Amy Lazarus

Amy Lazarus is the Executive Director of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue (IISD), where she was the first Executive Director of the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. IISD develops everyday leaders who engage differences as strengths to improve their campuses, workplaces, and communities. Amy previously worked at ICF International, where she taught social entrepreneurship to college women in Saudi Arabia. Amy was a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs and earned an M.S. in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School, where she received the Dean's Diversity Fellowship and Dean's Leadership Fellowship. An undergraduate at Duke University, she co-founded the Center for Race Relations and the Common Ground diversity immersion. From Shaker Heights, OH, Amy lives in Washington, DC and serves on the board of Operation Understanding DC. Recent awards include: USA Networks Characters Unite Award, Facing History's Upstander Award, and the American Express NGen Leadership Fellowship through Independent Sector. Amy practices tai chi and has sung back up for Aretha Franklin. She is passionate about building scalable systems of inclusion and is coordinating efforts with Shapers in the Middle East to increase relationships and understanding through shared interests around entrepreneurship.