Senior Advisor

Katherine Hunter is a senior advisor for The Asia Foundation. She was formerly The Asia Foundation’s senior deputy country representative in Afghanistan. There, she oversaw finance, administration, human resources; coordinated the annual planning process and program support; and managed small programs. Prior to this posting, she was the coordinator of the Luce Scholars Program, managing annual placements of young American leaders in Asian organizations through cooperation with the Foundation’s country offices in Northeast and Southeast Asia. Previously, she served as The Asia Foundation’s country representative in Timor-Leste where she managed programs in legal reform, legislative development, conflict management, and civil society development, and as the senior director of women’s programs in Indonesia, where she managed major initiatives in budget policy transparency and civil society advocacy, as well as women’s participation in democratic, legal, and economic development. Prior to those positions, Katherine Hunter served as the Foundation’s country representative in Mongolia, directing the country program in governance and law, economic reform and development, and women’s political participation. She developed new program initiatives in local government budget transparency, designed the first survey of the business community on corruption, and expanded the women’s participation program to rural areas.

Hunter joined the Foundation in 1988 as a program officer for the Center for Asian Pacific Affairs. She has subsequently served as a program officer for South Asia in San Francisco, program officer for Women’s Political Participation in Washington where she coordinated regional women’s programs in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and as assistant country representative in Bangladesh and Mongolia. She has worked more than 20 years in international development, including 15 years resident in Asia.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in History from Mount Holyoke College; master’s degree in museum practice from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; master’s degree in International Relations from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University.