Susan Corke
Susan Corke is a senior fellow and director of the bipartisan Transatlantic Democracy Working Group (TDWG) with The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) based in the Washington, DC, office. In this role she is building a bipartisan and transatlantic platform for discourse and coordination to address democratic backsliding in Europe. Susan has been a skilled expert and practitioner for 15 years in protecting human rights, promoting tolerance, and supporting democratic reform on the ground in Europe and Eurasia. Prior to joining GMF, she was director of Countering Antisemitism and Extremism at Human Rights First, where she worked to ensure that the United States led internationally on combating antisemitism and extremism in partnership with European allies. She joined Human Rights First after almost 5 years at Freedom House where she was director of programs for Europe, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia and also led corporate engagement efforts in New York. She has been regular commentator in American and European media and testified on Capitol Hill several times to bear witness to urgent human rights issues, including countering the rise of extremism and intolerance across the Eurasia region. Before joining Freedom House, Susan held senior positions at the U.S. Department of State, in Washington, DC for which she received Superior and Meritorious Honor awards; most recently she was the deputy director for European Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). She also served in stints at U.S. Embassy Moscow, U.S. Embassy Prague, the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and in the Bureau of Public Affairs as a Presidential Management Fellow. Prior to the State Department, Susan helped found and manage the U.S. Foreign Policy Institute at the Elliott School of International of Affairs at George Washington University. She started her career in transatlantic affairs as an intern with GMF. Previously she was a media strategist at several advertising agencies in New York. Susan has a Master’s degree in International Affairs from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs with concentrations in International Law and Conflict Resolution, and a bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary.