Walter Viers

Walter spent 26 years working on the Civil Society program at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a private U.S. foundation based in Flint, Michigan. Walter worked out of the Foundation’s Prague office from 1998 to 2003 and then from its London office from 2004 until his retirement in early 2024. He developed the Foundation’s work in the Western Balkans and was Regional Director for the Foundation’s work in Central and Eastern Europe from 2008 to 2018.

Prior to retiring, Walter was responsible for programming to promote and protect civic space globally. Before joining the Mott Foundation in 1998, Walter had a career as a lawyer, working in private practice in Washington, D.C., and Prague, and as a legal services attorney in Memphis, Tennessee. His interest in civil society development grew from observing the sweeping changes taking place in CEE in the 1990s and the important role the civil society sector played in transforming the region. He is a graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Walter serves on the boards of the Alliance Publishing Trust (chair), Global Dialogue and the Romanian American Foundation. He is on the advisory boards of the Pharos International Institute for Science, Arts and Culture and the Ariadne Network.