Paula Schriefer

Biographical Information
"Ms. Schriefer has over seventeen years of experience in democracy and human rights promotion. She currently oversees Freedom House's advocacy, outreach and communications activities, including foreign policy advocacy, press relations, and coordination with international organizations. From 2001 to 2006 she served as Director of Programs, overseeing Freedom House's nearly two dozen major program initiatives and thirteen overseas offices established to support independent media, open and transparent governance, civil society development, justice sector reform, and the defense of human rights. She joined Freedom House in 1997 as part of the merger between Freedom House and the National Forum Foundation (NFF), bringing much of the programming portfolio to Freedom House. Before joining NFF in 1994, she worked for the National Endowment for Democracy. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in Russian Area Studies from the University of Denver and completed coursework for an M.A. in Russian and Eastern European Studies at George Washington University. Ms. Schriefer speaks Russian and some German and French."