Vivian Lowery Derryck
Vivian Lowery Derryck is the president and C.E.O. of The Bridges Institute, a non-profit she launched to strengthen African governance and leadership through global partnerships for social development. She spent 2009 as an Inaugural Fellow at the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University, exploring strategies for social development in education, health, governance and poverty alleviation. Prior to her year at Harvard, she was Senior Vice President and Director of Public-Private Partnerships at AED, a U.S.-based non-profit working on education, health, and economic development in more than 125 countries. Previously, she served as the Assistant Administrator for Africa of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the senior government official directing foreign assistance to Africa.
A veteran foreign affairs specialist, she has held numerous positions in both government and the non-profit private sector, including Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Dept of State, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Negro Women, Vice President of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, President of the African-American Institute and Senior Advisor of the Africa Leadership Forum.
A graduate of Chatham College (BA) and Columbia University (MIA), Ms. Derryck is listed in Who's Who and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bretton Woods Committee. She serves on several non-profit boards, including the Jane Goodall Institute, Wellesley Centers for Women, Asian University for Women, Femmes/Afrique/Solidarité and Global Rights. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Guggenheim Humanitarian Award, Martin Luther King Service Award and an honorary doctorate.