Illuminating the Arts-Policy Nexus 

Project Leader

Expertise: Afghanistan, Complex Emergencies, Food Security, Crisis Prevention/Emergency Response Efforts, Management of Systemic Risk, Peacebuilding/Peacekeeping Operations, Civil-Military Relations, Economic Development in Emerging Markets, Women's Empowerment in International Development.

Michelle has fourteen years experience in international affairs and nine in journalism, including working in the UN Office of the Secretary-General under Kofi Annan, and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. She has worked in Africa, Asia and most recently Afghanistan supporting development and humanitarian operations in the field, and strategy, policy and communications at UN Headquarters. Her deep understanding of the intersection of politics, policy, communications and humanism enables her to work effectively across sectors and cultures.

In recent years Michelle has directed field operations for Arzu, an NGO that provides jobs, healthcare and education to Afghan families; successfully negotiated with the Government of Myanmar to take action on a national HIV/AIDS crisis; and developed a partnership with Coca-Cola to deliver perishable polio vaccines in remote Africa. Today she consults to the US government, the UN, foundations, companies and non-profits on policy and program strategy, civil-military relations and risk management.

Michelle has lived in five countries and traveled to more than 40. She was a Robert Bosch Fellow in Germany, where she developed policy recommendations on immigration issues for the Berlin Senate and urban employment policies for a national think tank. Michelle has a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh, a Bachelor’s degree in Media Studies from Hampshire College, and studied media in London and visual communications in Florence, Italy. An avid outdoorswoman, Michelle is a competitive skydiver who holds a world record for large formation skydiving.

Experience:

• Project Leader, WPI (2010-present)
• President, Four Corners Consulting (2009-present)
• Vice President of International Operations, Arzu Inc. (2005-2009)
• Senior Inter-Agency Specialist, UN Population Fund (2005)
• First Officer, UN Fund for International Partnerships (2003-2004)
• Coordination Support Officer, UN Myanmar – Office of the Resident Coordinator (2002-2003)
• Policy Specialist, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations – Office of the Under-Secretary-General (2002)
• Second Officer, Office of the UN Secretary-General (2001)
• Communications Specialist, UN Development Group Office (1998-2000)
• Editor/Journalist, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Observer, Reuters, various publications (1989-1997)
   

Honors and Affiliations:

• Robert Bosch Fellow, Berlin, Germany, 1997-1998
• President and Founder of PUMP (Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project), 1996 – 1997

Education:

M.A., University of Pittsburgh
B.A., Hampshire College

Languages: German

Contact: michelle@four-corners-consulting.com

Twitter: @mcfinnyc

SELECTED ARTICLES 

“Renewal in Afghanistan,” Letter to the Editor, The New York Times, November 1, 2007.

“The Next Page: Unseen Afghanistan,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 19, 2007.

MEDIA

The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh on “Looking Beyond the Lady: The Realities of Reform in Myanmar,” September 18, 2012.  

The Takeaway, WNYC – NPR, Will Pakistan's Relief Aid Prevent Destabilization?, August 18, 2010.

Pittsburgh KQV Global Press Conference, Afghanistan and the Challenges for International Development Aid, August 7, 2010.   

The Takeaway, WNYC – NPR, For US, Diplomatic Opportunity in Sending Flood Relief, August 5, 2010.

APPEARANCES

Appeared as a guest on KQV radio to discuss Aung San Suu Kyi’s meeting with President Obama, September 18, 2012.

Spoke at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, on human security and applying systems theory to humanitarian and development activities, September 17, 2012.

Spoke at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, on “Why We Can’t Have It All: Women in International Affairs,” September 19, 2012. 

Guest speaker on KQV's Global Press Conference on 21 October 2012 discussing the realities of reform in Myanmar/Burma.

Addressed the New York Technology Council on "How Telecom Tools Address some of the World's Toughest Challenges: or How My Phone Saved the World," March 2012.

Aerotropolis: Political Salon with Greg Lindsay, World Policy Institute. November 14, 2011.

A Political Salon with John Prendergast: Lessons from Africa, World Policy Institute. May 19, 2011.

Kidnapped: Inside Pakistan's Tribal Areas, World Policy Institute. February 3, 2011.

Afghanistan: A Post-Election Assessment, World Policy Institute. October 12, 2010.

National Defense University, Washington, DC. August 2010.

Army Command and Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. March 2010.

International Peacekeeping Operations Association Summit, Washington, DC. October 2009.

“Remarks for Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, UN Special Advocate on Inclusive Finance,” Microfinance India Summit, New Delhi, India, October 26, 2009.

International Women’s Day, US Embassy, Helsinki, Finland. March 2008.

World Entrepreneurship Forum, London, England. January 2007, 2008.

Simmons College, Boston, MA. February 2007.