Meet our CEO and Founder

Marjan H. Ehsassi is a movement builder, strategic policy advisor, researcher and practitioner. he is a fierce believer in citizen-centric, inclusive, responsive and impactful government-led engagement that provide citizens consequential voice in policy reform.

Marjan has worked to enhance space for civil society in some of the most complex environments including Iran, Ukraine, and North Korea. A lawyer and international governance expert, she received her Doctorate in International Affairs from SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, with a concentration on democratic innovations, deliberation and government-initiated citizens’ assemblies. She has studied the impact of citizens’ assemblies on participants in France, Belgium, Canada, and the United States.

Marjan is a Berggruen Institute Future of Democracy Fellow, a IDEA Senior Fellow, a Senior Associate at MASS LBP, and Strategic Director of the Democratic Action Fund. She is on the steering committee of Global Innovations and Democracy (GID). She serves on several boards including Healthy Democracy, the American Friends Service Committee, Apolitical Academy and the Local Policy Lab. She was one of four guarantors selected to the Collège des Garants of the French Citizens’ Convention on the End of Life (Convention Citoyenne sur la Fin de Vie) (2022-2023) and on the Oversight Committee of G1000’s We Need To Talk Citizens’ Panel (2022-2023).

Marjan is currently working on her first book on citizen engagement, democratic innovations and citizens' assemblies (to be published Summer 2024).