Director, International Cooperative Research Group
U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council
Dr. Judith Hermanson is the Director of the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council (OCDC)’s International Cooperative Research Group. OCDC is an association of cooperative development organizations working internationally, where she previously served on the board, twice as its chair. As Research Director, she is leads OCDC’s research activities to advance the effectiveness of international cooperative development programs and policy through evidence. The Research Group is a learning center that uses academic rigor to focus on field-identified challenges with the aim of widening and deepening the impacts of cooperative development in support of inclusive growth and greater equity. Her long career in international development includes leadership roles in non-profits, government and academic organizations. She has worked in 50+ countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and the US, designing programs, conducting studies for the World Bank, USAID, the United Nations and other multi-laterals, providing hands on technical assistance and policy advice to communities, governments and donors. Judith publishes and speaks frequently at international conferences and other venues, focusing on cooperative development, urban growth and other pressing topics in international development.
Other positions include President and CEO of IHC Global; Deputy Executive Director and COO of the Pan American Development Foundation, an affiliate of the Organization of American States, and Executive Vice President of Cooperative Housing Foundation International (now Global Communities), playing a key role in the program growth and impact of each. Other previous positions include: Tenured public administration professor, Northern Illinois University and Inaugural Director of its NGO Leadership and Development Center; Senior Fellow, Urban Poverty, InterAction; Director of Consumer and Regulatory Policy and Program Evaluation, US Department of Housing and Urban Development; Director of Peace Corps’ Africa Program and Training; and Associate Peace Corps Director, Uganda and the Philippines.
Judith serves the broader development community currently as co-chair of the Infrastructure and Urban Development Working Group of the Washington Chapter of the Society for International Development (SID), a Board Member of the social enterprise non-profit iDE, Trustee Emerita and Immediate Past Board Chair of the American University of Paris (AUP). She has previously served on the boards of several international microfinance and humanitarian organizations as well as on the USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Assistance (ACVFA).
She received her undergraduate degree with high honors from Smith College and her PhD from George Washington University. She was honored by NAHRO’s John D. Lange International Award for her tangible contributions to international development in the Middle East and Eastern Europe and received an honorary doctorate from AUP in 2014 for her services to international development and education.