Susan Herman
Executive Director, National Center for Victims of Crime
Live Web cast December 15, 2000 1 p.m. ET

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Susan Herman is the executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, the nation’s leading resource and advocacy organization for crime victims. A recognized national and international authority on their behalf, she has defended victims of crimes such as stalking, domestic violence, and fraud against the elderly in testimony before the U.S. Congress and in numerous panels and conferences. Recently, her remit has grown encompass the fight against new crimes that rely on the Internet, such as identity theft and cyber stalking.

Under her leadership since 1997, the National Center has advocated the development of a comprehensive system of public and private services to meet the needs of crime victims. Its voice can be heard at federal, state and local levels: the center’s 2001 public policy agenda includes issues as varied as protecting the rights of crime victims, helping victims of fraud recover, and extending state statutes of limitation as DNA testing becomes more widespread. The center also seeks to aid victims of drug-facilitated sexual assault, drunk driving, violence in schools or on campuses, and abused children and children in homes where there is domestic violence.

Before joining the National Center, Herman was director of the Community Services Department at the Enterprise Foundation in Columbia, Maryland. There, she directed the foundation's nation-wide community planning, employment, social service, and community safety initiatives. She also served as director of New York City’s Domestic Violence Division, part of the largest local victim assistance agency in the United States. Her responsibilities included supervising various programs for victims of domestic violence, among them emergency, transitional, and permanent housing, emergency day care, and elder abuse services. She also chaired the police commissioner's Domestic Violence Advisory Committee and co-chaired the New York City Task Force Against Domestic Violence.

Between 1985 and 1990, Herman was special counsel and assistant to the police commissioner in the New York City police department. She advised the commissioner on legal and general policy issues, and acted as the commissioner’s liaison with the mayor, city council, and other agencies and organizations. She also directed a review of police department policies, including the police academy curriculum, and developed and implemented a new policy on domestic violence and child abuse.

Earlier in her career, as director of Mediation Services at the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution in New York City, Herman created highly interactive methods for teaching negotiation and conflict resolution skills to public sector employees such as police officers, park rangers and housing project managers. She also designed a new protocol for resolving civilian complaints of police misconduct.

Herman was born in New York City in 1953. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, where she studied political science, and the Antioch School of Law.