Robert Herman

Dr. Robert Herman Director of Programs at Freedom House.

"Dr. Herman has more than twenty-five years of experience in democracy promotion and human rights. He is presently Director of Programs for Freedom House, where he oversees a range of programs in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Eurasia. Before joining Freedom House he was Senior Technical Director for Democracy and Governance at Management Systems International. He was the co-founder and co-director of the Democracy Coalition Project, a global democracy promotion initiative of the Open Society Institute and previously served on the State Department's Policy Planning staff working on democracy and human rights and playing an instrumental role in launching the Community of Democracies, the first ever gathering of democratic states dedicated to strengthening democratic institutions, practices and values worldwide. As Senior Social Scientist with USAID's Bureau for Europe and the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union, Dr. Herman helped to craft U.S. assistance strategies to countries making the transition from communist rule. He has held positions with the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels and served as a staff member in the U.S. Congress. He earned his Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University having written his dissertation on the political and intellectual origins of the Gorbachev Revolution. He received a Masters degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton University) and a Bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College."