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STAFF
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Michael Shifter is president of the Dialogue. Shifter previously served as the organization’s vice president for policy, and managed the Dialogue’s programs on the Andean region and democratic governance. Since 1993 he has been adjunct professor of Latin American politics at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Before joining the Dialogue, Shifter directed the Latin American and Caribbean program at the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ford Foundation’s governance and human rights program in the Andean region and the Southern Cone, where he was based in Lima, Peru and then Santiago, Chile. Prior to that, he served as a representative at the Inter-American Foundation for the Brazil program. Shifter writes and comments widely on US-Latin American relations and hemispheric affairs and has frequently testified before the US Congress. He is co-editor, along with Jorge Dominguez, of Constructing Democratic Governance in Latin America (Johns Hopkins University Press). He is contributing editor to Current History and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Shifter graduated summa cum laude from Oberlin College and received a MA degree in sociology from Harvard University. |
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Genaro Arriagada was appointed senior fellow of the Dialogue in January 2008. Arriagada has served as minister of the presidency of Chile, ambassador of Chile to the United States, chairman of the Board of Radio Cooperativa, and national director of the “NO” Campaign, which defeated General Augusto Pinochet in the plebiscite of October 1988. Arriagada served as ambassador-at-large and special envoy of the president of Chile to the Second Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile in April 1998. He was head of Ricardo Lagos’ 1999 presidential campaign and of Eduardo Frei’s 1993 presidential campaign. Arriagada is on the Board of Universidad de las Américas; senior advisor to the president of the Club de Madrid; and editor of www.asuntospublicos.org. In January and February of 2007, he was a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Arriagada has published a dozen books and numerous articles and columns regarding political, social, and economic issues, including Pinochet: The Politics of Power (Boston: Unwin & Hyman, 1988) and with Carol Graham, “Chile: Sustaining Adjustment during Democratic Transition” in Voting for Reform. Democracy, Political Liberalization and Economic Adjustment (Oxford University Press, 1994). He has been a fellow of The Woodrow Wilson Center (1978-79) and The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1990). |
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Sergio Bitar is a senior fellow at the Dialogue. Most recently he served as minister of public works under President Michelle Bachelet. Before that he was minister of education, minister of mining, a senator, and president of the Party for Democracy (PPD) on two occasions. An engineer and economist, he will work on education issues and study the impact of globalization on Latin America at the Dialogue through April 2011. Upon his return to Chile, Bitar will continue to develop proposals for the future of Chile on behalf of the Concertación (the coalition which governed Chile during the last two decades, 1990-2010) and the PPD. Bitar founded the Latin American Center for International Economics and Politics (CLEPI), where he served as president from 1987 to 1993. He is president of the Corporación Museo del Salitre, vice-president of Fundación Paz Ciudadana, and a PREAL director. He also sits on the boards of Universidad Mayor and Fundación País Digital and has published dozens of books and articles, including Chile Mas Allá del Bicentenario (Editorial Planeta, Santiago, 2009), Educación Nuestra Riqueza, Chile Educa para el siglo XXI (Editorial El Mercurio- Aguilar, Santiago, 2005), and Chile 1970-1973 (Editorial Pehuén, Chile, 1996 and 2001). |
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Erik Brand publishes the Latin America Advisor newsletters at the Dialogue and directs its Corporate Circle program. He worked previously at the International Advisory Group, a publishing and public affairs firm in New York City. Earlier in his career he worked at the Advisory Board Company and, briefly, at the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress. He graduated with a double major, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Wheaton College and has undertaken master's degree coursework in international management and public affairs at the University of Maryland and University of Minnesota. |
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Joan Caivano is deputy to the president and director of special projects. She directs the Dialogue's project on press freedom issues and its work on women's leadership in the Americas. She manages a range of institutional responsibilities, including the Dialogue's Sol Linowitz Forum, its publications program, outreach to the press, and membership issues. She worked previously at the Overseas Development Council and the Brookings Institution, and managed several small business enterprises. She has been a frequent guest lecturer on issues of concern to women in Latin America at the Foreign Service Institute. She holds a MA degree in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University, where she also completed her undergraduate studies. |
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Cameron Combs is a program assistant in the Office of the President. He graduated summa cum laude from Carleton College, majoring in Latin American Studies and concentrating in Political Economy. He has studied abroad in Panama, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil, and wrote his senior thesis on the interplay between race, soccer and Brazilian nationalism. |
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Kim Covington is a program associate for US Policy. She works on drug policy, hemispheric security, and energy issues. Kim joined the Dialogue in June 2011 after graduating Magna Cum Laude with honors from Duke University with a B.A. in Public Policy Studies and Spanish. She completed an honors thesis in the Public Policy Department on citizenship policies in Spain and Ireland after studying in Madrid.
