Benjamin Grazda Email & Phone Number

United States

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

London, England, United Kingdom

• Led the strategic development and implementation of TSN’s global Tech Accountability Project
• Convened and represented TSN in diverse, international coalitions of policymakers, NGOs, whistleblowers, journalists, lawyers, and policymakers to identify policy and campaign opportunities, then designed strategies.
• Continuously monitored international policy developments relating to the harms from technology through public reporting and private relationships with stakeholders, and translated insights into actionable.
• Managed the intern and consultants for the Tech Accountability Project, including lawyers, designers, and other organizations
• Organized public and private events at international conferences and wrote external communication to build TSN’s profile
• Designed and wrote comprehensive toolkits to support whistleblowers based on interviews with over 30 stakeholders

London, England, United Kingdom

• Served as the Student Lead for the Maryam Forum’s Co-Lab on Democracy and Disinformation
• Drafted event descriptions and speaker biographies, and co-authored a call for action that was submitted to the G-20
• Supported an event on disinformation by distilling policy and academic research for panelists and troubleshooting logistics
• Organized two informal discussion events between students from three continents and subject matter experts

Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria

• Design proposals and modify projects due to the Turkish incursion, COVID-19, and other issues while tracking financial and programmatic progress of activities
• Create daily situation reports, including context analysis from internal and external sources and program updates for donors
• Streamline processes to improve grant management by consulting a wide variety of stakeholders, building consensus on tasks and responsibilities, and developing inter-departmental workflows
• Coordinate comprehensive technical and financial products for donors and internal audiences by shaping inputs from local staff and technical experts at HQ, and packaging for timely submission

Maiduguri, Nigeria

• Directed the global proposal processes and monitored implementation of 15 grants worth over $40 million in Nigeria
• Tracked the day-to-day progress of eight technical and three support teams, communicated between all teams and senior management to increase integration, and developed action points to ensure programs met their goals.
• Set deadlines for short-term and long-term projects for senior staff across technical and support offices within Nigeria, as well as international offices in the UK and USA, and worked to ensure competing internal and.
• Created interactive tools to track the progress of all ongoing programs and assigned actions to resolve outstanding issues
• Developed quick and actionable solutions to urgent compliance issues, internal delays, and external roadblocks
• Received inputs from local implementation staff and technical experts, edited and consolidated inputs ensuring consistency, clarity, and accuracy, and distilled them into comprehensive and concise packages for internal.

Nairobi, Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya

• Oversee reporting, donor relationships, and communication with staff in Somalia for eleven grants worth $11 million
• Represent the IRC at the Food Security Cluster, Cash Working Group, and other humanitarian coordination meetings with the UN and partners, contributing to crisis response strategies and following up with the IRC’s.
• Lead grant opening and closing meetings, including preparing spending plans, donor fact sheets, and PowerPoints
• Coordinated the development of the IRC’s Somalia Emergency Response Plan, analyzing different sectors’ budgets and gaps in programming, and writing a comprehensive document for the regional and HQ offices
• Manage internal monitoring of the humanitarian response and develop weekly situation reports for HQ
• Compile inputs for successful proposals from various sectors and operations offices, critically assessing ways to ensure proposals are better harmonized across the country program, add to the office’s goals, and.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Coordinated logistics for public hearings to discuss high-profile security concerns, such as the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Syria and votes on legislation affecting issues ranging from government oversight to.
• Corresponded with hundreds of expert witnesses and staff to ensure the record was complete and transcripts were accurate
• Updated the Committee’s internal and external website with all documentation relating to hearings
• Edited transcripts for hearings on terrorism, refugees, immigration, and other national security issues for final publishing

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Managed the entire Senate’s online room reservation system and engaged all 162 Member, Committee, and Support offices to coordinate the use of space in accordance with Senate Rules and Guidelines
• Trained Senate staff on using the room reservation system and responded to questions regarding the system on a daily basis
• Processed hundreds of rule waivers from the Senate community regarding filming in Senate space and outside catering
• Rewrote the guidelines for use of senate space in a more organized and reader-friendly way for Senate staff
• Archive thousands of documents relating to the history of the Senate, its regulations, and procedures

