Darla Jordan currently serves as Director of Strategic Communication at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies. In this role, she leads strategic communication efforts to advance the Center’s mission and works collaboratively to promote a greater understanding of international security issues and US regional policy. Darla joined the Center in May 2020.

Previously at US Southern Command, Darla directed the Office of Strategic Communication, working across the Command, its components, and US interagency to integrate and align messaging efforts and actions in support of US national security policy. Prior to that, as Senior Interagency Specialist in the Command’s Partnering Directorate, she worked with interagency and international partners to leverage knowledge and resources in the implementation of whole-of-society, sustainable solutions to shared security challenges.

Darla is a former diplomat, specializing in Western Hemisphere issues, analysis, and engagement. She directed programs and staff at the US embassies in Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti, and at the State Department in Washington, DC, where she worked for 12 years. During that time, she served a one-year term as the Department’s representative to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations where she evaluated foreign policy priorities and provided oversight of foreign affairs activities and budgets.

Darla is well-known for her expertise galvanizing public-private partnerships, directing press relations, and leading public outreach efforts in the United States and abroad. Her career at the State Department included serving as a spokesperson, advising senior officials on strategic stakeholder engagement, and providing intelligence analysis to leadership.

Darla is the recipient of a Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a State Department Franklin Award for exemplary leadership, and five State Department Meritorious Honor Awards. She served on the board of the Hispanic Employees Council of Foreign Affairs Agencies; was featured in "Latinas at the Department of State: Trailblazers of American Foreign Policy," by Latina Style magazine, and is an alumna of the Aspen Institute International Career Advancement Program and the Truman Congressional Security Scholars Program.

Darla holds a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in international relations and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Spanish from Arizona State University. Darla is from Douglas, Arizona.