International Crisis Group
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Kimberly Abbott

North America Communications Director
Washington, DC, USA

 

 

 

 

 

 


As North America Communications Director, Kimberly is responsible for developing and leading the U.S. media strategy to advance Crisis Group’s policy prescriptions and to raise awareness of conflict situations in the U.S. media. 

Kimberly joined Crisis Group from InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations, where she was the communications and media manager, working with the national and international media to bring attention to under-reported humanitarian stories. She also worked with the 160 member organizations on developing their media campaigns and public policy advocacy of collective humanitarian and development priorities. She wrote and published articles on a wide range of international development issues, including debt relief, the Millennium Development Goals, tsunami recovery efforts in Thailand and the role of women in post-conflict situations.
 
Prior to her work with NGOs, Kimberly spent over a decade in local, national and international television and radio as a producer and reporter. During her seven-year tenure at CNN, she covered breaking news around the country, including the 2000 presidential election recount in Tallahassee, FL, and the immediate aftermath of September 11; and helped launch American Morning with Paula Zahn, where her beats included politics and international affairs. She was an on-air reporter for CNN Newsroom, an education-focused program, where she filed stories from Bosnia and Berlin, and interviewed luminaries such as former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and opera legend Luciano Pavarotti. She began her journalism career as a news reporter at WRGA radio in Rome, Georgia, covering local politics and education, and also worked internationally at Radio France and France 3 public television.

Her career has also included time on Capitol Hill as a Communications Director and work in U.S. presidential politics, as well as work as an envoy and translator for the Centennial Olympic Games. She is a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the recipient of numerous European fellowships in journalism and international affairs. She earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism from Boston University.

Publications and media: 

Click here for a high-resolution photo of Kimberly Abbott.