As MENA Program Director, Joost Hiltermann leads the organization’s research, analysis, policy prescription, and advocacy in and about the region. Previously, he was Crisis Group’s Chief Operating Officer (2013-2014), in which capacity he was responsible for the oversight and management of the organization’s programs and operations around the world. Prior to that, he was Crisis Group’s Deputy Program Director for the Middle East and North Africa (2007-2012) and Project Director for the Middle East (2002-2007), helping to manage a team of analysts deployed throughout the region. His areas of expertise include Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Israel-Palestine, and Middle East regional issues such as security threats, authoritarianism and democratization, political Islam, and sectarianism.