The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has elected six new members to its Board of Directors. U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Ben Sasse (R-NE), U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), former U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), former Deputy National Security Advisor Dr. Nadia Schadlow, and former president of the National Democratic Institute Kenneth Wollack have each been elected to a three-year term on the NED Board.
“The Endowment is truly fortunate to welcome these new directors to the NED family,” said NED president Carl Gershman. “Their commitment to advancing freedom and democratic values will benefit our partners in every region of the world. We are deeply grateful for their willingness to support NED’s mission of advancing democracy worldwide.”
Gershman also paid tribute to Columbia University professor and retiring board member Dr. Andrew Nathan for his 9 years of service on the NED Board. “We are deeply grateful to Andy for the guidance he offered the Board and the NED staff – especially for his invaluable contributions to help guide and shape our Asia programs in his role as Board expert for Asia,” said Gershman.
NED was established 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 1600 grants each year to support projects that promote political and economic freedom and participation, human rights, a strong civil society, independent media and the rule of law.
About the New Directors
The Hon. Tim Kaine is a United States Senator from Virginia and was the 2016 Democratic Party nominee for Vice President. A civil rights lawyer by training, Kaine began his career in public service in 1994 when he was elected to the Richmond City Council and was later elected Mayor in 1998. He became Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2002 and was inaugurated as Virginia’s 70th Governor in 2006. Elected to the Senate in 2012, Kaine serves on the Senate Armed Services, Budget, Foreign Relations, and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees.
The Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen served for almost three decades as a member of Congress representing diverse areas in South Florida. She is currently a Senior Advisor at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen is the Chairwoman emeritus of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The Hon. Ben Sasse is a United States Senator from Nebraska, elected to his first term in 2014. He has held senior positions in three Cabinet departments. He is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Born in Plainview, Nebraska, Sasse earned a doctorate in American history from Yale University. He taught at the University of Texas and served as an Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2010, he was named president of Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska.
Dr. Nadia Schadlow is a Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute. She was most recently U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy. Prior to joining the National Security Council, Dr. Schadlow was a Senior Program Officer in the International Security and Foreign Policy Program of the Smith Richardson Foundation, where she helped identify strategic issues that warrant further attention from the U.S. policy community. She served on the Defense Policy Board from September 2006 to June 2009 and is a full member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Hon. Elise Stefanik represents New York’s 21st District in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a Member of the Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Kenneth Wollack has been actively involved in foreign affairs, journalism and politics over the past four decades. He served as the president of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), a nongovernmental organization dedicated to advancing democracy worldwide, and one of the NED’s four core institutes. Wollack retired from NDI in September 2018. Mr. Wollack joined NDI in 1986 as executive vice president and was elected NDI president in March 1993. Before joining NDI, he co-edited the Middle East Policy Survey, a Washington-based newsletter. He also wrote regularly on foreign affairs for the Los Angeles Times. From 1973 to 1980, he served as legislative director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
CONTACT: Jane Riley Jacobsen, jane@ned.org, (202) 378-9604
