Peace Programs

Americas Program Staff
 

Dr. Jennifer McCoy, Director

Dr. McCoy is Director of the Carter Center's Americas Program and Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University in Atlanta.   She currently directs the Carter Center's Friends of the Inter-American Democratic Charter group and previously directed the Carter Center's project on Mediation and Monitoring in Venezuela from 2002-2004.  

She has directed election monitoring projects for The Carter Center in Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, Venezuela, Jamaica, and Peru, and has participated in election delegations to Indonesia, Haiti, Suriname, and Guyana.

Dr. McCoy's academic career has included extensive fieldwork in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and in Uruguay, where she conducted research as a Fulbright fellow in 1991 and 1992.  A specialist on democratization, international collective protection and promotion of democracy, and Latin American politics, Dr. McCoy is editor and contributor to The Unraveling of Representative Democracy in Venezuela, (with David Myers, 2004); Do Politicians Learn from Political Crises? (2000); and Venezuelan Democracy Under Stress (1995).  She is currently working on a book about international mediation and monitoring of the Venezuelan political conflict between 2002-2004.  Dr. McCoy received her bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University and her doctorate from the University of Minnesota. 

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Marcelo Varela-Erasheva, Associate Director

Marcelo Varela-Erasheva is the associate director for the Americas Program. He assists with strategic direction, policy formation, development strategy, and management of the program, including budget, fundraising, and public relations. More generally, he serves as deputy director for overall program management, including both Carter Center institutional functions and with external clients. 

 
Mr. Varela-Erasheva was previously advisor and international cooperation project manager to electoral management bodies of Latin America and several international organizations and civil society organizations such as the UNDP, UNDESA, OAS, IADB, International IDEA, OSI, and the World Bank.

He has experience in designing, coordinating, and managing international cooperation programs on democratization, development, national dialogue initiatives, human rights, electoral processes, civil society, police, and military. He has also acquired extensive experience in negotiating and managing international cooperation financial resources.

Mr. Varela-Erasheva holds a masters degree in European – Latin American relations from the University of Bradford, England. He also holds an MBA from the Universidad Europea de Madrid in Spain and the Universidad Interamericana in Costa Rica.

Laura Neuman, Associate Director

Laura Neuman is the associate director for the Americas Program at The Carter Center and the access to information project manager for The Carter Center.  She directs and implements the Center's transparency projects, including projects in Jamaica, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Mali, and works within the Americas to support country and regional access to information initiatives.

Ms. Neuman edited six widely distributed guidebooks on fostering transparency and preventing corruption, has published a number of papers, and has presented at numerous international seminars relating to access to information legislation, implementation, and enforcement. Ms. Neuman is a member of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue task force on transparency, a board member of the Center for Transparency and Access to Information Studies, Mexico, and an International Associate to the Open Democracy Advice Center, South Africa, and has served as a consultant to the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and a number of governments.  As part of her transparency work, she served as executive secretary for the Carter Center's Council for Ethical Business Practices.  Ms. Neuman also has led and participated in international election monitoring missions throughout the Western Hemisphere, and supported democratization work in the Americas. Prior to joining The Carter Center in August 1999, Ms. Neuman was senior staff attorney for Senior Law at Legal Action of Wisconsin.  She is a 1993 graduate of the University of Wisconsin law school.

Andrea Durango, Program Associate

Andrea Durango joined The Carter Center in June 2007 as the program associate of the Americas Program. She conducts research on, designs, and coordinates Inter-American Relations projects. Ms Durango organized the Carter Center election observation delegation for the Constituent Assembly elections in Ecuador that were held in September 2007.
 
Ms. Durango holds a Master of Science degree in global affairs from New York University. She worked at the United Nations for six years, both in Ecuador and in New York. Most recently, she was the communications consultant for the Latin American and Caribbean section of the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM),  where she coordinated the 2005 16 Days of Activism campaign against gender violence in Latin America.  She was also the focal point for indigenous related issues at UNIFEM. 
 
Previously, she was the country operations assistant at the U.N. Volunteers program in Quito, Ecuador, where she worked on human resources mobilization. Ms. Durango is a native of Ecuador.

Sarah King, Program Assistant

Sarah King joined The Carter Center in November 2006 as the program assistant for the Americas Program, where she provides administrative and logistical support to the program.  She received her bachelor's degree in international relations and Hispanic studies from Connecticut College in May of 2006.  Previously, she held internships with the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy and with WorldBoston, a member of the World Affairs Council of America.