Ray Salvatore Jennings

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Chief of Party, Iraq

Areas of Specialization

Iraq • Balkans • Afghanistan • Peru • Sierra Leone • Ethnic Conflict • Post-Conflict Reconstruction• Nation-Building • Community and Participatory Development • Community-Based Peacemaking and Peacebuilding

Contact: Office of Congressional and Public Affairs

Background

Ray Salvatore Jennings became the Institute's Chief of Party in Iraq in 2004. He currently manages the Institute's conflict management field programs and support operations throughout the country. Jennings has extensive experience with post-conflict reconstruction, ethnic reconciliation, and community-based development in war-torn societies. He was a 2002-2003 senior fellow at the Institute, and before that, he worked in Afghanistan for the World Bank and the Cooperative Housing Foundation. From 1996-2001 he held country director and senior field advisor positions with the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Peru, and Sierra Leone. Earlier he worked in Bosnia-Herzegovina as program manager for the International Rescue Committee and as donor community spokesman for United Nations observer groups. Jennings began his career in teaching, as chair of the interdisciplinary studies program at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska. He has been a lead instructor in peace-building within the leadership development program at the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California, and he continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Jennings' published work includes articles on post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding for Worldview Magazine, the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs and an Institute Peaceworks report. His numerous media appearances include CNN, C-SPAN, NPR, and the BBC. Jennings holds degrees from St. Michael's College and Idaho State University.