Joel Campagna

Joel Campagna is Interim Executive Director at MEDC. Previously, he worked at Open Society Foundations (OSF), where he led strategy, grantmaking, and advocacy for the foundation’s programming to counter authoritarianism and promote civic engagement in the MENA region. During his time at OSF, he helped lead OSF’s response to major political inflection points in the region, from the Arab Uprisings to the hardening of authoritarianism over the past decade. 

Before joining OSF, he directed the MENA program at the Committee to Protect Journalists and also served as a researcher at Human Rights Watch covering Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon. 

He holds a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, a Bachelor’s in Middle East Studies from Fordham University. He also studied Arabic Language and Literature at the American University in Cairo.