Tom Sheehy joined KRL International as a Senior Advisor after a long and accomplished career on the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives. Until 2025, Sheehy served as a Distinguished Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, working in its Africa Center. He was the executive director of USIP’s senior study group report “Critical Minerals in Africa,” and has written extensively on trade and investment in Africa.
Sheehy served as Foreign Affairs Committee staff director for six years. The committee has jurisdiction over all elements of U.S. foreign policy, including State Department and U.S. Development Finance Corporation operations. Tom was responsible for all committee functions, including oversight hearings, communications, working with congressional leadership offices, and managing legislation. Previous to being committee staff director, Tom directed the Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee and the Africa Subcommittee. Tom has been involved in shaping most every U.S. development initiative, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act and its several updates, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and most recently, the BUILD Act.
Before joining the committee, Tom was a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, where he was an original co-author of The Index of Economic Freedom, an annual, internationally acclaimed survey of national economies, co-published by The Wall Street Journal and now in its 31st edition.
Tom speaks often to various organizations on policy and politics. He recently appeared before a congressional national security forum, the American Society of International Law, Trinity College alumni of New York City, the Union League Club of Philadelphia, Bucknell University, JP Morgan Chase, and the Royce International Symposium at the Nixon Library. Tom holds a B.A. from Trinity College (Hartford) and an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Virginia.