WHO WE ARE
WASHINGTON DC OFFICE
David Merrill
PRESIDENT
David Merrill is President of the U.S.-Indonesia Society (USINDO), the premier non-government organization devoted to promoting mutual understanding between Indonesia and the United States. USINDO’s programs enhance public participation in the US-Indonesia relationship in all fields, with special programs in educational and legislative exchange.
David Merrill
David Merrill
President
David Merrill is President of the U.S.-Indonesia Society (USINDO), the premier non-government organization devoted to promoting mutual understanding between Indonesia and the United States. USINDO’s programs enhance public participation in the US-Indonesia relationship in all fields, with special programss in educational and legislative exchange.
Ambassador Merrill’s career has concentrated on Asia. His many posts in the U.S. government include U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh (1994-1997); Director of USAID in Indonesia; USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Near East, Asia, and Eastern Europe; USAID Director for East Asian Affairs; and USAID Representative to Burma.
Following distinguished government service, he managed private sector activities in Asia with multinational energy companies and was a Senior Vice President in international economic consulting.
As U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, he provided U.S. support for an electoral process that led to Bangladesh’s first peaceful transfer of power between democratically elected leaders and helped Bangladesh gain a $500 million increase in U.S. investment.
As Mission Director for USAID in Indonesia from 1986-1989, he managed a wide range of programs including financial sector development, democracy and civil society, population, environment, education, health, and agricultural assistance.
Ambassador Merrill has received AID’s Distinguished Honor Award, the President’s Meritorious Honor Award, and the State Department’s Superior Honor Award. He attained AID’s highest career Foreign Service rank, Career Minister, in 1992.
He holds an MPA in Asian economic development from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; an M.A. in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; and a B.A. from Brandeis University. He is married to Irrum Mehmood Merrill.
Christopher Wyrod
VICE PRESIDENT
Christopher Wyrod is Vice President of the U.S.-Indonesia Society (USINDO). Mr. Wyrod has worked across Asia for over two decades in senior positions within the U.S. government and leading international organizations. A democracy and governance specialist, Mr. Wyrod has supported and advised civil society, private-sector partners, and government offices in over two dozen countries.
Christopher Wyrod
Christopher Wyrod
Vice President
Christopher Wyrod is Vice President of the U.S.-Indonesia Society (USINDO). Mr. Wyrod has worked across Asia for over two decades in senior positions within the U.S. government and leading international organizations. A democracy and governance specialist, Mr. Wyrod has supported and advised civil society, private-sector partners, and government offices in over two dozen countries. In Asia, he served as the deputy country representative for The Asia Foundation in Indonesia, and he has led country programs in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Timor-Leste with USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives, international organizations including Internews and PACT, and at both the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI). He has also lived and worked in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan.
In Washington DC, Mr. Wyrod was a portfolio lead at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and conducted research at the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) and the U. S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). He has received several meritorious honor awards from the U.S. State Department and USAID for his work and participated in numerous election observation missions in Asia, including as a team leader of the Asia Pacific Democracy Partnership.
Mr. Wyrod has presented briefings and research papers at the International Forum for Democratic Studies, Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), and other conferences, as well as before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His writings have appeared in The Journal of Democracy, International Affairs Review, The Historian, and The International Journal of the Sociology of Language among other publications. He has also contributed chapters to several books, including Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat (John Hopkins University Press 2010), Writing Systems (Routledge 2014), Southeast Asia: Transition and Transformation (Wenzao Ursuline University Press 2018), and Southeast Asia: State vs Market vs Society (Wenzao Ursuline University Press 2025).
Mr. Wyrod earned a Master’s in International Development Studies from the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, where he was a Freeman Foundation Fellow, and a degree in Anthropology from the University of Michigan’s Honors College. He also received certificates in Refugee Studies from York University and in Indonesian from Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, Indonesia as a USINDO Fellow.
Dorotha Clark
FINANCE MANAGER
Gabriella Hattari
PROGRAM ASSOCIATE
JAKARTA OFFICE
Anasthasia Rosye
COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE
Fina Alatas
PROJECT MANAGER USINDO-USAID HEPI
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Gabrielle Melatunan
PROGRAM ASSOCIATE
