Carolyn "Carrie" Hessler-Radelet is the President & CEO of

Global Communities Global Communities is a International development, global development organization that has grown to reach over 35 countries per year. The non-profit organization was founded in 1952 as the Cooperative Housing Foundation and provided affordable hous ...

. In 2017, she served as the President & CEO o
Project Concern International (PCI)
a San Diego–based international development and humanitarian assistance organization, and spearheaded the merger of the organization with the Silver Spring, Maryland–based Global Communities in 2020. Prior to leading PCI, Carrie was the 19th director of the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

, from 2014 to 2017. She was the Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Peace Corps from April 2010 to December 2015, serving as Acting Peace Corps Director from September 2012 until June 2014 when she was elevated to Director. She resigned on January 20, 2017, to joi
Project Concern International (PCI)
as its President & CEO.

Education

Hessler-Radelet received a B.A. in political science and economics from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

in 1979. She earned a Master of Science in health policy and management, with a concentration in international health and marketing, from

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

in 1990.

Career

Hessler-Radelet began her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer secondary school teacher in Apia, Western Samoa, from 1981 to 1984. There she helped to design a national public awareness campaign on disaster preparedness. Upon her return the U.S., she was the public affairs manager at the Peace Corps Regional Office in Boston from 1984 to 1986. From 1986 to 1988, she founded and served as the executive director of the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Ol ...

in the Republic of

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

, planning, developing and managing that country's first national Special Olympics games. She also served as a consultant with The Gambia Family Planning Association. From 1989 to 1991, Hessler-Radelet served as the acting director of the Boston International Group with John Snow, Inc. She served as a technical advisor for the MotherCare Project for John Snow, Inc. in Indonesia from 1991 to 1994 and as an HIV/AIDS advisor with the Health and Child Survival Fellows Program at the

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

in Indonesia from 1994 to 1995. She was the director of the JSI/Boston International Group, for John Snow, Inc. in Boston from 1996 to 2000. From 2000 to 2010 she was the vice president and director of John Snow, Inc. (for-profit) and JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc. (non-profit) in the Washington, D.C., area.

Deputy director of the Peace Corps

On November 9, 2009, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated Hessler-Radelet to serve as the deputy director of the Peace Corps. She was appointed on June 23, 2010. At the time of her nomination she was the director at the JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc, a global public health organization, where she oversaw the management of programs in more than 30 countries. Hessler-Radelet was a board member of the National Peace Corps Association and served on the steering committee for the US Coalition for Child Survival. During her time as deputy director, she led the roll-out of the Focus In/Train Up initiative, which provides targeted technical training to volunteers to increase their capacity-building abilities.

Director of the Peace Corps

On July 18, 2013, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Hessler-Radelet as the director of the

. She was confirmed as director on June 5, 2014. As Peace Corps director, Hessler-Radelet has led an extensive organizational reform effort, most notably to enhance the health and safety of trainees and volunteers (including the development of a sexual assault risk reduction and response program); improve the quality of Peace Corps’ technical training and program support for volunteers; increase the impact and operational efficiency of agency operations; strengthen intercultural competence, diversity and inclusion; enhance the visibility and image of Peace Corps; attracted record numbers of applicants; and expand and strengthen public-private partnerships to increase funding, enhance brand image and strengthen technical programming.

Service in presidential delegations

Hessler-Radelet led or joined two presidential delegations. On January 13, 2012, President

announced the delegation to attend the inauguration of

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gol ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

. On January 16, 2012, Hessler-Radelet, then Peace Corps deputy director, traveled to Monrovia as part of a presidential delegation led by then Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and also including then

United States Ambassador to Liberia This is a record of ambassadors of the United States to Liberia. Liberia, as a nation, had its beginnings in 1821 when groups of free blacks from the United States emigrated from the U.S. and began establishing colonies on the coast under the ...

Linda Thomas-Greenfield Linda Thomas-Greenfield (born November 22, 1952) is an American diplomat who served as the 31st United States Ambassador to the United Nations, United States ambassador to the United Nations under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025. She serve ...

and

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

Christopher Coons, of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, among others. On February 20, 2013, President Barack Obama announced the delegation to attend the inauguration of Ernest Bai Koroma of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. Hessler-Radelet led the delegation.

President and CEO of Project Concern International and Global Communities

In February 2017, Hessler-Radelet was named president and CEO of Project Concern International, a San Diego-based international development organization, by the board of directors. In 2019, Project Concern International merged with Global Communities, and in October 2022 Hessler-Radelet was named the president and CEO of Global Communities.

Honors and awards

Hessler-Radelet has received honorary degrees from Austin College (2013), University of Puget Sound (2015), Boston University (2016), Michigan Technological University (2016), Virginia Wesleyan University (2016), and Williams College (2016). She received the

Society for International Development The Society for International Development (SID) was founded in Washington, D.C., United States, in 1957. SID has a network of individual and institutional members, local chapters and partner organisations, in more than 80 countries. It works with m ...

, Award for Outstanding Leadership in International Development in November 2016.

Personal life

Hessler-Radelet and her husband, international development economist Steven Radelet, served together as a couple in the Peace Corps and have two grown children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hessler-Radelet, Carrie Living people Peace Corps directors Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni American expatriates in Samoa Year of birth missing (living people)