VOA Persian gets new director

January 31-2014

Setareh Derakhshesh has been named the new director of the Persian Division of the Voice of America (VOA).

VOA chief David Ensor announced the appointment.

Derakhshesh had been the acting director since last September and the deputy director before that.  She played a major role in launching VOA’s Persian language television broadcasts into Iran and served as the lead anchor and managing editor of its flagship news program.

Derakhshesh was born in Iran.  She lived in Paris for 15 years before coming to the United States and holds a master’s and a doctorate in political science from the Sorbonne.

In addition to her VOA duties, she has taught at both Georgetown University and The American University in Washington, DC.

She is the daughter of the late Mohammad Derakhshesh, who was elected to the Majlis during the Mossadegh era.  He was named education minister in the 14-month cabinet of the reforming prime minister, Ali Amini, in 1961-62.  Derakhshesh had the distinction of being jailed under both the Shah and the revolutionary regime.  In 1980, he fled to Paris where his daughters were studying and two years later the family re-settled in Chevy Chase, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC.