About OSI-Washington, D.C.Staff Bios
- Mike Amitay
- Akwe Amosu
- Jarrett Blanc
- Lynthia Gibson-Price
- Gene Guerrero
- Morton H. Halperin
- Zoe Hudson
- Wendy Patten
- Stephen Rickard
- Jonas Rolett
- Wendy Feliz Sefsaf
- Nkechi Taifa
- George R. Vickers
Mike Amitay
Senior Policy Analyst
Amitay has extensive experience in human rights and foreign policy issues in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere. From 1996 to 2005 he served as Executive Director of the Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI), a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization he helped establish. Traveling extensively in the region, Amitay focused on a wide range of issues affecting Kurdish communities in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Under Amitay’s direction, WKI and partners initiated humanitarian medical treatment and research programs in Iraqi Kurdistan to address long-term health effects of exposure to chemical weapons. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to correlate WMD attack sites with medical and environmental data, WKI established community-based heath education and service delivery platforms operated by women in isolated rural areas.
From 1987 to 1996, Amitay served as a professional staff member at the US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), a government body which monitors human rights compliance among 55 participating states in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Amitay coordinated activities related to Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus and specialized in Kurdish affairs. Amitay served on official U.S. delegations to numerous OSCE meetings, organized US and European parliamentary delegations to Turkey. Also responsible for the Commission's work in the United States, he authored a 1991 report on homelessness in the U.S. and organized an extensive examination of migrant worker conditions. Amitay organized extensive examinations of the applicability of the OSCE model in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia. In 1995, Amitay founded Human Rights Access (HRX), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization that promoted human rights and development of international law through arts and education.
Amitay received a M.A. in International History from the London School of Economics (1987), completing a thesis entitled “The Great Powers and Formation of a Polish Provisional Government: 1943-44”), and a B.A. in History from Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island (1985).
Akwe Amosu
Senior Policy Analyst for Africa
Akwe Amosu is a Senior Policy Analyst for Africa at the Washington Office of the Open Society Institute. She seeks to facilitate links between OSI's Africa-based foundations, initiatives and grantees, and the international policy community in Washington, DC, as well as sharing OSI perspectives on African issues and collaborating with other organizations in areas of joint concern. Amosu particularly aims to assist the US Congress and the wider policy community to understand Africa's challenges and ensure a hearing for African civil society.
Amosu has broad experience in African affairs and has written and broadcast extensively on the most pressing issues affecting the continent. For over 20 years she worked as a journalist and radio producer in leading African and Africa-targeted media. She joined allAfrica.com as its founder executive editor in 2000 and the site was twice nominated (2002 and 2003) in the Webby Awards' Best News Site category. At the BBC World Service during the '90s, during her leadership of the station's flagship breakfast show 'Network Africa' and other weekly feature programs for Africa, her team won several medals at the New York festivals and she conceived a landmark radio series on the history of Africa. She has also worked at the Financial Times in London and West Africa magazine. Most recently, in 2003-5, she was based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as head of communication at the UN's Economic Commission for Africa, and part of the strategic and policy-focused team supporting the UNECA executive secretary.
She is on the boards of the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), of Trust Africa and of the AllAfrica Foundation. Through personal advocacy and membership of campaign groups, she has sought to advance civil society leadership on HIV/AIDS and is active in efforts to increase awareness of AIDS' long-term impact on African states and governance. She is passionately concerned to strengthen media capacity in Africa and has over many years participated in media development and direct training. Through the IWMF, she participates in an innovative project to strengthen media coverage of HIV/Aids in Africa and promote women in journalism. With colleagues in Trust Africa, she aims to help consolidate efforts by African institutions to build peace and manage and resolve conflicts. A strong advocate of open source technology for Africa, she is a member of Fossfa, the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa.
Amosu grew up in Nigeria and was educated there and in England. She has an Honours degree in Social Anthropology in African studies from the University of Sussex and was the Harry Oppenheimer fellow at the University of Cape Town's Centre for African Studies in 1991, researching the future of post-apartheid broadcasting in South Africa. The results were published by the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa as an occasional paper entitled: "New Routes for Radio: Ideas for Better Broadcasting in a Democratic South Africa."
Jarrett Blanc
Policy Analyst for Multilateral Affairs
Jarrett Blanc is the policy analyst for multilateral affairs at the Open Society Institute/Open Society Policy Center, where he advocates both for enhanced multilateralism in U.S. foreign policy and for improvements in multilateral institutions.
Prior to joining OSI/OSPC, he was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow and a Visiting Scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he researched elections conducted during conflict. Blanc has advised senior decision-makers on conflict termination and political transitions and has managed elections in a range of conflict and post-conflict areas, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, and Nepal.
