Members of POMED’s Advisory Board lend strategic and developmental expertise and guidance to the organization. The Advisory Board includes individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to supporting democracy in the Middle East and/or to examining America’s impact on political reform in the region.

Lorne W. Craner
President, International Republican Institute

Lorne Craner returned to the International Republican Institute (IRI) as President in August, 2004, following his unanimous selection by IRI’s Board of Directors. He has led the strengthening of IRI’s programs in countries such as China, Colombia, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey. Since 2004, IRI has broadened its work in areas such as governance, women’s participation, access for the disabled, and the use of technology in democracy promotion. IRI has also built an unprecedented level of cooperation with U.S. and foreign democracy building organizations. IRI held its two most successful fundraisers following Craner’s return; the first honoring President George W. Bush, the second honoring Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and First Lady Laura Bush.

Previously, Craner was Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for Secretary of State Colin Powell. Among other accomplishments, he contributed to the conception and implementation of President Bush’s approach to democratization in the Middle East, sharpened the administration’s focus on human rights in Central Asia, initiated the first U.S. government programs to advance democracy in China, and helped construct the Millennium Challenge Account’s “good governance’ criteria. Upon his departure from the State Department, Secretary Powell presented Craner with the Distinguished Service Award, the department’s highest honor.

From 1995 to 2001, Craner, as IRI’s President, led the institute to new levels of programmatic achievement, fundraising, financial accountability and news coverage. He joined IRI as Vice President for programs in 1993. From 1992-93 he served at the National Security Council as Director of Asian Affairs, and from 1989-92 was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs. Craner was Senator John McCain’s legislative assistant (LA) for foreign policy from 1986-89; he began his career as then-Congressman Jim Kolbe’s foreign policy LA.

In June 2007, Craner was again confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to a seat on the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Board of Directors. Craner chairs the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion and sits on the Boards of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the Internews Network. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he has testified on numerous occasions before House and Senate Committees.

Craner received his master’s degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown University and his bachelor’s degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

Michele Dunne
Editor, Arab Reform Bulletin at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
US State department 1986-2003

Michele Durocher Dunne is editor of the Arab Reform Bulletin, a monthly English/Arabic journal published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace offering analysis from U.S.-based and Middle Eastern political experts.

A Department of State official from 1986-2003, Dunne served in a variety of assignments related to the Middle East including the National Security Council staff, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, and the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff.

Dunne writes frequently on political reform in the Middle East. Among her publications are Carnegie Endowment papers on integrating democracy promotion into U.S. Middle East policy and evaluating Egyptian reform, as well as Democracy in Contemporary Egyptian Political Discourse, published in 2003.

Dunne was also a visiting assistant professor at Georgetown University 2003-6, teaching courses in Arabic language, political discourse analysis, and U.S. relations with the Middle East. She holds a PhD from Georgetown University in Arabic language and linguistics.

Noah Feldman
Professor of Law, Harvard University
Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

Noah Feldman specializes in constitutional studies, with particular emphasis on the relationship between law and religion, constitutional design, and the history of legal theory. Professor of law at Harvard Law School, he is also a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Before joining the Harvard faculty, Feldman was Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law at New York University School of Law. He was named a Carnegie Scholar in 2005. In 2004 he was a visiting professor at Yale Law School and a fellow of the Whitney Humanities Center. In 2003 he served as senior constitutional advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and subsequently advised members of the Iraqi Governing Council on the drafting of the Transitional Administrative Law or interim constitution. From 1999 to 2002, he was a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. Before that he served as a law clerk to Justice David H. Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court (1998 to 1999) and to Chief Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1997 to 1998). He received his A.B. summa cum laude in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University in 1992. Selected as a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a D.Phil. in Islamic Thought from Oxford University in 1994. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1997, serving as Book Reviews Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is the author of four books: Fall and Rise of the Islamic State (Princeton University Press 2008); Divided By God: America’s Church-State Problem and What We Should Do About It (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2005); What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation building (Princeton University Press 2004); and After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2003).

Mary Gray
Chair of the Board of Directors, Amideast
Former Chair of the Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA

Mary Gray is chair of the Board of Directors of AMIDEAST, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa.

