Policy Day 2001
Speaker Biographies

Cindy Courville is the Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. She is responsible for the formulation, coordination, and implementation of policies related to South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, and military and security issues related to southern Africa. Dr. Courville is on leave from the Defense Intelligence Agency, where she is the Policy Staff Director for Africa at the Directorate of Operations and is responsible for all aspects of policy and regulatory development for Sub-Saharan Africa. Her professional experience includes 10 years in the academic arena as a member of the Political Science faculties at Hanover College in Indiana and Occidental College in Los Angeles. Dr. Courville received a BA and an MA in Political Science from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She also graduated from the University of Denver Graduate School of International Studies with an MA and a PhD in International Relations.

David R. Gergen is a Public Service Professor of Public Leadership and Co-Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Over the past three decades, he has served as a White House adviser to four presidents: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. In the mid-1980s, he became Editor of U.S. News & World Report and a television commentator. After his last governmental tour ended in 1994, he returned to journalism and began teaching at Duke University. Mr. Gergen joined the Kennedy School faculty in January 1999 while remaining Editor at Large for U.S. News and a regular analyst on ABC News Nightline. In the fall of 2000 he published Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton. Mr. Gergen is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School and holds six honorary degrees.

Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel is a member of the Philippine government's Panel for Peace Talks with the National Democratic Front. The comprehensive political agreement would include respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, and cessation of hostilities and disposition of forces. She co-chairs the Panel's Reciprocal Working Committee on Socio-Economic Reforms. Prior to her appointment to the panel, Ms. Hontiveros-Baraquel was the Secretary General of the Coalition for Peace, a grassroots peace movement actively supporting peace zones, advocating for the protection of children in situations of armed conflict and conducting paralegal trainings international humanitarian law with community leaders and members involved in the Philippine conflict.

Ambassador Swanee Hunt is director of the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she also teaches; chair of Hunt Alternatives (a private operating foundation); and founder of Women Waging Peace. Prior to her appointment to Harvard, Ambassador Hunt spent four years as the American Ambassador to Austria. While in Vienna, she extended her energies to the conflict in the neighboring Balkan states, hosting negotiations during the war and several international symposia to focus efforts on securing the peace. She became a specialist in the role of women in post-communist Europe, leading to the July 1997 "Vital Voices: Women in Democracy" conference of 320 women leaders in business, law, and politics, and the film documentary "Voices." Ambassador Hunt is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has contributed numerous articles for American and international newspapers and professional journals including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the International Herald Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Denver Post, Dallas Morning News, and Rocky Mountain News.

Ruud Lubbers is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). From 1982 to 1994 he was Prime Minister of the Netherlands; previously he was Minister for Economic Affairs in the Den Uyl-government and Senior Deputy Parliamentary Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal. A business leader prior to entering politics, he brings his varied background of work within the business, political, NGO, and academic sectors to his post at the UN. One of his main goals is to build support for the UNHCR in the international community as it fulfills its protection mandate, serves as a strong advocate for refugees, and ensures that governments meet their obligations under the 1951 Convention that created the Commission.

Ambassador Faida Maramuke Mitifu is Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the United States. Since her appointment in 1999, Ambassador Mitifu has testified before the congressional subcommittee on Africa on the situation in the Great Lakes region. She has given talks on the current crisis in the Republic of Congo at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and at various universities in the United States. Ambassador Mitifu received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry Education from the National University of Zaire, Kinshasha, a Master's Degree in French Studies from Auburn University, and a PhD in Romance Languages form the University of Georgia.

Luz M�ndez is the General Coordinator of the National Union of Guatemalan Women, an organization that promotes women's leadership, equitable political participation, and the implementation of the peace accords. Between 1991 and 1996, Ms. Mendez participated in the Guatemalan peace negotiations as the only woman member of the delegation of the National Revolutionary Unity party. She was instrumental in incorporating gender equity and women-specific commitments into the Guatemalan Peace Accords. Presently, she is a member of the Peace Commission of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity party. Additionally, Ms. M�ndez is founder of the Coalition for Political Equality, a coalition of Guatemalan women's organizations for the promotion of equality in political participation that is currently running a campaign for the transformation of electoral law.

