Ellen Yount

Ms. Yount is a seasoned international affairs executive who has worked in the public, private and non-governmental sectors.

For more than a decade, she has helped to lead MSI/Tetra Tech, one of the world’s largest international development consulting firms to bilateral and multi-lateral donors in the areas of governance, rule of law, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, climate change, and more. From July 2022 to June 2023, she was based in Warsaw, Poland – leading Tetra Tech’s Ukraine reconstruction strategy and business development efforts for seven divisions, with annual revenue totaling more than $1 billion.

In that role, she coordinated strategy across multiple sectors (including governance, energy, and humanitarian demining) and divisions to bring coherence and clarity to approaches.

Her career in international development began after leaving the rough and tumble of state and national politics, where she served as congressional press secretary and then the youngest Communications Director in state history for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.

She established the International Republican Institute’s offices in Belgrade, Serbia in the immediate aftermath of the Balkan war. She also established operations in Croatia in the aftermath of NATO’s campaign to halt Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing campaign. She directly trained and assisted dozens of political parties and activists at a time of historic transition in the region, setting a foundation for democratic governance. Later, she consulted multiple clients in the region, including the Prime Minister of Croatia's Public Affairs office, the Macedonia Stock Exchange, and the Croatian Privatization Fund.

In addition to founding and serving as president of her family Foundation, the One Connected Village Foundation (which invests in women and girls' programs in conflict worldwide), she spends time traveling, reading historical fiction, cheering for her son on the baseball diamond, and contributing to her Vermont community.

She is a Board Member of the Vermont Council of World Affairs; a global ambassador for Nairobi-based RefuSHE, which assists refugee girls; and a member of the Board of Trustees at Allegheny College. She is currently learning Ukrainian.