Rukmani Bhatia is a democracy and human rights advocate. She has previously worked at Freedom House managing the Freedom in the World and Freedom of the Press reports. She served in the Obama Administration at the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Europe & Eurasia Bureau. Prior to her political appointment, she was the inaugural Hillary R. Clinton Research Fellow for Ambassador Melanne Verveer at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace & Security. She has published extensively on women’s political participation and democracy and human rights issues. She has conducted fieldwork in the Balkans, South and Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Central America. Rukmani holds a master’s degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and a bachelor’s degree with honors from Wellesley College.