Cynthia R. Bunton
Regional Program Director, Asia

Cynthia R. Bunton joined the International Republican Institute (IRI) as Director of the Asia division in November 2004. In that position she oversees programs in Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, North Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Prior to joining IRI, she served as a career Foreign Service Officer whose last assignment was Office Director of the Office of Country Reports and Asylum Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Overseas, she served as Consul for Political, Economic and Commercial Affairs at the American Consulate in Naples, Italy, Deputy Political Counselor at the American Embassy at The Hague (Netherlands), Policy Advisor for Central and Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (New York), Special Advisor to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs and Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs (Washington). Her first two assignments were as a Consular Officer in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and a Rotational Officer in Copenhagen, Denmark. She also served 18 months as an observer in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in Sinai, Egypt.

Bunton has been recognized numerous times for her work at the U.S. State Department. For her outstanding leadership of the Office of Country Reports she received the State Department's Superior and Meritorious Honor awards. She received another Superior Honor award for her coverage of political issues during the Gulf War. She received the Department of State's Franklin Award for exceptional efforts in developing programs to advance intellectual property rights protection in southern Italy. She also received the “Mentor 2001” award from the Public Leadership Education Network for her dedication to mentoring high school and college students.

She has served as host and interviewer for the “American Literature Today” series sponsored by the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and has presented lectures on a wide range of foreign policy and social issues. She is a trustee of Chatham College, a Board member of the Washington Network Group as well as an Advisory Board member of the Women’s Leadership Council of the United Way (National Capital Area). She has also been a delegate to numerous conferences at home and abroad. She is also an accomplished voiceover artist who has provided voiceover talent for The Discovery Channel, and PBS.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Bunton earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and her masters in international affairs from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), University of Pittsburgh. She speaks Italian and Dutch.