Gila Naderi directs the communications of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) at Harvard University. She has extensive strategic communications experience with multi-national firms in the areas of corporate communications, crisis and change management, and branding. Naderi also has a strong background in energy- and environment-related issues through her engagement with the Canadian oil and gas industry. Prior to joining Harvard, she worked in leading PR agencies in New York, including as a member of the Corporate Communications team of FleishmanHillard and as vice president of international relations at the GCI Group, now part of WPP. A German native speaker, Naderi also speaks Farsi, French, and Spanish.
Naderi has also been active in creating communications strategies on a volunteer basis. She served on the school committee of the German Saturday School of Boston, where she spearheaded the school's first communication function, and was elected to the Lincoln Housing Commission, which advocates for and administers affordable housing in the community.
She holds an honors B.A. in political science and German literature from Western University and an M.A. in international relations and international communications from Boston University.
The fight against COVID-19 has been equated to a war by some political leaders. Charles Maier, Leverett Saltonstall Research Professor of History at Harvard University and CES Resident Faculty, and Ian Kumekawa, Ph.D. Candidate in History at Harvard University and a CES Graduate Student Affiliate, weighed in on the argument.