Mary Catherine (M.C.) Andrews brings two decades of foreign policy and communications experience to ViaNovo, an international management and communications consulting firm with offices in Austin, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and Monterrey, Mexico. She works from the firm's Washington, D.C. office.
She served as Special Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Global Communications from December 2003 to March 2005, where she created a press operation to support foreign journalists and coordinated major foreign policy and press initiatives for President George W. Bush. She served as deputy director to Tucker Eskew during the start up of that office. From President Bush's inauguration until she helped establish the Global Communications office, she was the Director for Democracy on the National Security Council staff at the White House.
She manages projects with international scope, as well as projects in the technology, health care sectors, and energy sectors. In addition, she specializes in comprehensive strategic advice for leading non-governmental organizations.
She has worked at prominent think tanks and non-governmental organizations, including the International Republican Institute, where she started up the Balkans programs in 1990. She served as the Country Advisor to the Central Europe Director at the World Bank and the Elections Director for the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In 1995 and 1996, she lived in Macedonia and instituted a new management structure for the Open Society Institute Macedonia. In addition, she developed and evaluated programs for the International Foundation for Election Systems.
Before joining the Bush-Cheney Transition Team after the 2000 elections, she managed the Aspen Strategy Group, where she developed programs, edited books for W.W. Norton and Company, and wrote papers for a bipartisan group of senior foreign policy leaders. From 1986 to 1990, she served in various capacities on the Washington, D.C. staff of former U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-NC).
M.C. has observed more than 25 elections in 12 countries and written eight books on democratic development in Central and East Europe. She is originally from Gastonia, North Carolina, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hollins College and a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University.