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Nichole Graber-Simmons is Director of the Office of Citizen Security for USAID in Kingston, Jamaica.\xa0The\xa0Office of Citizen Security is part of USAID\u2019s\xa0Office of Transition Initiatives\xa0(OTI), which in turn is part of the\xa0United\xa0States Agency for International Development\xa0(USAID) Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA). The OTI was established in 1994 to\xa0provide fast, flexible, short-term assistance to take advantage of windows of opportunity to build democracy and peace, seeking to lay the foundations\xa0for long-term development by promoting reconciliation, jump starting economies and helping stable democracy take hold.

Prior to joining USAID nearly six years ago,\xa0Graber-Simmons worked for the American National Red Cross in its response to pandemic influenza, and before that she worked for the UNDP in Fiji, mainly on disaster preparedness projects.\xa0Graber-Simmons has a Master\u2019s in International Development from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma in International Relations/Development from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at\xa0Johns Hopkins University.