The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

Thomas Barry is the deputy regional director for Asia. In that capacity he assists with the day-to-day management of the NDI-Asia staff in Washington, D.C., and all field offices and programs throughout the region. Previous to his current post, he supported Institute initiatives in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey and as a senior program manager with NDI's Eurasia team in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Barry joined the institute in 1998, serving first as country director in Azerbaijan where he conducted programs on election law reform, political party development, domestic monitoring and international observation for the 1998 presidential election. From there he moved to Turkey and worked with the parliament on ethics, transparency and procedural reform, and with civic efforts to increase the participation of women and civil society in Turkish politics. Over the years he has participated in numerous pre-election and election day monitoring programs.

Mr. Barry first became active in politics while in college and worked in the U.S. House of Representatives for 15 years, including 10 as chief of staff and legislative director for a member of the Committee on Appropriations. He managed seven campaigns for Congress and assisted in numerous others.