Marjan Horst Ehsassi

Marjan H. Ehsassi is the Executive Director of FIDE – North America (the Federation for Innovation in Democracy North America; fide.eu/north-america). She is a Future of Democracy Fellow (non-resident) at the Berggruen Institute and a Senior Innovations Fellow at the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA at OSU). Marjan is a skilled advocate, strategic policy advisor and a movement builder. A fierce believer in the integrity of citizens’ voice, she promotes citizen-centric democratic processes that are inclusive, hold government accountable, build civic muscle and are impactful. A lawyer, Marjan has worked to enhance space for civil society in some of the most complex environments including Cuba, Iran, and North Korea. She completed her Doctorate in International Affairs (DIA) at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) with a concentration on democratic innovations, deliberative democracy, and citizens’ assemblies. A researcher on several citizens’ assemblies in France, Belgium, Canada and the US, she recently served as one of four guarantors of the French Citizens’ Convention on the End of Life and on the Oversight Committee of the G1000 We Need to Talk Citizens’ Panels. She sits on several boards including Healthy Democracy, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), IPEC (AFSC’s International Programs Executive Council), the Meridian Council and is an active member of Democracy R&D and the OECD’s Innovative Citizen Participation Network. Her book Activated Citizenship - The Transformative Power of Citizens’ Assemblies was August 2024.

A former COO and Executive Director, Marjan has led large governance teams and significant portfolios of over $50 million in development funds at the National Democratic Institute, Global Communities, and the American Bar Association. She also worked with the Gender Equality Group at the World Bank where she contributed to the publication of The Environment for Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa. Marjan began her legal career at Blake Cassels & Graydon in Toronto, Canada and was a corporate litigator with the New York offices of Shearman & Sterling. She earned her bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto and received an LL.B. from McGill University’s Faculty of Law in Montreal. Originally from Iran, Marjan was born in Geneva and speaks English, French and Farsi with native fluency.