Gray has been chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA, International Treasurer of Amnesty International, and chair of its international Development Committee. She has also been a member of boards and committees of such organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Middle East Education Foundation, and the American Association of University Professors. Gray was the first president of the Association for Women in Mathematics. President Bush awarded her the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Mentoring.

Gray has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Her work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Karim Rida Said Foundation in London. In 2003 she worked on a USAID project on education in Iraq and is currently a consultant to the Kurdistan Regional Government on statistics and information technology.

Gray has previously taught at the University of Kansas, the University of California, Berkeley, and California State University, Hayward. Her undergraduate degree is from Hastings College, her Ph.D. is from the University of Kansas, and she has studied in Germany on a Fulbright grant. She also has a J.D. degree from Washington College of Law, American University and is a member of the District of Columbia and U.S. Supreme Court bars. She has been awarded honorary degrees by the University of Nebraska and Hastings College.

Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Founder, Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies

Saad Eddin Ibrahim is one of the leading pro-democracy activists in the Arab world. He is professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo and founder of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, an independent research institution dedicated to promoting democratization and accountable government in the Middle East. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Egypt, Islam and Democracy: Critical Essays.

Ibrahim is a former political prisoner, having spent nearly three years in jail for his staunch opposition to Egyptian autocracy. His case attracted worldwide attention and the support of human rights organizations across the globe. Ibrahim, who holds dual Egyptian and American citizenship, has become one of the most sought-out speakers on democracy promotion and Egyptian politics. He is a frequent visitor to the U.S. and an outspoken advocate for a more consistent American policy toward the Middle East. He is regularly asked to advise and consult with senior level officials in the U.S. government, including the State Department and the National Security Council. Ibrahim was the 2004 recipient of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy’s annual Muslim Democrat of the Year Award.

Mark Palmer
Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees of Freedom House

Ambassador Mark Palmer is a long-time fighter for democracy and human rights both inside and outside government. He participated in the American civil rights movement and remains active in pursuit of better opportunities for African-Americans. In the U.S. State Department from 1964 to 1990, he specialized and served in the communist countries, wrote speeches for six secretaries of state and three presidents, including President Reagan’s speech to the British Parliament in 1982 which led to the establishment of the National Endowment for Democracy, and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and then U.S. Ambassador to Hungary during the crucial period for bringing down Europe’s communist dictators. For his contributions to assisting with the liberation of Poland, the Baltic States, and Hungary he has received awards from democratic governments and human rights organizations.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ambassador Palmer became an investor in the former communist countries, including establishing the first national independent commercial television stations in six countries, and building a major real estate complex at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. He is President of Capital Development Company LLC, which invests in the United States and overseas. Ambassador Palmer is Vice Chairman of the Board of Freedom House and the Center for Communications, Health and the Environment and also serves on the boards of the International Centre for Democratic Transition, Council for a Community of Democracies, SAIS Johns Hopkins University, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, American Academy of Diplomacy, and New Tang Dynasty Television. He is a member of the Secretary of State’s Democracy Advisory Committee. He graduated from Yale University in 1963, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude. He is the author of “Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World’s Last Dictators by 2025”, whose policy recommendations form the basis for the ADVANCE Democracy Act of 2007.

Kenneth Wollack
President, National Democratic Institute

Kenneth Wollack is president of NDI. He has been actively involved in foreign affairs, journalism and politics since 1972. Mr. Wollack joined NDI in 1986 as executive vice president. The Institute’s board of directors, then chaired by former Vice President Walter Mondale, elected him president in March 1993. Mr.Wollack has traveled extensively in Eastern and Central Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa on behalf of the Institute’s political development programs. Now chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the Institute maintains offices in more than 60 countries and works to support democratic elections, political parties, parliaments, civic engagement and women’s political empowerment.

Before joining NDI, Mr. Wollack 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). Mr. Wollack has been active in American politics, serving on the national staff of the McGovern presidential campaign in 1972. He graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and was a senior fellow at UCLA’s School for Public Affairs.

Mr. Wollack currently is a member of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and is the chairman of the board of directors for the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Development Programme. He has testified in numerous occasions before Congressional committees, appeared on national television and radio, and spoken before world affairs councils across the country. He has served on various Task Forces sponsored by the Brookings Institute, the US Institute for Peace, the council on Foreign Relations, and the Center for Global Engagement.