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Maria R. Darie is director of finance and administration for the Dialogue. Before joining the Dialogue she served as the vice president of finance and administration for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools where she provided strategic leadership and tactical support for the organization's fiscal operations and business compliance. Before that, Darie served as the executive director and CFO for Presidential Classroom, a non-profit organization providing civic education programs for gifted high school students from the US and abroad. From 2000 to 2007, she was the accounting manager for New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Washington, D.C. Darie holds a Bachelors of Science in Economics from the University of Ploiesti and an International Executive Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University.
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Mary Ellen Flather is senior director of strategy and development. Before joining the Dialogue in 2013, Flather served as US representative and director of institutional advancement for Zamorano University (La Escuela Agricola Panamericana en Honduras), where she oversaw fundraising efforts with individuals, corporations and foundations. Previously, Flather was director of strategic initiatives for TechnoServe in Latin America and Africa. She also worked in strategic planning in the CGIAR—a global consortium dedicated to food security and poverty eradication—including the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru, the World Bank, and as a private consultant. Flather holds a BA in International Relations/Political Science from Mary Washington College and a Masters in International Agriculture/Rural Development from Cornell University. |
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Peter Hakim is president emeritus and senior fellow of the Dialogue. From 1993 to 2010, he served as the organizations president. Hakim writes and speaks widely on hemispheric issues and has testified more than a dozen times before the US Congress. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, and Financial Times, and in newspapers and journals in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Canada, Cuba, El Salvador, Italy, Mexico, Peru, and Spain. From 1991 to 2001, he wrote a monthly column for the Christian Science Monitor, and now serves as a Board member of Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica and editorial advisor to the Chilean-based Américaeconomia. Prior to joining the Dialogue, Hakim was a vice president of the Inter-American Foundation and worked for the Ford Foundation in New York, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. He taught at MIT and Columbia, and served on boards and advisory committees for the World Bank, Council on Competitiveness, Inter-American Development Bank, Canadian Foundation for Latin America (FOCAL), Partners for Democratic Change, and Human Rights Watch. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Hakim earned a BA at Cornell University, an MS in Physics at the University of Pennsylvania, and a MA of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. |
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Amy Herlich joined the Dialogue in October 2009 as the grants and development coordinator. Before coming to the Dialogue, she spent a year in Montevideo, Uruguay working as the International Programs Coordinator at Hillel Uruguay. She earned BA in Hispanic Literature and Business at the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, she is studying for a Master of Public Administration at The George Washington University, with concentrations in non-profit and international development management.
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Gene Kuleta is the editor of the Dialogue's Latin America Advisor newsletters. He has worked in both print and broadcast journalism in locations including Washington, Chicago and Latin America and for news organizations including National Public Radio, WAMU Radio and the Chicago Tribune. He covered several economic and political issues during his time as a correspondent based in Guatemala. He earned BA degrees in journalism, broadcasting and Spanish at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and a MA degree in Latin American Studies at George Washington University in Washington, DC. |
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Claudio M. Loser is a visiting senior fellow at the Dialogue, working on financial, macroeconomic and trade issues, focusing particularly on the management of financial crises in Latin America. A native of Argentina, Loser led the International Monetary Fund's activities in Latin America since 1994, where he was most recently the head of the Western Hemisphere department. He graduated from the University of Cuyo in Argentina and received his MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. |
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Nora Lustig is Samuel Z. Stone professor of Latin American economics at Tulane University and non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Dialogue. Previously she was Shapiro visiting professor of international affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University; director of the poverty group at UNDP; president and professor of the Department of Economics of the Universidad de las Americas; senior advisor and chief of the Poverty and Inequality Unit at the Inter-American Development Bank; senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; and professor at the Center of Economic Studies of the Colegio de Mexico. Her research focuses on poverty and inequality, social policies and social protection with particular emphasis on Latin America. She has published sixteen books and more than 70 articles. Her classic Mexico: the Remaking of an Economy (Brookings Institution) was selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Book. She was co-founder and president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association; co-director of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty; president of the Mexican Commission of Macroeconomics and Health; co-director of the UNDP project Markets, the State and the Dynamics of Inequality; and the director of the Inter-American Dialogue’s Social Report Card. Lustig obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. More information can be found at Lustig's website here. |
