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.

Deborah Ullmer is NDI’s deputy director for Southern and East Africa programs. Ms. Ullmer brings to position more than a decade of experience working on a range of democracy assistance programs on behalf of the Institute. She provided assistance to national election monitoring groups in Guatemala and Guyana, where she served as resident representative in 2003 and from 1996 to 1998 respectively. Ms. Ullmer also organized joint NDI/Carter Center international observation missions for presidential elections in the Palestinian Authority in 2005 and the Dominican Republic in 2000. Earlier, she helped establish NDI’s Latin American regional political leadership training program and conducted programs to strengthen political parties in Guatemala. In addition, she gained fundraising experience as NDI’s development director.

Before joining the Institute, Ms. Ullmer spent three years as a legislative assistant with the office of Ohio Rep. David Hobson. She earned B.A.s in political science and modern languages from Seton Hall University and Latin American studies at the American University.