For 30 years, Dilek "Dee" Ertukel has worked to strengthen democratic institutions, advance human rights and increase women’s political empowerment in countries all over the world.  Her areas of expertise include strategic planning, advocacy, organizational development and fundraising.

Since 2007, Ms. Ertukel has served as resident country director for NDI in Turkey.  In this role she directs programs with local partners aimed at modernizing parliament and strengthening the ability of civil society to advocate for change.  From 2000 to 2006, she worked as an international consultant for NDI, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), working with civic leaders, political parties, women candidates and young political leaders in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Georgia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia and Turkey.

From 1987 to 1999, Ms. Ertukel worked to elect Democratic candidates to office in the U.S., beginning with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s first congressional campaign in 1987.  In 1992 and again in 1994, Ms. Ertukel served in senior leadership positions that helped elect and re-elect Dianne Feinstein to the U.S. Senate, the first women to represent California and to serve as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.  As director of development and senior advisor to EMILY’s List from 1993 to 1999, she helped raise $50 million, which contributed to the election of more than double the number of women representatives in the U.S. House and Senate.  She co-authored — with Mary Jan Volk — Making the Dough Rise:  A Handbook for Women Candidates.  

Ms. Ertukel was born in Ankara, Turkey.  She immigrated with her family to the United States in the 1960s where she was raised and educated.  She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley in political science.  In 2000, she returned to her native Turkey where she lives with her husband.