Nicole Bibbins Sedaca
Ms. Bibbins Sedaca serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors. She is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program, where she teaches on the link between security and a host of issues considered outside of a security framework, including democracy, human rights, health, and refugees. Ms. Bibbins Sedaca has held numerous positions in the public and non-governmental sectors in the United States and Ecuador. In 2009-2010, she opened and directed the International Republican Institute's local governance program in Ecuador. She also taught at the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador) on democratization and conflict resolution. She also co-led the Model United Nations team that won several awards in April 2009.
She served for ten years in the United States Government. From 2005-2007 she held the position of Senior Director for Strategic Planning and External Affairs in the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, managing strategic planning, public messaging, and relations with domestic and international governmental and non-governmental partners. Prior to that she served from 2001-2005 as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, advising on democracy, human rights, religious freedom and trafficking in persons. She also served for two years as the Special Assistant to the U.S. Coordinator for Counterterrorism. From 1997-1999 she served as the Balkans Refugees Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, where she managed programs for the return of displaced persons from the first Balkans conflict and the assistance to those displaced by the Kosovo crisis. During this time she was also detailed to the Pentagon to assist in the coordination of humanitarian and military efforts in Kosovo.
Ms. Bibbins Sedaca holds a Masters degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and a Bachelors degree in International Relations from The College of William and Mary. She studied at Humboldt Universitaet in Berlin, Germany, while on a Rotary International Scholarship. She is a native English speaker, and also speaks German and Spanish.
Nicole is married to Santiago Sedaca and they have 2 sons.