Michael Carroll
Executive Director
Michael J. Carroll has served as the Executive Director of the Hollings Center since 2013. Since taking that role, he has overseen the Center’s strategic vision and initiatives. In addition to acting as the Center’s liaison to its Board of Directors, the State Department, and Congress, he is responsible for conducting outreach and partnerships on the Center’s behalf. Furthermore, he directs all of the Center’s fundraising initiatives. He oversees the Center’s programmatic development.
Prior to becoming Executive Director, he served as the inaugural Assistant Director for the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations at Boston University. In addition he concurrently served as the U.S. Director of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS) and the American Institute for Yemeni Studies (AIYS), both of which are overseas research centers committed to fostering greater understanding through academic research and collaborative exchanges.
Mr. Carroll’s interests include conflict resolution, social resiliency, dialogue, and education reform. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his M.Ed. in Policy, Planning and Administration from Boston University.
Sanem Güner
Assistant Director
Sanem Güner is the assistant director of the Hollings Center, based in Istanbul, Turkey. She has overseen the establishment of the Center’s Istanbul office in 2010, and has been involved in designing and running its dialogue programs since. Güner is the coordinator for the Center’s small grants program, and helps produce the Center’s monthly podcast, Picking Up Where We Left Off.
Prior to this, she 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; women’s empowerment and gender issues; and Turkey’s foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa. Güner partakes in the External Advisory Councils of the International Panel on Exiting Violence and European Neighborhood Council.
A native of Turkey, she received her bachelor’s in political science from Bryn Mawr College, and her master’s in international relations from Bilgi University in Istanbul, and studied at the London School of Economics.
Aslı Mutlu
Senior Program Officer
Aslı Mutlu serves as the senior program officer for the Hollings Center, based in Istanbul, Turkey. Since joining the Center in 2013, she has been involved in designing and executing its dialogue programs. She has also been responsible for managing projects in collaboration with the U.S. State Department. Prior to her arrival at the Hollings Center, Mutlu worked at the Center for International and European Studies (CIES) at Kadir Has University in Istanbul where she managed international projects, events and grants. She has also worked for the United Methodist Women’s Division Washington Office of Public Policy where she researched and wrote on various public policy issues pertaining to women’s and children’s matters. In addition to her research and writing, she organized advocacy and training events in Washington, D.C. Her work experience in Istanbul began when she completed a banking management program and started working in international banking, building relationships with foreign banking institutions. Aslı Mutlu received her B.A. in international studies, with an area focus in the Middle East and peace and conflict resolution, from American University in Washington, D.C.