Michael Shifter was named president of the Inter-American Dialogue in April 2010. He was previously vice president for policy. Since 1994, Shifter has played a major role in shaping the Dialogue’s agenda, commissioning policy-relevant articles and reports as well as implementing the organization’s program strategy in relation to the Andean countries. Since 1993, he has also been adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he teaches Latin American politics. Shifter writes and talks widely on US-Latin American relations and hemispheric affairs. His recent articles have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Current History, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Journal of Democracy, Harvard International Review and other publications. Prior to joining the Dialogue, Shifter directed the Latin American and Caribbean program at the National Endowment for Democracy and, before that, the Ford Foundation’s governance and human rights program in the Andean region and Southern Cone, where he was based, first, in Lima, Peru and then in Santiago, Chile. Shifter graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Oberlin College and holds a MA in sociology from Harvard University, where he taught Latin American development and politics for four years.
