Kathy Gest is director of public affairs at NDI, which she joined in 2007 after a 30-year career in Washington, D.C., as a journalist, Capitol Hill staff member and public affairs consultant. She came to NDI from Powell Tate | Weber Shandwick, where she co-chaired the international practice, advising foreign governments, embassies, organizations and corporations seeking to achieve public policy goals in the U.S. and abroad. She has represented the European Union and the embassies of Cyprus, Germany and Morocco; clients in Gabon, the Isle of Man, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Tunisia; and done projects involving Brazil, Croatia, Tanzania and Uganda.

She spent 10 years as the press secretary to U.S. Senator William Cohen of Maine, serving as his chief spokesperson and communications strategist. She also was a journalist for 16 years, most recently at Congressional Quarterly, where she held numerous reporting and editing posts, including managing editor.

Before joining the NDI staff, Ms. Gest was a longtime volunteer with the Institute and other organizations working to strengthen democracy. She has been a member of NDI election observer delegations in Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Ukraine and West Bank/Gaza, and she has taken part in overseas training missions working with spokespeople, parliamentarians, journalists and political operatives from Croatia, Egypt, Honduras, Hungary, Iraq, Jordan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Mexico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe.

She is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.