A. Heather Coyne
Senior Program Officer, Center for Mediation and
Conflict Resolution
Iraq | Post-Conflict Governance and Reconstruction | Civil Military
Operations | Strategic Studies | Conflict Management
Phone: (202) 429-4716
E-mail: acoyne@usip.org
Languages: Arabic, French, Spanish
A. Heather Coyne is a senior program officer in the Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution.
She was the chief of party for the Institute’s activities in Iraq in 2003-2005. She previously
served fifteen months in Iraq as a U.S. Army Reserve civil affairs officer, assigned to the
Coalition Provisional Authority as the civil society officer for the Baghdad region. Her role was
to promote the establishment and growth of indigenous Iraqi non-governmental organizations,
professional societies and local citizens’ committees to support the reestablishment of civil
society.
Prior to deploying, she spent sixteen months studying Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in
Monterey, California. Coyne worked for four years at the White House Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) in the National Security Division, where she managed OMB’s review of federal programs
to combat terrorism, defend against weapons of mass destruction and protect critical
infrastructure. In coordination with the National Security Council, she helped develop an
interagency review process for these programs.
Coyne earned a master’s in international relations and international economics from the School of
Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Publications: