Stephen Rickard is the director of the Washington office of the Open Society Institute (OSI). Under his direction, the office engages in advocacy on U.S. and international issues, including promotion of human rights and support for open societies abroad.

Rickard has a distinguished career as a Washington advocate for human rights. Your browser may not support display of this image. Before joining OSI, Rickard served as the director of the Nuremberg Legacy Project, working to promote U.S. support for international justice. Rickard was also the director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights (2000-2001) and the Washington director for Amnesty International USA (1996-2000).

Rickard spent many years working for the U.S. government. He was the senior advisor for South Asian Affairs at the State Department where he focused on economic and global issues, including human rights. He also served as senior foreign policy advisory to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. During his time on Capitol Hill, he helped secure Senate approval for numerous treaties on international human rights and labor rights.

In the 1980s, Rickard worked as a litigator with the law firm, White & Case in New York, Washington, and Stockholm. At the firm, he specialized in international arbitration. He helped manage the firm's pro bono legal aid program and served as secretary of the New York City Bar Association's Committee on Legal Assistance.

Rickard received his J.D. from Yale Law School where he was a member of the Moot Court Board and an editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. He holds a M.A. in Public Affairs from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. He graduated summa cum laude from Adrian College with a B.A in Political Science and English.

Show full bio

Hide full bio