Posted on December 11, 2011

Christopher Stone Selected to Lead Open Society Foundations

The Open Society Foundations have named Harvard University professor Christopher Stone as president, effective July 2012.

In that position, Stone, currently Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, will oversee more than $850 million in annual expenditures. He has served on the board of the Open Society Justice initiative since 2004 and previously served as director of the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonpartisan, nonprofit center focused on justice policy and practice.

Stone will succeed Aryeh Neier, who announced his retirement earlier this year after nearly twenty years at the helm of OSF. Neier joined the organization after twelve years as executive director of Human Rights Watch, which he co-founded following a fifteen-year career at the American Civil Liberties Union, including eight as the organization's national executive director.

"It is a great honor to join George Soros at the helm of the Open Society Foundations, especially at this moment when there is so much to be done," said Stone. "In many places the Open Society Foundations are a leading supporter of efforts to strengthen the rule of law, democratic practice, and basic respect for human dignity. It will be a privilege to work alongside the Foundations' grantees and staff as we move this agenda forward."