Shannon Hiller is Executive Director of the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University, a project working to track and mitigate political violence in the United States. She most recently served as founding Co-Director of BDI, following nearly a decade of work in international development and foreign policy.

Shannon has also served as Assistant Director for International Affairs and Operations at Princeton University and as an advisor at USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI). At USAID, she supported country programs around the world responding to political crisis or conflict. Prior to joining government, Shannon led the creation of an intensive leadership, education, and soccer program for girls at-risk of human trafficking in Northwest Cambodia. She has also worked with women’s rights NGO WomenWin, USAID Uganda, the National Democratic Institute, The Carter Center, Aspen Strategy Group, the Center for International Trade and Security, and as a lead researcher for Pact Cambodia. 

Shannon was a 2017 CNAS Brimley Next Gen Security Leaders Fellow, a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project, and was listed by the Washingtonian as one of “Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People of 2023.” She holds an MPA from Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs and a BA in International Relations and Political Science.