Sarri received a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Washington University in St. Louis and her Master of Science in natural resources and master of public health from the University of Michigan.[1]
From 1993 to 1994, Sarri worked as an education coordinator for the Cheetah Conservation Fund.[2] She was legislative director for the bipartisan Northeast-Midwest Senate Coalition from 2001 to 2006.[2] From 2006 to 2008, Sarri was the senior policy advisor for U.S. senator Jack Reed.[2] From 2008 to 2010, she worked as a Democratic professional staffer for the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.[2] Sarri served as deputy director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning at the United States Department of Commerce from 2010 to 2011.[2] From 2011 to 2014, she was the associate director for legislative affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.[1]
In 2014, she became the principal deputy assistant secretary for policy management and budget at the United States Department of the Interior (DOI).[1] In 2015, she was nominated by U.S. president Barack Obama as the DOI assistant secretary for policy, management, and budget.[2] In 2016, she became the president and chief executive officer of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.[3][4] She led its first corporate partnership program supporting the National Marine Sanctuary, expanding the foundation's budget by over thirty percent. She stepped down from the foundation on January 1, 2023.[5] In November 2023, Sarri was nominated by U.S. president Joe Biden to work as the assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs.[3][6]
In August 2025, Sarri joined The Nature Conservancy as its Massachusetts State Director.[7]
