Laura Neuman is the Assistant Director for the Americas Program at The Carter Center. She is the Access to Information Project Manager and directs and implements Carter Center transparency projects, including projects in Jamaica, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mali, and China. Ms. Neuman edited six widely distributed guidebooks on fostering transparency and preventing corruption and has presented at a number of international seminars relating to access to information legislation and implementation. Book and article publications include Access to Information: A Key to Democracy, Using Freedom of Information Laws to Enforce Welfare Benefits Rights in the United States, and co-authored Making the Law Work: the Challenges of Implementation and Compelling Disclosure of Campaign Contributions through Access to Information Laws: The South African Experience and Relevance for the Americas.
Ms. Neuman is a member of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue task force on transparency, a board member of the Center for Transparency and Access to Information Studies, Mexico, and an International Associate to the Open Democracy Advice Center, South Africa. As part of her transparency work, she served as Executive Secretary for the Carter Center’s Council for Ethical Business Practices. Ms. Neuman also has led and participated in international election monitoring missions throughout the Western hemisphere. Prior to joining The Carter Center in August 1999, Ms. Neuman was senior staff attorney for Senior Law at Legal Action of Wisconsin. She is a 1993 graduate of the University of Wisconsin law school.