Steve Epstein
Policy Advisor
Dr. Steve Epstein is the Policy Advisor at the Antiquities Coalition, where he lends his expertise and shares in guiding strategic priorities to safeguard shared heritage and promote national security. In this role, he represents the Antiquities Coalition at high-level convenings, liaises with members of both U.S. and foreign governments, and heads the AC Think Tank—guiding its research agenda and thought leadership initiatives to address the global challenges of antiquities trafficking and cultural racketeering.
After 25 years with the U.S. Department of State, Dr. Epstein retired as the Senior Advisor for Cultural Heritage in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. In this capacity, he was responsible for efforts to protect and preserve cultural heritage in the Middle East and North Africa, has driven the development of agreements with MENA countries to block the importation of looted antiquities into the United States, and facilitated the repatriation of smuggled antiquities to their countries of origin. Before coming to Washington, Dr. Epstein was the Associate Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; taught anthropology, archaeology, and diplomacy at the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and Rider University; excavated in Ireland, Belize, Peru, West Texas, and New Mexico; and published articles in Science, Nature, and Special Warfare. Concurrently, he spent 30 years in the Army Reserve, retiring as a colonel, after civil affairs deployments to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Haiti, and Bosnia.
He holds appointments as a Distinguished Presidential Fellow of the Council on Library and Information Resources, focusing on Safeguarding Cultural Heritage Under Threat, and as a Consulting Scholar with the University of Pennsylvania Museum’s Cultural Heritage Center. Dr. Epstein received a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Archaeological Sciences from Bradford University’s Postgraduate School of Studies in Physics, and graduated from the U.S. Army War College. Drawing on decades of experience in policy, diplomacy, and cultural heritage protection, Dr. Epstein plays a pivotal role in shaping strategies that strengthen global cooperation and protect our shared history.