Arlington, VA – (April 2013) – The Institute for Global Engagement (IGE), a leading organization working at the forefront of the emerging field of religion and global affairs, announces the hiring of Christy D. Vines as their Senior Vice President for Global Initiatives and Strategy. Ms. Vines will serve as the coordinating lead in the development of the Institute’s institutional partnership and global initiative strategies, as well as overseeing IGE’s external outreach and communication.

“Expanding our partnership capacity is a natural next step at this stage of IGE’s growth. Christy’s wealth of experience developing innovative global partnerships will enable us to expand our reach and impact in new and inventive ways,” said Chris Seiple, President of IGE.

Ms. Vines previously served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the RAND African First Ladies Initiative (AFLI). In this capacity, Ms. Vines was responsible for the development of multi-sector partnership strategies around first lady priority policy issues and projects. To-date, the program has worked with 24 first ladies and 36 of their senior advisors, leading to the formalization of multiple first ladies’ offices and platforms, and resulting in more than 20 international collaborations in support of first ladies’ efforts to address MDGs across Africa.

Fresh off of the 2012 AFLI annual roundtable meeting of African first ladies, former first ladies from the U.S. and U.K., U.S. State Department and other high level government officials and partners, Ms. Vines brings to IGE an important network of relationships from the philanthropic, foundation, and women’s leadership and economic empowerment communities. In addition, her consulting background, working with organizational leaders and executives on regional partnership strategies and platforms, will prove beneficial as IGE expands its research, education, and relational diplomacy via local partners to encourage flourishing societies and stable states through sustainable religious freedom.

“I am thrilled to join the team of committed, passionate and talented individuals at IGE. It is a great privilege to work at the intersection of religious freedom and the rule of law, highlighting the benefits of working within a multi-sector, multi-faith, multi-disciplinary framework. I firmly believe in the principle espoused by IGE that, together, the best of faith can defeat the worst of religion,” says Ms. Vines.

In 2005, Ms. Vines was selected as the lead capacity building consultant on a $50 million, five-year public-private initiative for the County of Los Angeles to develop community networks of support and social services within a collaborative partnership framework. In 2006, Ms. Vines was elected to represent the State of CA in the First Annual Nonprofit Congress, an unprecedented effort to unite nonprofit leaders across the U.S. to proactively shape the future of the nonprofit sector, and was also involved in the lobbying and advocacy efforts of the California Association of Nonprofits’ Policy Council as a state delegate representative.

Ms. Vines has an M.A. in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government with a focus on foreign policy and national security. She completed her undergraduate work and received her B.A. in Sociology with an emphasis in quantitative research from the University of California at Riverside, having attended Stanford University for the first half of her undergraduate career.

About the Institute for Global Engagement – The Institute for Global Engagement is a think-and-do tank at the forefront of the emerging field of religion and global affairs. IGE’s research, education, and relational diplomacy work worldwide through local partners to encourage flourishing societies and stable states through sustainable religious freedom. Toward that end, IGE studies the impact of faith on state and society, equips governments to protect religious freedom, and equips citizens to exercise that freedom responsibly. To learn more about IGE, please watch our four minute video.