Kimberly Marteau Emerson

Kimberly Marteau Emerson is a lawyer, advocate and non-profit governance leader in human rights, education and transatlantic relations. She speaks regularly at conferences and gatherings in Europe and the US.

Ms. Emerson currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Human Rights Watch, Chair of the Board of Governors of Bard College Berlin, and on the Board of Trustees of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the Thomas Mann House, foreign and domestic policy retreat center the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, the German-American Institutes and German social impact consultancy PHINEO. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

During the Clinton Administration, she served as spokesperson and director of public liaison for the U.S. Information Agency. From 2013 to 2017, she worked in Berlin alongside her husband, U.S. Ambassador to Germany John B. Emerson (ret.) on projects including the Embassy’s efforts to combat antisemitism and integration efforts during the 2015 refugee crisis. Moreover, she used the Embassy’s convening power to promote bringing women in Germany to the economic and political decision-making table. Ms. Emerson has been an election observer in Nigeria with NDI, and worked on relief projects, among others, in Lesbos, Greece during the 2015/2016 refugee crisis, and in Sri Lanka post-tsunami. She has been deeply active in U.S. Presidential politics and helped many candidates on the local, state and federal level.

She has received multiple awards for her civic engagement, including from the American Jewish Committee, People for the American Way and foster youth-focused United Friends of the Children. She received her B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) from UCLA, J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law, and Master’s in French Private Law (D.E.S.U. with honors) from l’Université de Droit d’Aix-Marseille. She is based in Los Angeles and Berlin, and speaks fluent French and conversational German.

Emerson was appointed to serve as a Member of the RFE/RL Board of Directors on June 6, 2025.