IREX
International Research & Exchanges Board

IREX Board of Directors

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Avis T. Bohlen (chair) has been on the IREX Board since 2002. Currently adjunct professor at Georgetown University, she retired from the US Department of State in 2002 after some 30 years of government service. A career Foreign Service officer, Ambassador Bohlen’s posts included, among others, assistant secretary of state for arms control, US ambassador to Bulgaria, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Paris, and numerous positions dealing with European issues and strategic affairs and arms control. Since her retirement, Ambassador Bohlen has been a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and a member of the International Commission for the Balkans. She serves on a number of boards, including those of the Stimson Center, the Defense Advisory Committee of the Center for Naval Analysis, the Atlantic Council, and the American College of Sofia. Ambassador Bohlen earned her master's degree from Columbia University and received her bachelor's degree from Radcliffe College.

John J. Roberts (chair emeritus) has been with American International Group (AIG), a global insurance and financial services company, for over 40 years and has held executive positions both overseas and in the United States. Mr. Roberts serves as director at The Geneva Association, The Adams Express Company, and Petroleum and Resources Corporation. Mr. Roberts also is a trustee with The Starr Foundation, The Juilliard School, and Washington College. He has also served as chairman on a number of business and economic councils in Central and Eastern Europe.

Adrian A. Basora is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and director of the Project on Democratic Transitions, focusing on the post-Communist economic and political transitions in Eastern Europe and their implications for other key transitional societies. He is past president and trustee of Eisenhower Fellowships (EF). As a career Foreign Service officer, he served as the US ambassador in Prague from 1992 to 1995 and with the White House from 1989 to 1991 as National Security Council director for European affairs during critical periods of American foreign policy. Earlier, he held varied political and economic assignments in Europe, Latin America, and Washington.

Patrick Butler retired in December 2008 as senior vice president of the Washington Post Company, where he was responsible for public policy, new business development and special corporate projects. He is also president of Newsweek Productions, supervising the production of nonfiction television programming for PBS and cable networks. Mr. Butler was a founder of the Times Mirror Center for The People & The Press (now the Pew Research Center). His government service includes associate editor of the White House Editorial Office, chief political speechwriter, and transition director of speechwriting and research under President Gerald R. Ford. Mr. Butler served as a member of the National Council on the Humanities from 1988 to 1994.

Walter L. Cutler was a career U.S. Foreign Service Officer. He was twice ambassador to Saudi Arabia, ambassador to Tunisia and Zaire, and was ambassador-designate to Khomeini's Iran before diplomatic relations were broken. In addition to a previous assignment to Iran, he served in Algeria, Cameroon, Korea, and Vietnam. He was also Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, and Staff Assistant to the Secretary of State. Following his diplomatic service, Cutler directed Meridian International Center, of which he is now President Emeritus. Ambassador Cutler is also a Senior Advisor to the Trust Company of the West. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs. He regularly visits Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Ambassador Cutler is a graduate of Wesleyan University and holds an M.A. from the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy.

Nancy S. Dye was the 13th president of Oberlin College from 1994 to 2007. As a historian of modern United States history, Dye has focused her research on the history of American women and workers. She is the author of two books, As Equals and As Sisters: Feminism, the Labor Movement and The Women's Trade Union League of New York, and, with Noralee Frankel, Gender, Class, Race, and Reform in the Progressive Era. She has also authored numerous articles, reviews, and essays, and she has served on the editorial board of the Journal of American History. She has been a professor of history at the University of Kentucky, where she served on the faculty and as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Before coming to Oberlin College, she was dean of the faculty and professor of history, as well as acting president, at Vassar College. Currently, she is chair of the board of directors of the Great Lakes Colleges Association and a member of the Board of Trustees of Pomona College. She has also served on the boards of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the American Council of Education, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the KnowledgeWorks Foundation. Dye was educated at Vassar College, where she earned a baccalaureate degree in 1969, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she earned an MA and a PhD in history.

Edward M. Fouhy was the founding executive director of the Pew Center on the States and the Pew Center for Civic Journalism. He was also editor of Stateline.org, an online news service tracking innovative public policy at the state level. He is a consultant to the Government Performance Project, a journalism-research initiative that grades all 50 state governments. Mr. Fouhy is a career journalist—a reporter, news producer, and news executive for more than 30 years. He has won five Emmy awards for his work. He joined CBS News in 1966 and went to Saigon as bureau chief at the height of the war and served as senior Washington producer of the "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" during the Watergate years. Mr. Fouhy has served as the Washington bureau chief, vice president, and news directors for CBS News. He also held executive positions at ABC News for prime-time news magazine programs and was executive producer of the 1988 and 1992 presidential debates. Internationally, Mr. Fouhy has provided consulting expertise to independent news organizations in Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged served 34 years in the diplomatic service of the Netherlands. His positions included 3rd Secretary in the Moscow embassy, permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, director-general of political affairs of the foreign ministry at The Hague, permanent representative on the North Atlantic Council (NATO) in Brussels, and, in his final position, ambassador to the United States, from 1993-1997. Since his retirement as a diplomat, he has served on the Board of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, as a member of the Advisory Council on International Affairs to the Dutch government and parliament, and as special representative of the European Union for Moldova. Since 2004 he as been a member of the Board of Population Services International (PSI).