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Margaret Myers is director of the China and Latin America program. She received a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and conducted graduate work in international development studies at The George Washington University. She also recently studied US-China relations at the Johns Hopkins University/Nanjing University Center for Chinese-American Studies. Prior to arriving at the Dialogue, she worked as an analyst for the US government, which required her to travel throughout Latin America and East Asia. She also previously served as a Spanish and Chinese teacher for Virginia Public Schools. |
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Scott Odell is a program associate for the education (PREAL), Commitment to Equity, and Long-term Global Trends programs. He graduated from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University with a BSFS in Science, Technology and International Affairs and a certificate in International Development. While at Georgetown, Scott completed a summer abroad program at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador and participated in research on Bolivian inflation rates. He also interned at the Inter-American Foundation and worked with Latin American immigrant communities in the United States during a two-year Latter-day Saint mission in Mississippi and Louisiana. |
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Manuel Orozco is senior associate and director of remittances and development at the Dialogue. He has conducted extensive research, policy analysis and advocacy on issues relating to global flows of remittances, and migration and development worldwide. He is chair of Central America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute and senior researcher at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University. He frequently testifies before Congress and has spoken before the United Nations. Orozco holds a PhD in political science from the University of Texas at Austin, a MA in public administration and Latin American studies, and a BA in international relations from the National University of Costa Rica. Orozco has published widely on remittances, Latin America, globalization, democracy, migration, conflict in war torn societies, and minority politics. His recent publications include reports for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. His books include Remittances: Global Opportunities for International Person-to-Person Money Transfers (London: Lafferty Group, 2005) and International Norms and Mobilization for Democracy (London: Ashgate Publishers, 2002) |
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Tamara Ortega Goodspeed is a Senior Associate in Education at the Inter-American Dialogue where she manages the report card program for the Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas (PREAL). She holds a Master's in Public Affairs from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, with a concentration in international development, and an undergraduate degree in political science from Yale University. She is the author of numerous articles on education policy in Latin America. Prior to working with PREAL, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English in Equatorial Guinea, and as a family educator for a local literacy project in Nebraska.
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Ninoska Piñero is the accounting manager at the Dialogue. She joined the Dialogue in June 2010 as staff accountant. She graduated in 2004 from the University of Zulia in Venezuela with a BA degree in economics, and has nearly completed coursework for her Financial Accounting Certificate. Before joining the Dialogue, she worked in the payroll and accounting department of Ultimate Services, Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland. |
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Jeffrey M. Puryear is vice president for social policy at the Dialogue. As such, he also directs the Dialogue's education program, the Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas (PREAL). He previously served as head of the Ford Foundation's regional office for the Andes and the Southern Cone, and as a research scholar at New York University. He received his PhD in comparative education from the University of Chicago and has authored numerous articles on inter-American affairs. His book on intellectuals and democracy in Chile was published in 1994 by the Johns Hopkins University Press. |
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Yesenia Rivas is the office and events manager at the Dialogue. She joined the Dialogue as office administrator in 2003. Previously, she worked in administration at ConAgra Foods, Inc. and Sears, Roebuck and Co. She studied mechanical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. |
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Rachel Schwartz is program associate for the Congressional Program and Office of the President. She joined the Dialogue in June 2011 after graduating from Haverford College with a B.A. in Political Science and concentration in Latin American and Iberian Studies. While at Haverford, Schwartz conducted research in Guatemala and was awarded the Herman M. Somers Thesis Prize in Political Science. She also studied abroad at the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico. |
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Julia Yansura is program assistant for the Remittances and Development program. Before joining the Dialogue, Julia taught high school Spanish for five years in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Julia graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Grinnell College, where she studied Russian, Spanish, and history. She also had the opportunity to study abroad in Valparaiso, Chile and St. Petersburg, Russia. Julia is currently working towards a Masters in Latin American Studies, with a concentration in migration, from Georgetown University.
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Board of Directors
Staff
