America’s security and economic interests around the world.

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (www.usglc.org) is a broad-based influential network of 500 businesses and NGOs; national security and foreign policy experts; and business, faith-based, academic, military, and community leaders in all 50 states who support strategic investments to elevate development and diplomacy alongside defense in order to build a better, safer world.