Zeyno Baran

Zeyno Baran joined Hudson Institute as Senior Fellow and Director of Hudson’s Center for Eurasian Policy in April 2006.

From January 2003 until joining Hudson, Baran directed the International Security and Energy Programs at The Nixon Center. Through writings, seminars and briefings, Baran helped American policy-makers and opinion-leaders to understand the Eurasian region’s political, economic and social dynamics and the U.S. interests served by an effective partnership with key allies.

She has testified numerous times before congressional committees on issues ranging from U.S.-Turkey relations to political developments in the South Caucasus and integration and radicalization issues in Europe. Her current work focuses on strategies to thwart the spread of radical Islamist ideology in Europe and in Eurasia and to promote democratic and energy reform processes across Eurasia.

From 1999 until December 2002, Baran worked as Director of the Caucasus Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). For more than a decade, she has written extensively on Caspian oil and gas pipeline projects and frequently travels to the region. In recognition of her prominent contribution to the development of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the South Caucasus gas pipeline projects, she was awarded with the Order of Honor by Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in May 2003. Baran was a C.V. Starr Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin in January 2006.

Baran received her M.A. in international economic development and her B.A. in political science from Stanford University. Her work on the compatibility of Islam and democracy received the Firestone Medal for Stanford’s most outstanding political science/international relations honors thesis in 1996.