Wendy W. Luers

FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT
CO-FOUNDER AND FORMER CO-CHAIR OF PROJECT ON JUSTICE IN TIMES OF TRANSITION (NOW BEYOND CONFLICT)

Mrs. Luers established the Foundation for a Civil Society in New York and Prague in January 1990 at the request of the Czechoslovaks and Americans following her residence in Prague with her husband, Ambassador William Luers from 1983 to 1986 when they became close to Vaclav Havel and Charter 77.

FCS helped promote civil society and provided advice and expertise with offices in New York, Prague from 1990 to1999, and in Bratislava from 1993 to 1999. Nadace VIA (Czech Republic) and Nadace Pontis (Slovakia) are the successor NGO’s and affiliates of FCS in NY. FCS’s principal activity until 2016 was the Young Visual Artists Awards (YVAA) established in 1989 as the Chalupecky Award in Czechoslovakia. It has inspired similar awards in twelve other countries, the winners of which come to NY for residencies. The current projects are the New Cuba Arts Connections and the Iran Project. Mrs Luers is the Co-Founder and former Co-Chair of the Project on Justice in Times of Transition, now Beyond Conflict chaired by Timothy Phillips. Co-founder and former President of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), founder and former Vice Chair of the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, and is Vice-Chair of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. She was named by President Ronald Reagan to an eight year term on the National Council of the Arts (1988-1996). She has served on numerous boards at Stanford, Tufts and the University of South California and is currently on the board of the Center for Communication, Leadership and Policy (CCLP) at USC. She also serves on numerous Advisory Boards.  She was the first woman and first non-Czech to receive the Gratias Agit award from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. She was decorated with the Order of White Double Cross by President Kovac of Slovakia in 1995.  She has a BA in Political Science and International Affairs from Stanford University, 1961.

William Luers

Director Emerita of The Iran Project

He was president of the United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA), from 1999 to 2009 and President of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City from 1986 to 1999.

Prior being President of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Luers had a 31-year career in the Foreign Service. He served as US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1983-1986) and Venezuela (1978-1982) and held numerous posts in Italy, Germany, the Soviet Union, and in the Department of State, where he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe (1977-1978) and for Inter-American Affairs (1975-1977).

 Luers was also Adjunct Professor at SIPA, Columbia University from 2009-2020.  Prior to 2009 he taught at Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He was also the director’s visitor at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study in 1982-1983.

 Born in Springfield, Illinois, Luers received a B.A. from Hamilton College and a M.A. from Columbia University following four years as an officer in the United States Navy. He did graduate work in Philosophy at Northwestern University and holds honorary doctorate degrees from Hamilton College and Marlboro College.

Luers is married to Wendy Woods Luers, founder and president of The Foundation for Civil Society. He has four children, two stepchildren and ten grandchildren.