A. Elizabeth (Beth) Jones is currently an executive vice president for APCO Worldwide. She spent 35 years in the US Foreign Service, where she achieved the highest rank of career ambassador serving as US ambassador to Kazakhstan and in numerous high-ranking US government positions throughout Europe, Eurasia, South Asia, and the Middle East. As assistant secretary for Europe and Eurasia for the US Department of State, Ambassador Jones designed US policies for NATO and European Union countries, Russia, Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Ambassador Jones received her  Master of Arts in International Relations, Strategic Studies from Boston University’s Berlin Campus and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Swarthmore College. She speaks Russian and German and has a basic knowledge of Arabic.

Marcia Sloan Latta, currently serves as interim president of the Bowling Green State University Foundation and vice president for advancement of BGSU. She most recently served as the campaign director for “Building Dreams: The Centennial Campaign for BGSU,” resulting in more than $146.5 million raised, the largest fundraising effort in northwest Ohio history. Latta began her career as a congressional aide on Capitol Hill and volunteered in Costa Rica before beginning her work in advancement. She then served as the president of the northwest Ohio chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and presently sits on the board for Sauder Historic Village and the F&M State Bank, among other organizations. Latta has received awards from CASE, Women In Communications, and was named one of northwest Ohio’s Top 20 Leaders Under the Age of 40 in 1999. In 2002, she presented in Moscow, Russia at IREX’s symposium for university presidents from the former Soviet bloc countries. Latta holds a master's degree in mass communications and is pursuing her doctorate in leadership and policy studies.

After more than 40 years in the Swedish Foreign Service Henrik Liljegren is now Senior Political and Diplomatic Advisor to the President and CEO of the Saab Group. Currently he also serves on the board of directors of the Atlantic Council of the United States. Liljegren has been posted in Stockholm, West Berlin, Tokyo, and Paris and has been ambassador to Ankara (1982-1985), East Berlin (1985-1989), Brussels and Luxembourg (1989-1992), Washington (1993-1997) and for a second time in Ankara (1998-2001). As ambassador to Washington he was instrumental in forging a close relationship between the Bildt Government and the White House as they were assisting Russia and the Baltic states in reaching agreement on the removal of Russian troops from Estonia and Latvia. Liljegren has written an autobiography, From Tallinn to Turkey - as a Swede and Diplomat. Liljegren is married to Nil Liljegren and has one daughter, Nilden Liljegren.

Eric Newton is vice president of the journalism program for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. During the past seven years he has coordinated nearly $200 million in grants aimed at advancing journalism excellence and freedom of expression worldwide. Before joining Knight Foundation in 2001, Newton was the founding managing editor of the Newseum, where he created and coordinated the content for the first museum of news. Before that he was managing editor of the Oakland Tribune under the ownership of Bob and Nancy Maynard, when the newspaper won 150 journalism awards, including a Pulitzer Prize. He also has edited weekly and small daily newspapers, taught high school and college journalism and trained professionals. Newton's book-editing projects include Crusaders, Scoundrels, Journalists; Capture the Moment; News in a New America and News, Improved. He is a four-time Pulitzer Prize juror; helped found the First Amendment Project, a nonprofit law firm; shared in a Peabody award for "Mosaic: World News from the Middle East," and is a member of the Advisory Council for the Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy. Newton has a bachelor's degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and a master's degree in international studies from the University of Birmingham, England.

Frank Ponzio is the founder of The People Technology Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting the development of information technology and study of software engineering to reduce the digital divide in the US and Eastern Europe. He is the president and founder of Symbolic Systems Inc., a software consulting company servicing a wide range of industries since 1968. Mr. Ponzio also serves as an adjunct professor in computer science at the graduate school of Monmouth University and speaks internationally about information technology at organizations including the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). He serves on the advisory board for Stevens Institute of Technology and is a member of the board of directors for the Project on Ethnic Relations in Princeton, New Jersey.

Abdul-Aziz Said is the senior ranking professor at American University in Washington, DC, and director and co-founder of the School of International Service’s International Peace and Conflict Resolution Division, making him responsible for developing a wide range of innovative educational, research, and outreach programs. Said also occupies the Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace and is the director of American University’s Center for Global Peace. In these positions, he has been an advisor, moderator, consultant, and facilitator for numerous projects, including consulting with the US Department of State, the US Department of Defense, the United Nations, and the White House Committee on the Islamic World.

Hasan A. Tuluy is vice president of human resources at the World Bank. He previously served as director of the Operations & Country Services Department (Middle East & North Africa Region) at the World Bank, having joined the department in May 2003. Prior to that he worked in various capacities in the World Bank. Namely, Director for Strategy and Resource Management of the Corporate Strategy Group; Country  Director, Africa Region (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Sao Tome & Principe); Principal Country Officer, Africa Region (Sahel Department, Country Operations Division);  senior environmental economist / coordinator METAP Programme (Europe, Middle East & North Africa Region, Technical Department, Environment Division); and (sr.) economist, Africa Region (Occidental/Central Africa Department, Country Operations Division). Prior to joining the Bank, Mr. Tuluy worked as a senior advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture in Morocco, Tunisia, and Guinea.  He also worked in other capacities, including senior analyst and vice president of AIRD, Inc.; consultant for Madagascar Rice Sector reform at the World Bank; consultant for the research department of the World Bank; assistant professor of economics at the Fletcher School; and researcher at the Stanford Food Research Institute.