WASHINGTON, DC, September 24, 2025
Free Russia Foundation announces that Thomas O. Melia has been elected to chair the Board of Directors at the organization’s recent summer meeting. He replaces David J. Kramer, who steps aside after seven years’ service as chair; Kramer remains on the Board.
WASHINGTON, DC, September 24, 2025
Free Russia Foundation announces that Thomas O. Melia has been elected to chair the Board of Directors at the organization’s recent summer meeting. He replaces David J. Kramer, who steps aside after seven years’ service as chair; Kramer remains on the Board.
Free Russia Foundation is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC whose mission is to support Russia’s pro-democracy activists and organizations by enhancing their access to expertise, information, funding and the policymakers required to bring about positive change in their country.
“We are very pleased that Tom Melia has returned to our Board of Directors and has agreed to play a leadership role at this critical time,” said FRF Founder and President Natalia Arno.
“Today, Russian civil society is fighting for its survival. Two decades of Russia’s gradual slide toward authoritarianism have given way to all-out repression, stripping Russian citizens of their rights, instilling terror and apathy. The brutal, senseless war unleashed against Ukraine by the illegitimate regime of Vladimir Putin, and the international sanctions against Russian leaders levied in response to this military aggression, have dramatically reshaped the operating environment for Russian pro-democracy activists and movements.”
“I am grateful that Tom Melia has returned to the Board and will bring his vast experience and range of contacts to benefit Free Russia Foundation,” Kramer said.
“I am confident that Tom’s insight and ingenuity will enable the organization to devise innovative and effective ways to support Russian civil society and help it reclaim its role as the main driver of the country’s political development.”
Thomas O. Melia recently concluded four years as senior foreign policy advisor to Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who retired earlier this year. He is a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Democracy and Civil Society, where he also teaches in the graduate program.
Melia served in the Obama Administration in two positions where the cause of democracy in Russia featured prominently — as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (2010–2015) and Assistant Administrator of USAID for Europe and Eurasia (2015–2017).
He was co-chair of the U.S.-Russian Civil Society Working group 2012–2013, until he led the effort to close down the initiative in protest of Russia’s mounting crackdown on civil society.
Earlier, Melia played an important role in the growth of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), bringing the Institute to central and eastern Europe, and to the Soviet Union, before the fall of the wall.
Melia earned his BA from The Johns Hopkins University and his MA from JHU’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He has been a visiting professor at his alma mater, as well as at Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon and Princeton Universities. He was a non-resident senior fellow at the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas (2017–18).
Free Russia Foundation is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC whose mission is to support Russia’s pro-democracy activists and organizations by enhancing their access to expertise, information, funding and the policymakers required to bring about positive change in their country.
“We are very pleased that Tom Melia has returned to our Board of Directors and has agreed to play a leadership role at this critical time,” said FRF Founder and President Natalia Arno.
“Today, Russian civil society is fighting for its survival. Two decades of Russia’s gradual slide toward authoritarianism have given way to all-out repression, stripping Russian citizens of their rights, instilling terror and apathy. The brutal, senseless war unleashed against Ukraine by the illegitimate regime of Vladimir Putin, and the international sanctions against Russian leaders levied in response to this military aggression, have dramatically reshaped the operating environment for Russian pro-democracy activists and movements.”
“I am grateful that Tom Melia has returned to the Board and will bring his vast experience and range of contacts to benefit Free Russia Foundation,” Kramer said.
“I am confident that Tom’s insight and ingenuity will enable the organization to devise innovative and effective ways to support Russian civil society and help it reclaim its role as the main driver of the country’s political development.”
Thomas O. Melia recently concluded four years as senior foreign policy advisor to Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who retired earlier this year. He is a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Democracy and Civil Society, where he also teaches in the graduate program.
Melia served in the Obama Administration in two positions where the cause of democracy in Russia featured prominently — as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (2010–2015) and Assistant Administrator of USAID for Europe and Eurasia (2015–2017).
He was co-chair of the U.S.-Russian Civil Society Working group 2012–2013, until he led the effort to close down the initiative in protest of Russia’s mounting crackdown on civil society.
Earlier, Melia played an important role in the growth of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), bringing the Institute to central and eastern Europe, and to the Soviet Union, before the fall of the wall.
Melia earned his BA from The Johns Hopkins University and his MA from JHU’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He has been a visiting professor at his alma mater, as well as at Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon and Princeton Universities. He was a non-resident senior fellow at the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas (2017–18).