Maria Balinska

Maria Balinska has a diverse and extensive work experience. Maria is currently serving as the Executive Director at the US-UK Fulbright Commission since 2019. Prior to this role, they held positions at The Conversation US as the Editor and co-CEO from 2016 to 2019, and as an Editor from 2014 to 2019. Maria also founded and served as the Editor of Latitude News from 2010 to 2014. Maria has been involved with the Eurasia Foundation, where they worked as the Co-coordinator of the Collaborative Journalism Project from 2013 to 2014, and as the Coordinating Editor of the "Common Stories" project in 2013. Maria has significant experience working with the BBC, where they held various positions including Editor of World Current Affairs from 1998 to 2010, Executive Producer of Americana for BBC News in Washington, DC in 2009, and Editor of Radio Current Affairs Multi-Platform Team from 2008 to 2009. Maria was also a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2009. Maria started their career at the BBC as a Senior Producer of Radio Current Affairs, where they launched programs such as the Americas File and Asia File, among others.

Maria Balinska has a BA degree in English Literature from Princeton University (1978-1982). Maria also pursued a Masters of Public Management degree in International Security from the University of Maryland (1982-1984). Maria had the opportunity to study Polish language and culture as a Kosciuszko Fellowship recipient at Jagiellonian University (1984-1985). Later on, they attended Harvard University where they were a Nieman Fellow (2009-2010).