WASHINGTON, DC – Dr. Judy Shelton was elected the new Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) by NED’s Board of Directors at its January 10, 2017 meeting. An economist who has written widely on issues of international finance and monetary policy, she has also been consulted on international economic and financial issues by the Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon. Shelton previously served on the NED Board from 2005-2014, and was Vice Chairman from 2010-2014.
“Judy is deeply devoted to the NED’s mission,” said NED president Carl Gershman. “She admires the courage of democracy activists around the world, and will be able to provide strong leadership at a time when democracy is being tested as never before since the end of the Cold War.”
Shelton holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration, with an emphasis on finance and international economics, from the University of Utah. She received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Hoover Institution at Stanford University as a National Fellow, was named as a Hoover scholar, and was subsequently appointed Senior Research Fellow (1985-1995). She was an economic advisor for the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform chaired by Jack Kemp (1995-1996), was a founding member of the board of directors of Empower America, and has also served on the board of directors for Hilton Hotels and Atlantic Coast Airlines. Shelton joined the Atlas Network in 2010, where she serves as Senior Fellow.
She is the author of The Coming Soviet Crash: Gorbachev’s Desperate Pursuit of Credit in Western Financial Markets (1989) and Money Meltdown: Restoring Order to the Global Currency System (1994). Her opinion pieces appear in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Hill, The Weekly Standard and the Cato Journal.
Shelton, succeeds the Hon. Martin Frost, who has served as NED Chairman since 2013. “Martin has been a very wise Board Chairman, combining political astuteness with democratic commitment and exemplifying NED’s bipartisan character and mission,” said Gershman. “We are deeply grateful to him for his extraordinary leadership.”
The National Endowment for Democracy was created in 1983 as a private, nonprofit, grant-making foundation with a mission to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts. With an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress, the NED Board, which is independent and bipartisan, makes more than 1400 grants each year to support prodemocracy groups in nearly 90 countries. The Endowment supports projects that promote political and economic freedom and participation, human rights, a strong civil society, independent media and the rule of law.