Wendy Luers

Wendy W. Luers (née Wood) is an American political activist who is the founder and president of The Foundation for a Civil Society, a democratization and non-profit organization.

Biography

Beyond her work with The Foundation for a Civil Society, she is also co-founder and co-chair of Beyond Conflict, formerly The Project on Justice in Times of Transition, an independent conflict resolution project working in collaboration with the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University. It was formerly an inter-faculty project at Harvard University affiliated with the Kennedy School of Government, the Law School and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Beyond Conflict works around the world in places as varied as Kosovo, Colombia, the Philippines, and North Africa. In addition, Luers is currently the vice chair of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and vice chair and founder of the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation.

A frequent publisher on issues of public diplomacy, including a piece in the Huffington Post on the soft power of art, Luers was also an international relations consultant for NYC 2012, the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Games. She has been a journalist with Time, a commentator for KQED-TV, edited San Francisco Magazine, a former contributing editor of Vanity Fair and a free-lance writer and lecturer. Luers served as a local consultant to NBC's White Paper on "The Urban Crisis" in 1968–1969. She also was the director of special projects for Amnesty International (1975–1979) and Human Rights Watch (1987–1989).

Committees and appointments

She was a presidential appointee of President Reagan to the National Council of the Arts (NEA) (1988–1994); designated by President Clinton as the chair of the NY White House Fellows Selection Committee; and founder and President Emerita of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies.