Experts & Staff

Vivian Fong is currently a part time Senior HR Generalist in the Human Resources Department. Vivian was the Institute’s Human Resources Director from November 1999, when the human resources department was first created, to June 2013. After 13.5 years, during which WRI has doubled in staff size and budget and expanded globally with international offices, she has chosen to stay on in a narrower role still in the human resources department. Human Resources entails working with the Institute’s biggest asset – our staff. Vivian will continue to support the human resources effort to ensure that the Institute hires and retains the best and brightest of talent and that WRI’s staff feel engaged and challenged in the Institute’s work.

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Prior to WRI, Vivian worked in non-profit, corporate, and university settings. She worked for six and a half years at the national office of Very Special Arts (an affiliate of the Kennedy Center) as the Director of Human Resources. She also worked as a Human Resources Officer over a seven year period at commercial banks in Maryland and Vermont. Before entering the human resources field, she held educational administration positions at Beloit College in Wisconsin as a Director of Student Activities, and Saint Michael’s College in Vermont as a Career Development Counselor.

Vivian holds a Master of Education degree in Student Personnel Services in Higher Education from The University of Vermont and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from The University of California Santa Barbara.

Vivian lives in Takoma Park, Maryland with her partner Wendy Bell. She enjoys traveling, theatre, cooking, and outdoor activities.