Miles Toder is a recently retired U.S. Senior Foreign Service Officer with experience in democracy and governance, having served in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and South and Southeast Asia. Dr. Toder most recently held the position of Senior Development Counselor at the United States Embassy in Beijing, China. As Development Counselor, Dr. Toder represented the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in cooperation with the Chinese Government’s Ministry of Commerce on development work in countries in Africa and elsewhere in Asia. His mandate included sharing best practices and knowledge of how to plan, program and execute foreign assistance and to leverage investments from the US and China to help eradicate poverty and meet humanitarian needs.
Dr. Toder served in a variety of capacities during the course of his career. As Deputy Director for USAID’s Mission to Pakistan he had overall responsibility for development work in Punjab Province along with oversight on Economic Growth programming, innovation, science, technology and non-traditional partners nation-wide. Prior to his senior leadership position in Pakistan, he represented the U.S. government in policy dialogue with the Government of Indonesia as it pursues sweeping reforms aimed at democratic governance. Before serving in Indonesia, he was assigned for two years as a Senior Governance and Stability Advisor to the USAID Mission to Iraq and led development work on the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Anbar Province. He worked closely in an interagency environment with the US Marines to establish new legislative councils and build governance institutions as hostilities eased across the province. In Iraq he also managed the Mission’s local governance program with operations in all 18 of Iraq’s Provinces and later supervised USAID’s elections assistance program to the Iraqi Independent High Elections Commission and started a new legislative strengthening program with the Iraqi Council of Representatives. Prior to assignment in Iraq, Dr. Toder directed the USAID Mission to Kosovo’s Democracy and Governance Office. There he led an ambitious program aimed at building the institutions necessary for transition from UN supervision to independence.
Dr. Toder holds a Ph.D. In Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has lectured and conducted research on local governance, growth management, effective approaches to public policy and the use of strategic planning to better implement policy reform.
