Amy Hawthorne, a specialist in Middle Eastern affairs, was appointed as the founding Executive Director of the Hollings Center in January 2006. Previously, Ms. Hawthorne was an international consultant on Middle East politics based in Washington, D.C. and Cairo and an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she focused on the issue of democracy in the Arab world and was the founding editor of the Endowment’s noted Arab Reform Bulletin. She has published and lectured about Arab politics and has testified before the U.S. Congress. She also previously served as senior program officer for the Middle East and North Africa at IFES, a Washington-based NGO, where she managed programs to promote democracy in the region. Beginning as a college student, Ms. Hawthorne has spent extensive time in the Middle East. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in history, with honors, from Yale University and a Master’s degree in modern Middle Eastern studies from the University of Michigan, and reads and speaks Arabic. She was a Fulbright Scholar at Al Azhar University in Egypt, one of the Islamic world’s oldest and most important seats of learning. Ms. Hawthorne was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the Council’s Task Force on U.S. Policy toward Arab Reform.
Prior to joining the Hollings Center in September 2008, Ms. Güner served for several years as program officer at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) in Istanbul, one of Turkey's leading civil society organizations. At TESEV, she managed projects on EU-Turkey relations; democratization and international civil society networking; civil society-state dialogue in the Middle East and North Africa; women's empowerment and gender issues; and Turkey's foreign policy. She organized and contributed to many international conferences and workshops in Istanbul and has a wide network of contacts in Turkey and throughout the Arab world. Ms. Güner previously taught English at Marmara University in Istanbul. A native of Turkey, she received her Bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and her Master’s degree in international relations from Bilgi University in Istanbul, and studied at the London School of Economics.
Danielle Duffy joined the Hollings Center in December 2009. Previously, Danielle worked at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as the Operations Director for the Independent Expenditure program, where she managed the allocation and flow of $85 million in campaign funds and coordinated implementation of campaign plans for the 2008 election cycle, and worked on Capitol Hill. Her past experience also includes three years at the League of Women Voters of the United States, where she managed membership recruitment and educational programs and served as assistant to the President and Executive Director. Danielle received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a Bachelor of Science degree in telecommunications from the University of Florida and earned a Masters of Arts degree in political management from The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
Amy Hawthorne, a specialist in Middle Eastern affairs, was appointed as the founding Executive Director of the Hollings Center in January 2006. Previously, Ms. Hawthorne was an international consultant on Middle East politics based in Washington, D.C. and Cairo and an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she focused on the issue of democracy in the Arab world and was the founding editor of the Endowment’s noted Arab Reform Bulletin. She has published and lectured about Arab politics and has testified before the U.S. Congress. She also previously served as senior program officer for the Middle East and North Africa at IFES, a Washington-based NGO, where she managed programs to promote democracy in the region. Beginning as a college student, Ms. Hawthorne has spent extensive time in the Middle East. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in history, with honors, from Yale University and a Master’s degree in modern Middle Eastern studies from the University of Michigan, and reads and speaks Arabic. She was a Fulbright Scholar at Al Azhar University in Egypt, one of the Islamic world’s oldest and most important seats of learning. Ms. Hawthorne was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the Council’s Task Force on U.S. Policy toward Arab Reform.
Prior to joining the Hollings Center in September 2008, Ms. Güner served for several years as program officer at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) in Istanbul, one of Turkey's leading civil society organizations. At TESEV, she managed projects on EU-Turkey relations; democratization and international civil society networking; civil society-state dialogue in the Middle East and North Africa; women's empowerment and gender issues; and Turkey's foreign policy. She organized and contributed to many international conferences and workshops in Istanbul and has a wide network of contacts in Turkey and throughout the Arab world. Ms. Güner previously taught English at Marmara University in Istanbul. A native of Turkey, she received her Bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and her Master’s degree in international relations from Bilgi University in Istanbul, and studied at the London School of Economics.
Danielle Duffy joined the Hollings Center in December 2009. Previously, Danielle worked at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as the Operations Director for the Independent Expenditure program, where she managed the allocation and flow of $85 million in campaign funds and coordinated implementation of campaign plans for the 2008 election cycle, and worked on Capitol Hill. Her past experience also includes three years at the League of Women Voters of the United States, where she managed membership recruitment and educational programs and served as assistant to the President and Executive Director. Danielle received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a Bachelor of Science degree in telecommunications from the University of Florida and earned a Masters of Arts degree in political management from The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.