Leonard Benardo

Leonard Benardo has been at the Open Society Institute since 1996. In that capacity he has overseen OSI’s activities in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltics, Poland, and Hungary. In addition to directing the Open Society Fellowship, he continues to work as regional director for OSI’s efforts in these countries, and oversees a large grantmaking portfolio for Russia.

Prior to his work at OSI in New York, Benardo worked in the Moscow office of the Soros Foundation. He has also taught history and Spanish in a NYC public high school. Benardo has written for the New York Times, New York Review of Books, and International Herald Tribune, and is the co-author of Brooklyn by Name: How the Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks, Bridges, and More Got Their Names (NYU Press, 2006) and Citizen-in-Chief: The Second Lives of the American Presidents (William Morrow, 2009).