Cathleen S. Fisher, Ph.D.
President

Dr. Cathleen S. Fisher is Executive Director of American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. From 2002-2006, she was Deputy Director of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS), The Johns Hopkins University, where she was centrally involved in management of all operations and programs in support of the Institute’s mission. Before joining AICGS, Fisher served for ten years as a Senior Associate at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a non-profit public policy institute in Washington, D.C. focusing on international and national security issues. She has been a Fulbright scholar at the University of Bonn (1981-82), and was a dissertation fellow with the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies at the Free University of Berlin. Fisher is a Professorial Lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University; she has also been an Adjunct Associate Professor in the National Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and has taught in the Department of Political Science at Emory University. She holds a Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from George Mason University’s School of Public Administration. Contact Cathleen.

Deirdre Kelly
Senior Program Director

Deirdre Kelly is Senior Program Director at American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is responsible for promotional activities and marketing in the United States, the annual selection and orientation meetings of the German Chancellor Fellowship, and representation of the AvH at academic, scientific, and professional meetings. She joined American Friends’ predecessor, the U.S. Liaison Office of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, in 1998, and subsequently assisted with transforming the organization into the professional partner of the Humboldt Foundation. Prior to joining American Friends, she worked in event planning and membership relations for the International Women’s Forum, a global organization of executive women, and in the conference division of the American Bankers Association, a trade organization in Washington, D.C. A native of Chicago, Deirdre has a B.A. in communications from Trinity College (D.C.). She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, a health care policy journalist, and their son. Contact Deirdre.

Virginia Page Barth
Program Director

Virginia Page Barth joined the staff of American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation on April 1, 2008 as program director. Virginia brings with her a background in government relations and experience on Capitol Hill, as well as in the fundraising arena. She began her love for the German culture in an international business program in Hannover in the summer of 1990. She is originally from Greenville, South Carolina and earned a B.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her son. Contact Virginia.