Synergos Institute Distinguished Fellow
S. Bruce Schearer
S. Bruce Schearer, a civic leader and nonprofit executive with extensive background in public policy and international development, joined Peggy Dulany in 1987 to help establish The Synergos Institute. Over the course of 18 years he served as Executive Director and, later, President, helping to lead Synergos through a period of extraordinary growth and accomplishment. He stepped down from the presidency in November 2005 and is now a Synergos Institute Distinguished Fellow.
Dr. Schearer has worked at the policy and program levels with governments and private institutions in over twenty countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In addition to serving on a number of nonprofit boards and advisory committees, he is an author and commentator on civil society, community development, and philanthropy.
Before he joined Synergos, as President of the Population Resource Center, Dr. Schearer developed a demographically-based program of domestic policy analyses and briefings for the US Congress and the Executive Branch, corporate leaders and foundation officers. Drawing on leading demographers from US universities, the program examined policies related to urban poverty, aging of the US population, economic and social effects of immigration, housing and job segregation patterns, and global demographic trends.
Previously, Dr. Schearer developed and managed a program to accelerate the transfer of technology related to family planning. He directed a two-year study for the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress on technology and world population and has contributed numerous scientific studies and technical papers in this field. For five years at The Population Council he played a major role in establishing a highly successful international R&D program to develop new birth control methods for developing nations.
He holds a BA with honors from Lafayette College and a PhD in Biochemistry from Columbia University, where he was also a Fellow in the School of International and Public Affairs and collaborated with Robert Merton in developing technology assessment methodologies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Association.
February 2006
