Leslie Campbell has 25 years of experience in international development, parliamentary governance and political affairs. He joined NDI in 1994 and has directed the Institute's programs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region since 1996. As NDI's senior associate and regional director, Mr. Campbell has overseen a vast expansion of NDI's programs in the Middle East with the establishment of offices and programs that furnish assistance with political, civic and governance reform throughout the Arab world.

Mr. Campbell is a frequent guest and commentator on Middle East issues for major news outlets, and has also written a number of articles and papers on the subject of democracy in the Middle East, including a chapter in The Islamists Are Coming (USIP Press, April 2012) and “Party Building in the Middle East,” which appeared in the winter 2010 edition of International Journal. Mr. Campbell has been a guest lecturer at American University, Princeton University, Georgetown University, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and the University of Toronto. He has served on task forces and study groups on Middle East democracy at the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the United States Institute of Peace and is a member of the Agenda Working Group for the Halifax International Security Forum.

Mr. Campbell also comments and writes on the topic of Canadian political party reform and co-authored, with Thomas Axworthy, The Democracy Canada Institute, A Blueprint (Centre for the Study of Democracy, Queen's University, 2005). Before joining NDI, Mr. Campbell was chief of staff to the leader of the New Democratic Party in the Canadian House of Commons.

Mr. Campbell holds a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University and a B.A. from the University of Manitoba.

Selected writings and appearances by Mr. Campbell:

• Not Over Yet: Latest Wave of Middle East Protests A Reminder of 2011’s Unmet Demands, blog for the Project on Middle East Democracy, March 7, 2019
• Transition at a Crossroads: Tunisia Three Years After the Revolution, testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Dec. 4, 2013
• Bloody Autocracy, Religious Kleptocracy, Unstable Democracy: In Search of Better Choices for the Middle East (and Beyond), Halifax Security Forum, Nov. 23, 2013
• Implementation of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry Report, testimony to the Commission on Human Rights of the U.S. Congress, Aug. 1, 2012
• Yemen: The Tribal Islamists, chapter in The Islamists Are Coming: Who They Really Are, April 2012
• Is The Bar Set Too High for Libya?, oped in The Washington Post, Aug. 25, 2011
• NDI Experts on the Middle East and North Africa, interviews with the press, Spring 2011
• Mubarak's Supporters' Offensive Heightens Volatility in Egypt, interview on the PBS NewsHour, Feb. 2, 2011
• Is the Arab World Ready for Regime Change?, interview on NPR, Jan. 24, 2011
• Party Building in the Middle East, International Journal, Winter 2010
• Iraq's Election Was Free and Fair, oped in Foreign Policy, March 30, 2010
• Statement Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs Hearing on "Yemen on the Brink: Implications for U.S. Policy", congressional testimony, Feb. 3, 2010
• An Antidote to Yemeni Frailty, oped in the Globe and Mail, Jan. 11, 2010
• Statement Before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations of the House Committee on Government Reform , congressional testimony, Oct. 18, 2005
• Statement Before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations of the House Committee on Government Reform, congressional testimony, May 17, 2005
• Statement Before the Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights, congressional testimony, May 3, 2005