Blanc has published a number of articles and book chapters on related issues, including election management, systems of representation, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He has lectured at West Point, Harvard University, Princeton University, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy) and George Washington University. He holds an A.B. in government from Harvard College.
Lynthia Gibson-Price
Administrator
Prior to OSI, Gibson-Price worked as the Administrative Officer of the Department of Health & Human Services in Arlington (VA) County. She has also served as the Business Director of the Psychiatric Division of the University of Maryland Medical Center; the Director of Administration for Catholic Charities; and Special Assistant to the Director, Office of Civil Rights of the US Department of Transportation and Director of Administration for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
She holds a degree in Health Care Management from the University of Maryland, and has completed graduate level coursework in not-for-profit management at the University of Maryland.
Gene Guerrero
Senior Policy Analyst, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties
Guerrero has a distinguished career as a civil rights advocate in Washington, DC and around the world. Prior to joining OSI, Guerrero served as the Director of the Torchlight Campaign at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in Washington, DC. There, he directed a national legislative advocacy campaign to protect the rights of refugees. Before that, he was the Country Director of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Namibia. Guerrero also spent many years working for the American Civil Liberties Union as the ACLU Georgia Director and in the ACLU Washington Office.
Guerrero serves on the Board of the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area.
Guerrero received his M.A. in History from Georgia State University. He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Emory University.
Morton H. Halperin
Director of U.S. Advocacy
Halperin has a distinguished career in federal government, having served in the Clinton , Nixon and Johnson administrations. In the Clinton administration, Halperin was Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State (1998-2001), the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy at the National Security Council (1994-1996), and consultant to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (1993). He was nominated by the President for the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Democracy and Peacekeeping. During the first nine months of the Nixon administration, Halperin was a Senior Staff member of the National Security Council staff with responsibility for National Security Planning (1969). In the Johnson Administration, Halperin worked in the Department of Defense where he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (international Security Affairs), responsible for political-military planning and arms control (1966-1969).
Halperin also has a long record as a Washington advocate on national and international issues. He spent many years at the American Civil Liberties Union, serving as the Director of the Washington Office from 1984 to 1992, where he was responsible for the national legislative program as well as the activities of the ACLU Foundation based in the Washington Office. Halperin also served as the Director of the Center for National Security Studies from 1975 to 1992, where he focused on issues affecting both civil liberties and national security.
Halperin has been associated with a number of think tanks and universities including Harvard University where he taught for six years (1960-66) and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has been widely published in newspapers and magazines across the world, and has authored, coauthored and edited more than a dozen books.
The recipient of numerous awards, Halperin also serves as Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is Chairman of the Board of the Democracy Coalition Project. He is also the Chairman of the Board of the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown University. He serves on the boards of DATA and The Constitution Project, and is the chair of the Advisory Board of the Center for National Security Studies.
Halperin holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Yale University . He received his B.A. from Columbia College.
Zoe Hudson
Senior Policy Analyst
Hudson works closely with many of OSI's network programs and Regional Directors on issues related to foreign policy. She advises the network on advocacy, grantmaking, and research.
Hudson has extensive experience as a Washington advocate. Prior to joining OSI she was the Director of the Election Reform Initiative at the Constitution Project. There, she staffed a bipartisan committee to develop recommendations to reform federal election laws. Many of the recommendations were adopted in the Help America Vote Act. Before that, Hudson worked as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Health Privacy Project of Georgetown University and as the Director of Field and Government Relations for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
Hudson has a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Grinnell College in Iowa.
Wendy Patten
Senior Policy Analyst
From 2002-2005, Ms. Patten was the U.S. Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch, where she handled legislative, policy, and media advocacy on human rights in the United States. She has also worked on legal and judicial reform programs abroad, leading a team of lawyers as Director of Research and Program Development at the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative.
Ms. Patten served for five years as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, principally as Senior Counsel in the Office of Policy Development, where she handled legislative and policy analysis on a wide range of criminal justice issues, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and immigration issues. As Special Counsel for Trafficking in Persons in the Civil Rights Division, she worked on implementation of U.S. anti-trafficking laws with federal, state and local prosecutors, law enforcement, and non-governmental organizations.
From 1999 to 2001, Ms. Patten served as Director of Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House, where she handled refugee and migration issues and human rights issues. Ms. Patten was also a Skadden Fellow and legal aid lawyer at Ayuda in Washington, where she represented immigrant and refugee women in domestic violence, family law, and immigration matters.
Ms. Patten received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and her A.B. cum laude from Princeton University. She has studied international relations at the Université de Strasbourg in France and has lived in Senegal and Uganda, where she worked on women’s economic development and human rights issues. Ms. Patten has also taught international women’s human rights at Georgetown University.
