Zachary Warrender is the Director of Global Security and Field Operations at Democracy International (DI), where he leads the design, development, and integration of organization-wide safety and security strategies, policies, and practices. He is responsible for risk management, business continuity, and safeguarding DI’s personnel, field operations, assets, information, and reputation to enable effective and safe program delivery.

Prior to joining DI, Mr. Warrender was the Global Security Director and Administrative Business Unit Lead at Pathfinder International for more than five years. At Pathfinder, he designed and built the security management function for the organization, helping to meet the duty of care responsibilities for 1,100+ global employees in 20+ countries. From 2011 to 2017 he served in increasingly senior positions at Chemonics International, working in both program management on high-risk USAID programs in East Africa and as a Regional Security Manager supporting Chemonics’ entire sub-Saharan and Haiti portfolio of projects. Mr. Warrender spent most of 2011 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, working on post-earthquake reconstruction with a small non-profit. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Warrender was a program manager and senior analyst at the Center for National Policy, a defense and national security- focused think tank. His work focused on defense policy, Asia security, and national resilience projects.

Mr. Warrender holds a master’s degree in international security studies from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Westminster College (PA). His master’s thesis explored the national security implications of state failure in sub-Saharan Africa.