Marie Royce, a former businesswoman and professor, was previously the CEO and Principal of Royce LLC, in California before joining the State Department. She has more than 30 years of experience in the private sector with Fortune 500 companies and as a small business owner, creating and launching start-ups and new initiatives and serving as a key business liaison to 80 countries. She held senior management positions at Marriott International, Alcatel-Lucent, Proctor & Gamble, among others.

As a former educator and full-time university professor at California State Polytechnic University, Royce led an international grant program between universities. She has served on 20 non-profit boards and as a private sector appointee on the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy at the State Department, in addition to serving on two U.S. Cultural Exchange Boards. She participated as an American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) delegate to Hungary and Poland and was recognized with the “2018 ACPYL Honors Award.” She also was recognized by the American Women for International Understanding with the distinguished “Internationalism Award.”

Royce earned a BS/BA (double major) at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and an MBA at Georgetown University in International Business with honors, Beta Gamma Sigma. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.