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Managed two working groups of Human Resource professionals from across the country to develop effective practices and regulatory action points for hiring long-term unemployed Americans as part of a White House job.
• Drafted detailed memos on legislative developments for staff, including the Vice President of Government Affairs
• Participated in 15 meetings with Senate and House staffers to lobby in support of immigration reform
• Organized an online database of thousands of SHRM members using Capwiz software and selected nearly one hundred members to serve as District Captains on SHRM’s grassroots advocacy team based on my analysis of their.
• Analyzed legislative language and federal regulations for the Vice President of Government Affairs
• Authored concise educational articles on current legislative developments for SHRM’s website, reaching 285,000 members

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Wrote flyers, photos, and promotional posts for website and social media pages highlighting the Council’s activities
• Created a presentation about women in Islamic countries for the Director to give at the Foreign Service Institute
• Edited website content using CommonSpot Website Design to update program events, news, and member profiles

Nairobi, Kenya

• Wrote grant drafts and grant application recommendations for international funding opportunities
• Authored a 40-page report on the constitutionality of Kenya’s election and recommendations for improvement using inputs from officials, media, and political sources, in addition to analyzing laws, academic papers, and.
• Served as an Official Election Observer for Kenya’s 2013 presidential election, monitoring political developments and speaking with reporters and government officials to convey real-time election updates to Sisi ni.
• Created and managed content for SnA’s website including staff bios, community descriptions and blog posts
• Promoted SnA’s innovative mobile peace building programs in local and international media by developing relationships with reporters and outside organizations

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Audited and updated hundreds of files containing tens of millions of dollars of grant allocations
• Processed and approved travel expenses for all individuals throughout the agency on a daily basis
• Researched and compiled success story presentations on domestic green technology investment
• Analyzed current news and wrote summaries of articles for the Assistant Secretary's briefing book

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Directed communication between people in Afghanistan and U.S. in an attempt to build a videoconferencing program
• Participated in meetings with senior staff to develop original ideas and creative solutions for the Council
• Helped with other projects at the Council as needed

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Researched and analyzed the federal budget, it’s politics, and future implications on a deadline for David Wessel, Economic Editor of the Wall Street Journal
• Edited chapters from the book for content and grammar, and created footnotes
• Found quotes from politicians in a variety of sources from the Congressional Record to YouTube
• Participated in meetings around DC with senior Congressional and Administration staff for book research
• Acknowledged in Mr. David Wessel’s NY Times Bestseller: “Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget"

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Conducted research, attended briefings, and wrote detailed memos to inform the Senator’s staff
• Fielded constituent calls and conveyed the Senator’s views while overseeing the front office
• Wrote letters in response to constituent requests and helped draft other blogs and social media content for the Senator
• Contacted other offices to get statements and clarify the intent of legislation sponsored by the member

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Acted as executive assistant to the Veterans Certifying Official, processing veterans’ paperwork and securing their benefits
• Revised the veteran certification process to make it more efficient for veterans and staff
• Created a database from scratch of all veterans attending American University and used it to track benefit payments

Durango, Colorado

• Organized and coordinated on/off campus events for large groups of children and directed those events
• Helped manage a group of interns and taught them how to interact and problem solve with the children
• Mentored a group of children throughout the summer and supervised them daily

Durango, CO

• Clipped press articles related to the Senator and organized them in the office
• Wrote drafts of congratulatory and thank you letters to local constituents on behalf of the Senator
• Organized correspondence and contacts on the Senator's statewide database

Master Of Science - Msc, Conflict Studies

Interdisciplinary Degree In Communications, Law, Economics, And Government (C.L.E.G.), Public Policy, 3.6

International Student, International Business, Trade, And Tax Law