Kenneth Wollack is president of NDI. He has been actively involved in foreign affairs, journalism and politics since 1972. Mr. Wollack joined NDI in 1986 as executive vice president. The Institute's board of directors, then chaired by former Vice President Walter Mondale, elected him president in March 1993. Mr.Wollack has traveled extensively in Eastern and Central Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa on behalf of the Institute's political development programs.
Now chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the Institute maintains offices in more than 65 countries and works to support democratic elections, political parties, parliaments, civic engagement and women’s political empowerment. Before joining NDI, Mr. Wollack co-edited the Middle East Policy Survey, a Washington-based newsletter. He also wrote regularly on foreign affairs for the Los Angeles Times. From 1973 to 1980, he served as legislative director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Mr. Wollack has been active in American politics, serving on the national staff of the McGovern presidential campaign in 1972. He graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., and was a senior fellow at UCLA’s School for Public Affairs.
He has testified on numerous occasions before congressional committees, appeared on national television and radio, and spoken before world affairs councils across the country. He has served on various task forces sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the United States Institute of Peace, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for U.S. Global Engagement, the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Atlantic Council.
Mr. Wollack has served as a member of USAID's Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and as chairman of the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Development Programme.