One day in fall 2013, Wendy Sherman’s pinky finger made headline news. The undersecretary for political affairs and the fourth-ranking official in the US State Department was en route to a congressional hearing when she fell and ruptured a tendon—and then kept right on going, finger throbbing, to update lawmakers on the recent negotiations with Iran. Only after she finished her briefing, reports the New York Times, did she head for the emergency room. “Suddenly,” Sherman (CAS’71) says, “I had the most famous finger in the world.”

If it hadn’t been for one historic phone call, it’s unlikely anyone would have taken note of the undersecretary’s digit drama. But on September 27, 2013, President Obama called Iran’s newly elected president, initiating the first conversation between an American and Iranian president in more than 30 years. The call sparked cautious hope for dialogue about Iran’s nuclear program—and also launched Sherman, who has spent much of her career out of the public view, into the media spotlight. Soon, she was everywhere: answering questions on CNN, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with John Kerry (Hon.’05), addressing members of Congress at a microphone, sitting at a table with Iranian officials, her red jacket a bright exclamation point amid a mass of mostly gray-suited men.

Her job, as the State Department website dryly understates it, is to be “the day-to-day manager of overall regional and bilateral policy issues.” When America sits down with other countries to thrash out world-altering deals, it’s frequently represented by Sherman. According to the New York Times, her efforts were instrumental in preparing “the ground for talks with Iran that gained momentum, both in public and through a secret channel, once Hassan Rouhani was elected Iran’s president.”

As the lead US negotiator in talks about Iran’s nuclear program, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman (center, at the UN offices in Geneva, Switzerland) is handling what foreign policy expert Stephen Kinzer describes as “the biggest geopolitical opportunity for the United States in the world today.” Photo courtesy of US Mission Geneva / Eric Bridiers

Now the very public lead US-Iran negotiator at the ongoing talks between the Persian Gulf country and six world powers, the so-called P5+1 group, Sherman goes about her work each day conscious that the national security of the United States and the balance of peace in the world rest, in part, on her shoulders. Her job description includes coaxing Iranian officials to dismantle their nuclear program and gauging Iranian commitment to a new era of cooperation.

The Iranians, says former US diplomat and Professor of International Relations Robert Loftis, see Sherman “as someone who has the ear of the administration and can speak with authority.” That’s a good start given her daunting mission: to defuse decades of deeply ingrained hostility between two countries that have countless reasons to mistrust each other—in short, to change the course of history.

“Wendy Sherman is handling what is probably the biggest geopolitical opportunity for the United States in the world today,” says Stephen Kinzer (CAS’73), former New York Times journalist and author of All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. An expert on US foreign policy, Kinzer describes Sherman’s challenge as a three-dimensional chess game. “Not only does she have to negotiate with Iran, she has to negotiate with members of Congress. And she has to deal with other countries, too—those that border Iran and other countries who are members of the P5+1 negotiating team. It’s a highly complex mix and she’s doing a remarkably good balancing act.”

Having served under four secretaries of state—Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, and now John Kerry—Sherman is used to the high-stakes challenge and relentless pace of diplomatic life. “I try to get around to the whole world,” she says, without exaggeration. In the past 2 years, Sherman has been to 50 countries, often embarking on trips that involve 7 countries in 7 days. En route, she is always working, poring over hundreds of pages of background material. “I have to learn it all before I arrive,” she says. “Not just a few talking points. You’ve got to go in understanding what will be asked and be ready to respond.”

“I have to learn it all before I arrive. Not just a few talking points. You’ve got to go in understanding what will be asked and be ready to respond.” —Wendy Sherman

Photo courtesy of US State Department

When she’s in Washington, too, her days are a tightly scheduled marathon of activity: meetings on policy issues, appointments with foreign dignitaries, interviews with the press, briefings on Capitol Hill, discussions with analysts and Iran-watchers, international conference calls to prepare for the next round of negotiations—the list goes on. And on: 12- and 16-hour days are typical, orchestrated down to the minute by her staff and strategically tweeted out to the world via State Department Twitter feeds.

The work takes a toll—and not just on Sherman. Her team of seven assistants all serve one-year rotations “because the burnout is so high,” she says. Before accepting her current appointment, she consulted family and friends. “I asked them whether they were ready for this, because it really does mean you’re not very accessible. None of us can do this without support,” says Sherman.

Unlike most of her colleagues, who have a background in diplomacy, Sherman’s early career focused on helping the urban poor and battered women. Her résumé includes a slew of social and political work: director of EMILY’s List, director of Maryland’s office of child welfare, and president and CEO of the Fannie Mae Foundation. She also worked as Congressman Barbara Mikulski’s chief of staff and as campaign manager for her first Senate campaign; in 1988, Sherman was director of Campaign ’88 for the Democratic National Committee.

“I never had a five-year plan,” Sherman says. “I learned to take opportunities when they came along.” Those opportunities, including her time at BU, turned out to be the making, ultimately, of a respected diplomat. “My sociology degree was about trying to understand cultures, governing structures, and social mobility systems,” she says, noting that these are the very skills she draws on whenever she visits a new country. Sherman’s other jobs also influenced her State Department work. “As a social worker, you start with where people are and try not to make assumptions. As a community organizer, you work together and move an agenda forward.” She pauses. “These same elements are critical to everything I do, whether it’s helping South Sudan find peace or dealing with changes in Ukraine or working on economic development in Latin America—or negotiating with Iran.”

A former social worker is too empathetic, critics argue, too trusting, to drive a hard bargain.

Photo courtesy of US Embassy Kyiv Ukraine

Critics of Sherman and the current administration say her approach to Iran—particularly a pledge of no new sanctions during negotiations—is inherently flawed. A former social worker is too empathetic, they argue, too trusting, to drive a hard bargain. She is criticized abroad, too—sometimes by angry mobs. At an anniversary celebration of Iran’s revolution, hardliners chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Sherman.”

An experienced player on the international stage—she’s wrangled with North Korea on nukes and hosted talks on Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine—Sherman remains unfazed. And Iran watchers like Kinzer predict that her efforts and the current diplomatic strategy hold huge potential for progress.

“There’s no place in the world where the US has the chance to make such a great leap in terms of national security,” says Kinzer. Stability in Iran, he says, could help steady the situation in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. “If it can be brought out of its isolation, Iran could move from being a destabilizing force in the region to being a promoter of stability.”

In the midst of the ongoing negotiations and endless travel that define her job, Sherman managed to carve out two days last December to fly to Boston when her first grandchild was born. The visit was a rare private moment for Sherman, and then she was on her way again, back to her global beat with its 16-hour days and accompanying press pack. Back to that daunting mission: changing the course of history.