Elizabeth Dugan

Elizabeth Dugan "was appointed Vice President for Programs of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in February 2005.

"Prior to returning to IRI, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) at the U.S. Department of State, where she directed the bureau’s Human Rights and Democracy Fund and oversaw the management of nearly 250 grants, totaling $200 million. Dugan also managed the production, editorial composition and public release of DRL’s report on Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record, which details U.S. government actions to promote democracy and encourage respect for human rights in those countries that are the worst abusers. She represented the United States in meetings and negotiations in China, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam, pressing for greater respect for human rights and religious freedom and supporting the efforts of democratic parties and nongovernmental organization representatives to root democratic principles and practices in their countries.

"From 1995 to 2002, Dugan worked at IRI, most recently as Regional Director for the Institute’s democracy-building effort in Asia, which included programs in Cambodia, China, Indonesia and East Timor among others.

"Dugan helped create IRI’s program in Indonesia after Suharto’s fall from power in 1998, and spent one and a half years managing the Institute’s program in mainland China, focusing on legislative, legal and electoral reform. In 1997, after the coup d’etat in Cambodia, she worked with Cambodian democrats in exile in Bangkok to help them develop a strategy and conditions for a united return to their homeland to compete in national elections. Dugan joined IRI in 1995 in St. Petersburg, Russia where she directed political party building and women’s programs. She has observed some 25 elections in China and eight in Russia, as well as other balloting in Bulgaria, Cambodia, East Timor, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Mongolia, Nigeria and Taiwan.

"Dugan served at the Republican National Committee during the 1992 election cycle as Deputy Communications Director, and managed the chairman’s communications operation at the 1992 Republican National Convention. Prior to her position with the committee, she served as the Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration from 1989 to 1991, and as a Special Assistant for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Labor Department from 1986 through 1989.

"Dugan began her career in Washington, D.C., at the Republican National Committee working on local elections. She then served as the director of candidate education and training at the National Republican Congressional Committee for four years. Originally from upstate New York, Dugan received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Colby College in Maine."