Mary Okumu is the African Regional Coordinator for El Taller, a Tunisia-based human rights organization working to bring women of different cultures together. She has trained Sudanese women living in refugee camps in Kenya and other surrounding countries in mediation, conflict resolution, health education, development, and survival skills. Originally from Kenya, Ms. Okumu has spent the past two decades working throughout Africa in health policy, program development and management, and human rights advocacy. She has held executive positions in organizations such as the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF), Oxfam America, the Organization of African Unity, the Forum of African Development Organizations, Feed the Children, and the Meals for Millions/Freedom from Hunger Foundation. She holds both a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health Policy and Services and a Master of Arts in African Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Olara Otunnu is the United Nations Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, where he serves as an advocate for children in conflict situations, promoting measures for their protection in times of conflict and for their healing and integration in conflict's aftermath. From 1980 to 1985 Mr. Otunnu served as Uganda's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, where he played an active role in the work of the organization, providing leadership in various bodies including President of the Security Council (1981); Chairman of the UN Commission on Human Rights (1983-84); Vice-President of the UN General Assembly (1982-83); Chairman of the Contact Group on Global Negotiations (1982-93); Chairman of the General Assembly Credentials Committee (1983-84), when he presided over the Grenada crisis; Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Ministerial Meeting of Non-Aligned Countries (1983); and Chairman of the African Group (1981). From 1985-1986, Mr. Otunnu served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda, playing a prominent role in the Ugandan peace talks that culminated in the Nairobi Peace Agreement of December 1985. He has also served on several commissions, including the Commission on Global Governance, the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, and the Club of Rome. Since 1990 Mr. Otunnu has been President of International Peace Academy, an independent, international institution dedicated to promoting the prevention and settlement of armed conflict between and within states.

Sury Pillay is an attorney in private practice who focuses on human rights. She also works as an independent consultant to several non-governmental organizations and companies in the private sector, helping them to learn more about democracy and governance, with particular emphasis on local government, equity, social justice, development, and conflict resolution. She holds a BA Honors LLB from the University of Witwaterstand and a master's degree in law from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Schneider is Senior Vice-President at the International Crisis Group, an organization that uses field research to develop practical recommendations to strengthen the capacity of the international community to anticipate, understand, and act to prevent and contain conflict. Previously, he was the Director of the Peace Corps, where he was responsible for policy, program, and operations of the agency. Mr. Schneider was also Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the US Agency for International Development, where he managed all development assistance programs in the Western Hemisphere. He held posts at the World Health Organization, the Department of State, and Senate Committees on Labor and Human Resources and Judiciary.

Martha Segura is Executive Director of the Colombian Confederation of Non-Governmental Organizations, an organization comprised of twenty-five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from throughout the country. The Confederation, created in 1989 as a UN project, acts as a liaison between the government, private sector, international agencies, and NGOs. As Executive Director, Ms. Segura has been at the forefront of providing capacity building, strategic alliances, Internet training, and technical skills to many organizations throughout Colombia. Prior to her work with The Confederation, Ms. Segura worked in several departments of the Colombian government including the Ministry of Education, the Rural Development Fund, and the Program for State Modernization, where she was responsible for developing labor adjustment programs for displaced workers. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Communications and Marketing and a Master of Business Administration from Xavier University in Bogota, Colombia.

Ambassador Richard Sezibera is Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States. Prior to his appointment, he was a Member of Parliament in Rwanda and was elected President of the Parliamentary Commission on Social Affairs, which exercised oversight for the government departments dealing with issues of health, education, social security, the environment, youth programs, the disabled, and the promotion of gender equality. Ambassador Sezibera was a member of the president's delegation to Germany and the United States that discussed post-war reconstruction in Rwanda.

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