Dr. Hermanson has built her career on sustainable development, joining CHF International in 1987 as the Regional Director for Africa, the Middle East and Europe, during which time she received the John D. Lange International Award for the achievement of concrete results in international development. Responsible for operations of this large humanitarian and international development organization founded in 1952, she assumed her responsibilities as Senior Vice President in 1992. Since that time, she has provided oversight to the diversification of CHF’s program and its robust growth. Dr. Hermanson has also served on the Peace Corps staff in Washington, D.C., where she directed the Africa Region’s Office of Programs and Training. Previously she served overseas as an Associate Peace Corps Director in Uganda and in the Philippines.

Other US Government experience includes tenure at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, where she served as Special Assistant to the Commissioner, and at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she directed the Office of Policy and Program Evaluation in the regulatory and consumer division. She is a co-founder of and was, for five years, a principal in a privately held Washington policy research company.

Currently, Dr. Hermanson serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of The American University of Paris, a US accredited institution of higher learning with a multinational student body dedicated to the development of global citizens through an American pedagogy. She chaired the Academic and Student Affairs Committee from 2000-2008. Her voluntary service also includes service on the Board of Directors of the Overseas Cooperative Development Council (OCDC), which advocates grassroots international development using a business-like approach and an inclusive methodology, serving Chair twice, on the Advisory Council on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA), appointed by the USAID Administrator. She is currently a member of ACVFA’s Humanitarian Sub-Committee. In addition, Dr. Hermanson has served as Board member and officer of several microfinance organizations in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and as the Vice Chair of a European humanitarian organization.

Dr. Hermanson speaks and publishes frequently on issues in humanitarian assistance and international development. She received her undergraduate degree with honors from Smith College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and her graduate degrees from the George Washington University.