President Emeritus, Eurasia Foundation

Horton Beebe-Center

Horton Beebe-Center is the former president of Eurasia Foundation. He joined Eurasia Foundation in 1993 and served as the first field officer, establishing offices throughout the Eurasia region and running the Moscow regional office for two years. Beebe-Center returned to the United States in 1995 to serve as vice president for projects and development, then as executive vice president. He served as president from 2006 to 2018.

Under Beebe-Center’s leadership, Eurasia Foundation stewarded more than $400 million in U.S. government funds, raised more than $200 million from other sources, and disbursed and collected more than $17 million in loans to small businesses. At Eurasia Foundation, Beebe-Center was in at the creation of pioneering institutions, many of which are still operating today—such as the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine, the European Humanities University of Belarus, and Gazelle Finance, an impact investment management company investing in growing businesses in the Eurasia region. Beebe-Center was directly involved in the design and launch of Eurasia Foundation’s locally chartered institutions in Russia, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus.

Prior to joining Eurasia Foundation, Beebe-Center worked for several years on U.S.-Soviet projects ranging from intergovernmental technical exchanges to commercial joint ventures. He holds a B.A. in Soviet studies from Brown University and an M.A. in Russian studies from Harvard University.