Our Team
Elizabeth (Liz) Hume, Executive Director
Liz is a conflict expert and has more than 25 years of experience in senior leadership positions in bilateral, multilateral institutions and NGOs. She has extensive experience in policy and advocacy and overseeing sizeable and complex peacebuilding programs in conflict-affected and fragile states in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik, Deputy Executive Director - Research & Finance
Jessica is a field-wide leader with extensive research and peacebuilding experience who has published several ground-breaking reports that bridge the gap between organizational-relevant research and sector-wide learning. She works on improving capacity and understanding within the field of peacebuilding on monitoring, evaluation, and impact tools and analysis in conflict-affected settings.
Michèle Piercey, Deputy Executive Director - Programs and Development
Michèle Piercey is a seasoned conflict prevention and peacebuilding practitioner with over two decades of experience. She has worked in conflict-affected regions, including Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, where she witnessed the power of inclusion and dialogue. Leaving a stable government job, she ventured into roles in Iraq and later joined USAID in Baghdad. With extensive experience in Afghanistan, Tunisia, and Iraq, she has expertise in resilience, civil society, democracy, and stabilization projects. At Chemonics International, she guided technical experts and advanced innovation in foreign assistance. Now, as Deputy ED at AfP, Michèle is dedicated to fostering collaboration among diverse organizations to further the common goal of peace
Shaziya DeYoung, Senior Researcher - Learning & Evidence
Shaziya provides in-depth research and analysis for Afp's Learning and Evidence portfolio. Using her skillsets as a researcher and MEL specialist, Shaziya focuses on initiatives that build an evidence base for peacebuilding, including synthesizing, translating, and disseminating evidence for a wider reach, while also fostering field-wide capacity development. Shaziya graduated from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies with a M.A. in International Policy and Development with a dual specialization in Peace and Conflict Studies and Monitoring and Evaluation.
Megan Corrado, Senior Director - Policy and Advocacy
Megan E. Corrado is an international lawyer and policy and advocacy practitioner working to promote human rights, peacebuilding, gender mainstreaming, transitional justice, and post-conflict legal and governance reform. She has extensive experience in international development, grant implementation, and political campaign management. Megan has worked on democracy- and peacebuilding programs and processes in conflict-affected and post-conflict states across the Middle East and North Africa region, South and Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Nick Zuroski, Manager - Policy & Advocacy
Nick’s interests lie at the intersection of peace and stability, gender equality, and grassroots-oriented understandings of human security. He has professional experience in strategic communications, investment research, political economy analysis, and international development. In 2021, Nick received his M.A. in International Affairs — concentrating in Global Gender Policy and International Law & Organizations — from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, and his B.A. in Mandarin Chinese and World Politics from Hamilton College in 2017.
Maria Tata, Policy & Advocacy Assistant
Maria is a current graduate student at The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs where she is completing an M.A. in Security Policy Studies with a concentration in Conflict Resolution. She previously graduated from Boston University in 2018 with a BA in International Relations and a minor in Business Administration and Management. During college, she studied abroad in Brussels, Belgium, and Geneva, Switzerland — where she interned at the NGO, Graduate Women International.