Rickard has a distinguished career as a Washington advocate for human rights. Before joining OSI, Rickard served as the Director of the Nuremberg Legacy Project, working to promote U.S. support for international justice. Rickard was also the Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights (2000-2001) and the Washington Director for Amnesty International USA (1996-2000). Rickard spent many years working for the U.S. government. He was the Senior Advisor for South Asian Affairs at the State Department where he focused on economic and global issues, including human rights. He also served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. During his Hill service, he helped secure Senate approval for numerous treaties on international human rights and labor rights.
In the 1980s, Rickard worked as a litigator with the Law firm White & Case in New York, Washington and Stockholm. At the firm, he specialized in international arbitration. He helped manage the firm's pro bono legal aid program and served as Secretary of the New York City Bar Association's Committee on Legal Assistance.
Rickard received his J.D. from Yale Law School where he was a member of the Moot Court Board and an editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. He holds a Master's in Public Affairs from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Adrian College.
Jonas Rolett
Regional Director for Southern Central and Eastern Europe
Rolett has a notable history of working on Central and Eastern European issues. He has worked extensively with parliaments, political parties and civic groups on a variety of initiatives designed to open the political process. He lived in Albania during the 1990s and has stayed closely involved in political and social developments there.
Prior to joining OSI, Rolett was a Senior Program Officer at the National Democratic Institute, where he promoted democratic development in Eastern Europe. Rolett managed programs related to governance, civic participation and political party building, and established domestic election monitoring organizations in five different countries. Before that, Rolett worked as the Political Training Director for Campaigns & Elections Magazine, running a "campaign school" for candidates and campaign managers. He also served as the Communications Director for the United Way of Greenville County, South Carolina.
Rolett is a member of the International Committee of the Council on Foundations. He holds a B.A. in Literature and Psychology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Wendy Feliz Sefsaf
Communications Liaison Officer
Sefsaf works with the Director and Policy Analysts to develop communications strategies to advance the advocacy efforts of the Washington Office. The Open Society Policy Center engages in policy advocacy on U.S. and international issues, including criminal justice reform, human rights and women's rights, civil liberties and America's role in the world.
Prior to joining OSI, Sefsaf worked at public radio station WAMU as the Manager of Foundation Relations and Public Information. In her role she raised awareness and financial support for the outreach components of the station, including a youth radio program. Additionally, she was responsible for media relations, community partnerships and special events. Sefsaf has spent much of her career in the non-profit world including with The California Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse in East Los Angeles and The Young Adult Institute and Latino Worker’s Center in New York City.
Sefsaf received her M.A. in Public Communication from the American University in Washington D.C. and she holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the New School University in New York.
Nkechi Taifa
Senior Policy Analyst
Over the course of her notable career, Taifa has played a major role in raising the visibility of issues involving unequal justice. She has been widely published on issues involving sentencing and justice reform. She is an Adjunct Professor at Howard University Law School, teaching a seminar on "Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System." Prior to joining OSI, Taifa served as the Director of the Equal Justice Program at Howard University School of Law, where she developed and coordinated projects including working with public interest practitioners, pro bono coordinators and area law schools to create new opportunities for Howard Law School's pro bono activities. Taifa spent 4 years as Legislative Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, serving as the principal spokesperson for the ACLU Washington Office on criminal justice issues. Before that, she served as Public Policy Counsel for the Women's Legal Defense Fund and worked as a staff attorney for the National Prison Project. Taifa also spent many years as an attorney in private practice.
Taifa serves on the board of several organizations including the Washington Council of Lawyers, the Bureau of Rehabilitation, and D.C. Prisoner Legal Services, Inc. She is an active member in several associations, including the American Bar Association's Race and Racism Committee, the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the National Bar Association and the Washington Bar Association.
Taifa received her J.D. from George Washington University Law School. She graduated magna cum laude from Howard University with a B.A. in history and education.
George R. Vickers, Ph.D
Regional Director for Latin America
Vickers joined OSI in 2002, as the Latin American Program was launched. The Program focuses on three principle thematic areas: promoting transparency and accountability of governments; strengthening democratic values and institutions; and ensuring international support for Open Society values.
Vickers has a distinguished history of working on Latin American affairs. Prior to joining OSI, Vickers was the Executive Director of the Washington Office on Latin America, a center for policy analysis and advocacy that works to secure human rights and promote democracy in the Americas. Before that, he was a Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York and the Director of the Institute for Central American Studies.
Vickers has served on numerous election observer delegations in Central and South America, and co-directed missions monitoring the implementation of peace agreements in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.
He is the author of several books and has written extensively on the dynamics of revolutionary movements, democratization processes in Latin America, civil-military relations and U.S. military strategy. Vickers is a member of the board of directors of Hemisphere Initiatives. He also sits on the advisory board of Human Rights Watch/Americas.
Vickers completed his graduate level studies at Washington University, earning an M.A. and Ph.D in Sociology. He did his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University.
