The Meridian International Center is an international relations organization that operates over 500 educational and cultural exchange programs between the United States and various foreign nations. The organization receives substantial grant funding from the U.S. Department of State and operates multiple exchange programs on behalf of the State Department. The organization also partners with the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, U.S. embassies, and private sector organizations. 1
The Meridian International Center is led by former State Department officials and diplomats from both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations. 2 The organization’s president and chief operating officer, Lee Satterfield, was nominated in May 2021 by President Joe Biden to be the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the State Department. 3
Background
The Meridian International Center was founded in 1960 in Washington, D.C. and has developed a suite of over 500 cultural exchange programs in which the organization works with and receives funding from the government of the United States. 4
The organization focuses on providing cultural exchange programs. The Center is the largest partner of the State Department’s International Visitors Leadership Program, which brings foreign leaders to Washington, D.C. for short-term cultural visits and meetings with U.S. officials. The program hosts a total of 4,000 foreign officials and over 160 heads of state annually. Former participants have included former U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. 5
The Meridian International Center sponsors over a dozen exchange trips, including a British-American Parliament exchange, an exchange between the United States Congress and the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, and an Iraqi exchange program for young leaders. 5
Funding
The Meridian International Center receives a majority of its funding from federal grants. Of the Center’s $41.8 million in reported revenue in 2019, $35.9 million came from government-funded grants. 1 Virtually all of the organization’s grant funding comes from grants provided from the State Department, with additional grant funding from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. 6
Leadership
The CEO of the Meridian International Center is Stuart Holliday. Holliday served as the United Nations Ambassador for Political Affairs in the George W. Bush administration. Holliday has also worked as the director of the international practice at Quinn Gillespie and Associates and worked for President George W. Bush when he was Governor of Texas. 2
General support to accelerate collaboration between the international diplomatic corps and the U.S. public and private sectors to address shared challenges
