Michael Shifter is President of the Inter-American Dialogue and (since 1993) Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He writes for the Council's journal, Foreign Affairs, and is a contributing editor to Current History.
Shifter has served "on the Board of Directors of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch/Americas Division, and the Advisory Board of the Institute of Latin American and Iberian Studies at Columbia University."
Shifter directed the Ford Foundation's governance and human rights program in the Andean region and Southern Cone. Subsequently he directed the Latin American and Caribbean program at the National Endowment for Democracy, before joining the Inter-American Dialogue.